this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
1 points (100.0% liked)

Data Hoarder

24 readers
1 users here now

We are digital librarians. Among us are represented the various reasons to keep data -- legal requirements, competitive requirements, uncertainty of permanence of cloud services, distaste for transmitting your data externally (e.g. government or corporate espionage), cultural and familial archivists, internet collapse preppers, and people who do it themselves so they're sure it's done right. Everyone has their reasons for curating the data they have decided to keep (either forever or For A Damn Long Time (tm) ). Along the way we have sought out like-minded individuals to exchange strategies, war stories, and cautionary tales of failures.

founded 10 months ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
1
HC550 vs Ironwolf Pro, 16/18 TB, regarding noise? (alien.top)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
2 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hello,

I'm torn between those two models, and I'm mostly concerned about noise and reliability. I will be using two of them in a mirrored RAID (actually, Synology Hybrid RAID).

From the latest Backblaze statistics, two WD Ultrastar HC550 16 TB models (WUH721816ALE6L0 and WUH721816ALE6L4) had an amazing reliability, but from the specs they are quite noisy: 2/3.6 dB. My issue is, that a lot of people say that they indeed make strange loud noises, but the same amount of people say that they are quiet.

OTOH, Seagate released the NT001 series this year (ST16000NT001, for example), were they caught up with other with the MTBF ratings, and from the specs they are quieter than the WDs: 2/2.6 dB. But they are also more expensive than the HC550s.

I will be having the Synology NAS in the living room, with BTRFS, and it will be used mostly for playing movies over WIFI, so the read speeds will be very low.

What are your experiences with these two models, concerning the noise?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

All 16TB and larger drives, regardless of model/brand, are noisy. They have up to 10 spinning platters and a large arms/heads assembly that create audible vibrations.

However, the noise is very much dependent on how they are mounted. If they are screwed directly to a metal chassis or metal trays without any cushioning, the noise will resonate throughout the case, making it worse.

Most NAS cabinets should have various methods of dampening sound, but if not, cushioning drives/trays with rubber/silicon bearings can reduce noise significantly.