What's quieter, 2.5" or 3.5" 5400 RPM HDD?

[RejZoR]

So, I'm looking for a massive bulk storage drive to help out my 2TB SSD. I'd go with 4TB SSD if there was some lesser brand for really dirty cheap price even if it was slower or borderline terrible for random access, but I couldn't find any. They all cost over 400€ which is just too much. But it would be silent. So, HDD is the best alternative.

 

My main focus is capacity on the cheap and low noise. I've tested 2.5" 7200 RPM Momentus 500GB drive that I had just to get a feeling how noisy HDD's are after living with SSD for years and it was quite audible even when not doing anything, just spinning. Then I stick 2.5" WD Blue 500GB 5400 RPM that I had and it's much quieter tho I could still hear it a bit, but acceptable.

 

Then I noticed I could get freaking 8TB for the same price, but in 3.5" format. But I have no idea if 3.5" drive will be noisier or not. Are 2.5" drives quieter or 3.5" drives? I'm looking at 5400 RPM because I don't need raw speed and all 3.5" that I had were 7200 RPM and I just don't even have a feeling how loud 5400 RPM ones are. Can anyone say from experience?

[mr mans]

I don't know if there are any hard and fast rules. It really comes down to the manufacturer and model

[Crunchy Dragon]

Logic dictates that a 5400RPM should be quieter, but it really does vary from drive to drive.

[porina]

What noise? Personally I only really notice the head seeking noise, and that seems independent of the rpm. I find 2.5" drives quieter than 3.5" ones in general. They also vibrate less.

[RejZoR]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Logic dictates that a 5400RPM should be quieter, but it really does vary from drive to drive.

I know 5400 RPM is quieter than 7200 RPM. The question was around size of drives. 2.5" or 3.5". Noise while seeking should be lower on 2.5" since heads move around less distance wise. But I have no idea how noise plays out in terms of spinning larger or smaller platters.

[RejZoR]

1 minute ago, porina said:

What noise? Personally I only really notice the head seeking noise, and that seems independent of the rpm. I find 2.5" drives quieter than 3.5" ones in general. They also vibrate less.

When you have fans as quiet as I have, you hear literally everything. Even HDD spinning and not doing any seeking.

[porina]

1 minute ago, RejZoR said:

When you have fans as quiet as I have, you hear literally everything. Even HDD spinning and not doing any seeking.

I can't advise on that, beyond suggesting you look up what the manufacturer specifies it was. However that doesn't take into good consideration the tone of the noise, and consequently how well it propagates. There will be some decay with distance, and insulation effect from the case, but I wouldn't like to try comparing.

 

I use 2.5" drives in my main system where I'm too tight to buy more SSDs. I'd still prefer 7200rpm drives over 5400rpm ones as it is painfully slow compared to SSD. They're in a tower under the table and I can't hear them at all, not even head seeks. Fan noise is low but not "zero".

[nick name]

I just got a new Seagate drive:

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-Internal-Drive-3-5-Inch/dp/B07H2RR55Q/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=(ST2000DM008)&qid=1578260569&sr=8-1

 

I spent several hours with it on my desk in an external enclosure within arm's reach and I don't recall hearing it at all during the hours it took to transfer files to it.  

[RejZoR]

It seems that based on raw specs, 3.5" drive is actually quieter by a bit. Question is, what kind of tone it has. Plus, I'd certainly have to figure out antivibration mounting method without the tool-less caddy. Those things are noise amplifiers.

[Mister Woof]

 

He might know answer

[RejZoR]

Was thinking, what if I went bonkers and bought a 8TB or 10TB UltraStar with HelioSeal? Those things are rated for 20dB in idle. They also come in SATA flavors.

 

Also what's with 4KB sectors with 512b emulation? Is that some sort of server thing or you're not really affected if you slam it into system just for file storage running NTFS? It seems some of the quetest drives are these UltraStar server class drives and WD Purple which are for surveillance.

 

Realistically, these drives will literally spin doing nothing most of the time as I still have 2TB SSD as main drive, this would be just bulk "cold" offload storage. Basically stuff that I have but don't access regularly, I'd transfer to this massive HDD. I'm a bit of a hamster hehe

[seagate_surfer]

I went ahead and found the decibels that emit the HDDs of 2.5 and 3.5, the numbers are pretty similar and several models share some items, for example the 2.5 of 5TB, 4TB and 3TB share the following numbers:

 

The lower models of 2TB, 1TB and 500GB share these numbers:

 

Those of 3.5 show the following data:

[RejZoR]

@seagate_surfer

I generally wouldn't mind paying some extra for a professional grade drive like Exos, IronWolf or Skyhawk (or even Helium filled enterprise drives from competition) if that means quieter operation although I don't think server clusters care much about clicking and grinding... I just don't have experience with specialized drives used for home applications and not specialized operation.

 

There were times when I didn't care. Then I was suspending my drives on rubber to silence them. Then SSD's came. Now it's hard returning back to HDD's, but they are cheap at insane capacities so they are still option for that. But I still need to minimize noise after living with SSD exclusively for so long and forgetting how annoying HDD clicking and grinding is.

[seagate_surfer]

 

I have put this sometimes here, basically it is a way to take advantage of one of the features included in the Seagate firmware, Power Control technology is proprietary and complements PowerTrim technology, you can play with those seetings using SeaChest at your own risk and you can try it now on any Seagate drive to see how it works and if it works for you then this could be an extra step you will need to take for the HDDs to suit you better:

 

 

On 9/5/2019 at 7:43 AM, seagate_surfer said:

 

I Once posted about this and how the noise could be reduced, here is that post in case you want to see it:

 

  On 8/13/2019 at 1:13 PM, seagate_surfer said:

There is a "feature" to put it in a way that can be de-enabled to help reduce noise (PowerControl) but first a little background on why Seagate uses proprietary technology that can be disabled and why it is not disabled by default. In HDDs standards, there is one that's used as an automatic power-saving feature that is activated during very brief periods of command inactivity without impacting performance, it is called PowerTrim technology, but PowerChoice now called Power Control technology (a proprietary implementation of T10 Approved Standard No T10/09-054 and T13 Standard No T13/452-2008) complements PowerTrim technology by enabling even greater power reductions that cover idle periods greater than one second. The result? PowerChoice technology decreases drive power consumption by up to 54 percent in enterprise environments. For example, a 1U rack filled with twenty-four 500 GB Constellation drives that have entered PowerChoice technology C mode delivers 12 TB of storage, yet consumes only 43W or slightly more power than a single 40W light bulb! Delivering a combination of energy efficiency and user flexibility.

 

Now I introduce you SeaChest, to use this tool you have to be familiar with executing command lines or it will complicate everything a bit, the download link is here: https://www.seagate.com/support/software/seachest/ To learn more about PowerChoice (PowerControl) you can open the User Manual from the link above and go to the section:

• 
  ================================
  How PowerChoice Technology Works
  ================================

I will now paste some screenshots of the command lines that will help you disable PowerControl and thus getting a lower noise from the HDD that support this: 

How to disable EPC (Extended Power Conditions)
Note: PowerChoice has now been replaced with PowerControl

1. Download the latest SeaChest and install it in Windows.
2. Next, confirm if EPC is supported and Enabled for the drive in question. First. get the drive's Handle which could be PD0, PD1, or PD2, etc. Copy and Paste or type in this command then Enter:

   • SeaChest_PowerControl --scan

   • 

3. Now copy and paste or type in this command then Enter.

   • SeaChest_PowerControl -d PD(N)

     • Replace (N) with the handle of the target disk

   • Scroll to Features Supported and look for EPC [Enabled]

   • 

4. To disable EPC on the drive Copy and paste or type this command then Enter:

   • SeaChest_PowerControl -d PD(N) --EPCfeature disable

   • Replace (N) with the handle of the target disk

   • Wait for a message stating EPC was disabled successfully

   • 

5. Now we need to confirm that EPC is disabled. Repeat step 3, Copy and paste or type in this command then Enter

   • SeaChest_PowerControl -d PD(N)

     • Replace (N) with the handle of the target disk

   • Scroll to Features Supported and look for EPC

     • [Enabled] should no longer be seen

     • 

6.  Shut down the computer then reinstall the drive into the NAS if it was the case.

If you type in Google disable epc site:seagate.com you will notice that many models show up because many models support the EPC and thus giving one more option to help you reduce noise from your machine.

 

[RejZoR]

@seagate_surfer

I have a very old Seagate Momentus 2.5" 500GB 7200RPM (model without fall sensor). I don't think it supports the feature you're mentioning so I probably couldn't test it.

 

Considering how hard it's to pick the right drive when noise is in question above all, but SSD isn't an option, it seems I'll just have to go with regular Barracuda 8TB or 10TB and suspend it on elastics or design a custom spring based holder to eliminate noise. Seems no other way around it. It's odd in a way that people don't ask for this more. Hell, I couldn't even find some general review where someone would test several drives and compare them by dB and also subjective description and crown which drive is the quietest at highest capacities possible.

[seagate_surfer]

7 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

@seagate_surfer

I have a very old Seagate Momentus 2.5" 500GB 7200RPM (model without fall sensor). I don't think it supports the feature you're mentioning so I probably couldn't test it.

Maybe, maybe not! When the PowerChoice now called Power Control technology was implemented we were leaving the old SATA 2 standard and all the manufacturers were transitioning to SATA 3, chances are that the drive will have this and the more is gonna happen is that you won't be able to set it up to enable or disable.

12 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Considering how hard it's to pick the right drive when noise is in question above all, but SSD isn't an option, it seems I'll just have to go with regular Barracuda 8TB or 10TB and suspend it on elastics or design a custom spring based holder to eliminate noise. Seems no other way around it. It's odd in a way that people don't ask for this more. Hell, I couldn't even find some general review where someone would test several drives and compare them by dB and also subjective description and crown which drive is the quietest at highest capacities possible.

Yep! I tie with you in this comment, the truth is that people do not always mention the subject and those who do it are usually more techy and we get frustrated when we are using our machines and listen to that sound. Here the opinion is divided because some people simply are not interested and can "not pay attention to that" but others do, so I would say that it is something more personal.

On the other hand, I also took on the task of reviewing the FireCuda SSHD units 2.5 and 3.5, honestly the best performance that a non-SSD storage device can offer is an SSHD, but still the noise is equivalent. I think it will be less the amount of time you have to listen to that sound because in large part that sound is due to seeking tasks, but since an SSHD has a small SSD that time is reduced, so you could at least choose to have to listen to seeking sounds for less amount of time when opting for an SSHD.

[Giffany]

19 hours ago, seagate_surfer said:

Maybe, maybe not! When the PowerChoice now called Power Control technology was implemented we were leaving the old SATA 2 standard and all the manufacturers were transitioning to SATA 3, chances are that the drive will have this and the more is gonna happen is that you won't be able to set it up to enable or disable.

Yep! I tie with you in this comment, the truth is that people do not always mention the subject and those who do it are usually more techy and we get frustrated when we are using our machines and listen to that sound. Here the opinion is divided because some people simply are not interested and can "not pay attention to that" but others do, so I would say that it is something more personal.

On the other hand, I also took on the task of reviewing the FireCuda SSHD units 2.5 and 3.5, honestly the best performance that a non-SSD storage device can offer is an SSHD, but still the noise is equivalent. I think it will be less the amount of time you have to listen to that sound because in large part that sound is due to seeking tasks, but since an SSHD has a small SSD that time is reduced, so you could at least choose to have to listen to seeking sounds for less amount of time when opting for an SSHD.

i remember you and this lmao. yeah for me i couldnt remove the epc at all. when i list it it shows as [enable | disable] beside it as in cant enable or disable so im stuck using crystal disk info on every boot up.

[seagate_surfer]

56 minutes ago, Giffany said:

i remember you and this lmao. yeah for me i couldnt remove the epc at all. when i list it it shows as [enable | disable] beside it as in cant enable or disable so im stuck using crystal disk info on every boot up.

Oh yes, hey HYD?  If these steps do not help you get to modify the EPC then that hard disk drive specifically cannot do it, the number of models that have this modality is very large but there is that other percentage to which this item cannot be configured. Something that might help is to update the firmware, look for your model here, do the update if any, restart the device a couple of times and then try again:

• Seagate Technology - Download Finder

[Giffany]

2 minutes ago, seagate_surfer said:

Oh yes, hey HYD?  If these steps do not help you get to modify the EPC then that hard disk drive specifically cannot do it, the number of models that have this modality is very large but there is that other percentage to which this item cannot be configured. Something that might help is to update the firmware, look for your model here, do the update if any, restart the device a couple of times and then try again:

• Seagate Technology - Download Finder

sounds like fun i guess ill give that a try if there's any i guess ill back up anything in case and let ya know in the future i guess

[Giffany]

13 minutes ago, seagate_surfer said:

Oh yes, hey HYD?  If these steps do not help you get to modify the EPC then that hard disk drive specifically cannot do it, the number of models that have this modality is very large but there is that other percentage to which this item cannot be configured. Something that might help is to update the firmware, look for your model here, do the update if any, restart the device a couple of times and then try again:

• Seagate Technology - Download Finder

no updates at all. oh well ill stick to the old way as annoying as it is lmao.

[seagate_surfer]

Well, I'm glad you tried. This particular thread is just about the topic you and I talked about on that occasion but I think here there are more people so at least more people will benefit from it.

[Giffany]

49 minutes ago, seagate_surfer said:

Well, I'm glad you tried. This particular thread is just about the topic you and I talked about on that occasion but I think here there are more people so at least more people will benefit from it.

yeah ehe been doing it like this for years now so kinda just been standard just once want to not think about it. well until next time anyway ehe

[seagate_surfer]

Yes! be the next time maybe, but if you find yourself with the opportunity to change HDD, maybe someone close is no longer occupying a Seagate or something, you could take these steps with SeaChest to see if they work and get rid of a once and for all of the daily method with CrystalDiskInfo.

[RejZoR]

I'm now looking at WD Ultrastar SATA models with HelioSeal, so Helium filled drives because some have around 20dB at idle. Something not even 2.5" drives manage to hit at any RPM. Which is interesting. Also need to pay attention to models because of sectors design. For example, 10TB Ultrastar comes in 2 models, one is 512e and another is 4Kn. From what I managed to gather, they all have 4K sectors, but 512e models natively emulate it for old operating systems and 4Kn means native 4K. So, since I'm on latest Windows 10, 4Kn it has to be. Must pay attention for that as well.

 

I just have issues trusting the volume ratings at this point because Ultrastar drives are 7200 RPM and are at least on paper quieter than 5400 RPM Seagate Barracuda drives. Everything about decibels screams something doesn't add up just for RPM alone. Can Helium really make such of a difference? It sucks that I can't hear any of them in person to make a decision easier. Ugh. Reason I look at enterprise models is because they are built to last under absurd conditions and I kinda want that for data storage since I don't run any redundancy RAID modes or daily backups and just replace drives as soon as they start showing any symptoms that are alerted by SMART monitoring.

[seagate_surfer]

13 hours ago, RejZoR said:

I'm now looking at WD Ultrastar SATA models with HelioSeal, so Helium filled drives because some have around 20dB at idle. Something not even 2.5" drives manage to hit at any RPM. Which is interesting. Also need to pay attention to models because of sectors design. For example, 10TB Ultrastar comes in 2 models, one is 512e and another is 4Kn. From what I managed to gather, they all have 4K sectors, but 512e models natively emulate it for old operating systems and 4Kn means native 4K. So, since I'm on latest Windows 10, 4Kn it has to be. Must pay attention for that as well.

 

I just have issues trusting the volume ratings at this point because Ultrastar drives are 7200 RPM and are at least on paper quieter than 5400 RPM Seagate Barracuda drives. Everything about decibels screams something doesn't add up just for RPM alone. Can Helium really make such of a difference? It sucks that I can't hear any of them in person to make a decision easier. Ugh. Reason I look at enterprise models is because they are built to last under absurd conditions and I kinda want that for data storage since I don't run any redundancy RAID modes or daily backups and just replace drives as soon as they start showing any symptoms that are alerted by SMART monitoring.

Alright, cool! I would also like to have a place to be able to hear the decibels emitted, but the only one I know that has something similar is the Failing hard drive sounds - Datacent.com - Datacent, however they recorded HDDs of several brands and models that are going to have an imminent failure and not necessarily the decibels issued ...