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

[RejZoR]

Was thinking of going stupid and just grabbing WD Ultrastar 10TB with Helium, but then decided to just take my chances with MUCH cheaper Seagate Barracuda 8TB that run at 5400 RPM. 8TB should be enough for all my hoarding needs and I'm gonna take my chances with 5400 RPM being quieter. I'm still gonna suspend the drive on something or provide extra cushioning for the tool-less HDD caddy, coz those tend to rattle with HDD's in. Can still fiddle with that software thing or that AAM feature in CrystalDiskInfo that might silence it further.

[lansing]

I have 3 HDD in my PC right next to me, one being a 7 year old HGST model and one being 8TB Seagate installed last week, and the only time I hear a sound from them is when they wake up from sleep mode.

[RejZoR]

8 minutes ago, lansing said:

I have 3 HDD in my PC right next to me, one being a 7 year old HGST model and one being 8TB Seagate installed last week, and the only time I hear a sound from them is when they wake up from sleep mode.

I have really unusually quiet PC. I'm running Silent Wings 3 fans through fan hub at really stupid low RPM. We're talking around 600-700 RPM which makes them essentially inaudible. I've also lowered AiO pump RPM to a point I can't hear it even with ear against the case. BeQuiet PSU also runs SilentWings 3 fan at inaudible RPM. I have no HDD drives, just 2TB SSD. Which is why I'm having such issues picking the HDD. I've tried Seagate Momentus 500GB with 7200 RPM and I could really hear it. Now I have WD Scorpio Blue 500GB 5400 RPM as test and it's really quiet. The problem is, 2.5" only comes as 5TB and it costs the same as 3.5" 8TB drive. Gaining 3TB for same price is acceptable thing and at 5400 RPM, I think it should be reasonably quiet. I hope. Haven't used HDD for like 3 years if not more.

 

I wish there were slower but stupid cheap SSD's for mass storage. I'd buy that instead in a heartbeat knowing it'll be absolutely silent.

[seagate_surfer]

On 1/18/2020 at 10:57 AM, RejZoR said:

Was thinking of going stupid and just grabbing WD Ultrastar 10TB with Helium, but then decided to just take my chances with MUCH cheaper Seagate Barracuda 8TB that run at 5400 RPM. 8TB should be enough for all my hoarding needs and I'm gonna take my chances with 5400 RPM being quieter. I'm still gonna suspend the drive on something or provide extra cushioning for the tool-less HDD caddy, coz those tend to rattle with HDD's in. Can still fiddle with that software thing or that AAM feature in CrystalDiskInfo that might silence it further.

Surely! Try it and tell us how it goes, at least you now know that the this method exists so you just have to try it.

[RejZoR]

Ok, got the Barracuda 8TB 5400 RPM drive and AAM controls don't even work in CrystalDiskInfo. But it appears to be so quiet even during operation that I can't hear it anyway. I did make sure it's suspended on rubber washers in the HDD caddy so vibrations are at minimum. Couldn't really hear anything inside closed case even when drive was being trashed by Crystal Disk Info random read and write test.

 

So, yeah, 5400 RPM drives even in 3.5" size are very quiet. In case anyone else will be looking for a quiet HDD for mass storage that doesn't require max random access performance. I'd certainly avoid 7200 RPM models tho. I could hear even 5400 RPM motor spinning up, but just barely. I'm assuming 7200 RPM would be audible even in idle.