New Toshiba X300 6TB HDD - Clicking Noise When Writing Data and Loud Noise in General?

[Jetster]

I have the same drive. It makes noise but nothing like the 3tb drives I have. As long as the smart data is good then your fine. Try placing some rubber or something wedged next to it. It could just be vibration on some lose piece of metal in the case

 

[Flogger23m]

It may take awhile, its not a fast test, it is a pretty thorough one though

Got it, going to run that over night.

 

[eidairaman1]

Got it, going to run that over night.

Good, just follow up with us, post screen shots of it when finished too.

 

[Flogger23m]

Good, just follow up with us, post screen shots of it when finished too.

Will do.

One other thing I do find a bit odd (given my small sample size of WD Blacks, Seagates, a Tosbhia P300 and X300 4TB) is that when the X300 6TB is at idle the grinding noise does go away after a while, but randomly returns. I am assuming that is some kind of power saving state?

 

[lexluthermiester]

when the X300 6TB is at idle the grinding noise does go away after a while, but randomly returns. I am assuming that is some kind of power saving state?

That sounds more like something loose vibrating to the resonance of the drive in the case/housing. Are you making sure all the screw are tight, wires and attachments are secured?

 

[Flogger23m]

That sounds more like something loose vibrating to the resonance of the drive in the case/housing. Are you making sure all the screw are tight, wires and attachments are secured?

Yeah, removed and reinstalled it a few times. My other drives in the same spot/mount don't have any noise or excessive clicking.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Yeah, removed and reinstalled it a few times. My other drives in the same spot/mount don't have any noise or excessive clicking.

Then perhaps your threshold for noise needs adjustment. People who want the latest and greatest need to accept that there will be trade-offs. Price, increased power use, extra heat and noise all factor into the equation of performance parts. It's just a fact of life. If you want a quieter drive, you have to either buy an SSD(and if you can find a 6TB SSD it will be very expensive) or go with a lower performance 5400rpm model. High performance parts make more noise. You want hear really noisy? Get an SAS card and a 15000RPM SAS drive. THOSE drives are noisy.

 

[kastriot]

Both of them have OCD/Neurotic so it's subjective.

 

[eidairaman1]

Then perhaps your threshold for noise needs adjustment. People who want the latest and greatest need to accept that there will be trade-offs. Price, increased power use, extra heat and noise all factor into the equation of performance parts. It's just a fact of life. If you want a quieter drive, you have to either buy an SSD(and if you can find a 6TB SSD it will be very expensive) or go with a lower performance 5400rpm model. High performance parts make more noise. You want hear really noisy? Get an SAS card and a 15000RPM SAS drive. THOSE drives are noisy.

My 1TB Velociraptor makes alot of noise, it is music to my ears because it's working.

Then perhaps your threshold for noise needs adjustment. People who want the latest and greatest need to accept that there will be trade-offs. Price, increased power use, extra heat and noise all factor into the equation of performance parts. It's just a fact of life. If you want a quieter drive, you have to either buy an SSD(and if you can find a 6TB SSD it will be very expensive) or go with a lower performance 5400rpm model. High performance parts make more noise. You want hear really noisy? Get an SAS card and a 15000RPM SAS drive. THOSE drives are noisy.

Some drive makers provide firmware tools to adjust power profiles.

Hitachi in 2006 did.

 

[Flogger23m]

Then perhaps your threshold for noise needs adjustment. People who want the latest and greatest need to accept that there will be trade-offs. Price, increased power use, extra heat and noise all factor into the equation of performance parts. It's just a fact of life. If you want a quieter drive, you have to either buy an SSD(and if you can find a 6TB SSD it will be very expensive) or go with a lower performance 5400rpm model. High performance parts make more noise. You want hear really noisy? Get an SAS card and a 15000RPM SAS drive. THOSE drives are noisy.

Okay we get it, you like old noisy drives. I really don't care. You're not being helpful and you're not looking "cool" because you like grinding noisy drives when just about any other 7,200 RPM drive is half as quiet with the same performance. I'm not running a server and don't care to, so I am not sure why you keep bringing up server parts or quality circa 1990s. You're merely digging your hole deeper with these continued posts.

From the sounds of others who own these same X300 6TB drives, apparently they don't hear the loud clicking/"thunks" when writing. I have a 4TB X300 which is also practically silent (like the WD Blacks). So far it looks good according to the SMART Extended test. I've sent a message to the retailer in anycase. If they're okay with an exchange I'll take them up on their offer, if not, lets hope I just got an exceptionally loud drive but one that lasts a long time!

 

[R00kie]

I've got an X300 4TB in my system, it's pretty much the loudest part, it's clicking away right now as I write this, but after a year of using it, I pretty much got used to it, as I game with a headset anyway.
Although I do admit, it is the fastest hard drive I've ever owned, and that tremendously helps with loading times.

 

[eidairaman1]

Okay we get it, you like old noisy drives. I really don't care. You're not being helpful and you're not looking "cool" because you like grinding noisy drives when just about any other 7,200 RPM drive is half as quiet with the same performance. I'm not running a server and don't care to, so I am not sure why you keep bringing up server parts or quality circa 1990s. You're merely digging your hole deeper with these continued posts.

From the sounds of others who own these same X300 6TB drives, apparently they don't hear the loud clicking/"thunks" when writing. I have a 4TB X300 which is also practically silent (like the WD Blacks). So far it looks good according to the SMART Extended test. I've sent a message to the retailer in anycase. If they're okay with an exchange I'll take them up on their offer, if not, lets hope I just got an exceptionally loud drive but one that lasts a long time!

How was dft?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Okay we get it, you like old noisy drives. I really don't care. You're not being helpful and you're not looking "cool" because you like grinding noisy drives when just about any other 7,200 RPM drive is half as quiet with the same performance. I'm not running a server and don't care to, so I am not sure why you keep bringing up server parts or quality circa 1990s. You're merely digging your hole deeper with these continued posts.

From the sounds of others who own these same X300 6TB drives, apparently they don't hear the loud clicking/"thunks" when writing. I have a 4TB X300 which is also practically silent (like the WD Blacks). So far it looks good according to the SMART Extended test. I've sent a message to the retailer in anycase. If they're okay with an exchange I'll take them up on their offer, if not, lets hope I just got an exceptionally loud drive but one that lasts a long time!

Ok then. The point of my comments were to help you understand that if the drive works as it should, the noise isn't a big deal and should not worry you. If it's that much of an irritation, then sell it to someone that won't be bothered by such noise. If the retailer is willing to take it back for that reason then you're cool.

 

[Flogger23m]

Bit of an update. Received a replacement drive today and just starting to test it. So far this drive is about as quiet as my other drives; nearly silent. The constant grinding does not seem to be present in this drive. When writing I don't hear the loud clucking/thunking every 6 seconds like the original drive did.

I ran a benchmark with both drives although I accidentally deleted the screen shot of the original drive. For those interested, this is the replacement X300 6TB's results:

https://imgur.com/eRxCMKL

I'm glad Dell stepped up and sent a replacement.

 

[RejZoR]

I think only way to have performance and quietness is to go with a large "green/blue" model with 5400 RPM and pair it with lets say cheap 120-256GB SATA/M.2 SSD using PrimoCache to create a hybrid drive. This way you'll essentially have SSD performance across entire 6TB.

Going full SSD just isn't fiesible at such capacities as it'll be ridiculously expensive, but hybrid is very much an option. Those 5400 RPM drives are often a lot quieter even at huge capacities.

WD Blue 6TB 5400RPM drives go for around 170€, Samsung 850 Evo 250GB is 85€ and PrimoCache is 25€. 280€ for a queter, high performance setup with massive capacity. It's shocking how little people opt for such solutions...