External HDD backup drives - Are they all Noisy and Whiney?

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi All,


I recently bought a new WD external Hard Drive for Time machine backups. (Link Below)

I'm finding the spinning disk whinning noise really irritating on the ear, and no way can I have that going on at the work desk all day without developing a headache.


3 questions:

Q1) Are all modern HDDs noisy like this in operation?

Q2) Is it because their sizes have been reduced, and so it is just physics that the noise is less dampened, with all the spinning disk moving parts?

Q3) Have I just bought a known noisy one, can you guys recommend a quiet, reliable HDD backup drive?


Note:
- I'm going the HDD route for my primary back up drive for now - As I understand the latest SDD drives are on a new drive format, and cannot get data recovered if the drive goes bad.
- I'd love to go the SSD route, for speed and quiet - but not for the next 3 years.



Links below:

WD 2 TB My Passport for Mac Portable Hard Drive - Time Machine Ready with Password Protection, Midnight Blue
More information: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VSPL..._dp_EYVBD6KYNCZ44HJ9TSBN?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Apple_Robert]

All platter drives produce noise, some more than others.

You must be really sensitive to any noise at all, as I have several of those drives and they don't very much noise once the platter speed gets to where it needs to be. Even when writing to, the noise is negligible.

If you think it is loud, make a short video and post it here so we can hear what you are experiencing.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi Mr A,


aaahhh bear in mind I've been living with a dead quiet M1 since December - so actual noise with the Mac is a bit of a shocker!

I have music blaring loud when the missus lets me, so it not so much volume - it is more the high pitched whine in close proximity I suppose, thinking about it.


Best wishes
Martin



PS:
What make of external HDDs are you using?

Not WD skinny tiny new ones by any chance, like the one I've got?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Hi Mr A,


aaahhh bear in mind I've been living with a dead quiet M1 since December - so actual noise with the Mac is a bit of a shocker!

I have music blaring loud when the missus lets me, so it not so much volume - it is more the high pitched whine in close proximity I suppose, thinking about it.


Best wishes
Martin



PS:
What make of external HDDs are you using?

Not WD skinny tiny new ones by any chance, like the one I've got?

I have the same model you linked to albeit mine are 4TB each in size.

You could get an external SSD drive, if the sound is bothering you a lot. The Samsung T5 is an excellent drive and is quiet. . I have the 500GB version for backup purposes as well.

SAMSUNG T5 Portable SSD 2TB - Up to 540MB/s - USB 3.1 External Solid State Drive, Black (MU-PA2T0B/AM)

The Samsung T5 Portable SSD has the latest in Samsung V-NAND flash memory technology. Its portable design, blazing fast transfer speeds of up to 540 MB/s, shock resistance, and secure encryption make it the best portable SSD on the market.

www.amazon.com

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi Mr A,


Maybe the 4TB model, with the much wider body, is quieter


Testing:
I’ve just tried re-positioning the laptop and HDD, to test it. This time on the desk, with the HDD sitting on a cushioned mouse Matt. Much quieter, but still that high pitched whine when the HDD is spinning.

Previously:
The lead to the HDD is ridiculously short. So I originally had the HDD tucked behind the MBA. Both devices being on a 15yr old cathode ray monitor stand. I’m guessing the Stand is bit of a sound magnifier, for noisy things sitting on top of it, plus the HDD is more at ear level at my desk.


Next thing to try:
Put both back to my setup location.
BUT - put some cushioning under HDD and try that!


Regards
Martin

 

[Apple_Robert]

Hi Mr A,


Maybe the 4TB model, with the much wider body, is quieter


Testing:
I’ve just tried re-positioning the laptop and HDD, to test it. This time on the desk, with the HDD sitting on a cushioned mouse Matt. Much quieter, but still that high pitched whine when the HDD is spinning.

Previously:
The lead to the HDD is ridiculously short. So I originally had the HDD tucked behind the MBA. Both devices being on a 15yr old cathode ray monitor stand. I’m guessing the Stand is bit of a sound magnifier, for noisy things sitting on top of it, plus the HDD is more at ear level at my desk.


Next thing to try:
Put both back to my setup location.
BUT - put some cushioning under HDD and try that!


Regards
Martin

Sounds (pun intended) like your previous location amplified the sound. I believe putting the drive on a cushioned stand or table will help quell the clicking. As to the high pitch whine, not much you can do about that. It is going to happen regardless.

You can call me Robert

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Sounds (pun intended) like your previous location amplified the sound. I believe putting the drive on a cushioned stand or table will help quell the clicking. As to the high pitch whine, not much you can do about that. It is going to happen regardless.

You can call me Robert

OK mr A!




On a serious note though.


RE: High Pitch Whine

Arghhh.... so cushioning won’t help with that?!

Is the WD HDD any more high pitch whine noisy than other HDDs out there?

 

[Apple_Robert]

OK mr A!




On a serious note though.


RE: High Pitch Whine

Arghhh.... so cushioning won’t help with that?!

Is the WD HDD any more high pitch whine noisy than other HDDs out there?

The high pitch whine is created internally.

Some drive manufacturers are more pronounced than others. It is possible you could purchase a different drive and not be bothered by it like you are the WD. Is it worth your time and money playing drive roulette with platter drives?

 

[Madhatter32]

My 1 TB and 2 TB Seagate drives are silent to the ear and calm to the touch. My older (from like 9 years ago) Toshiba 1 TB makes a spinning sound and vibrates. I think it depends on the drive and/or perhaps the capacity.

 

[JohnMaldaner]

Hi All,


I recently bought a new WD external Hard Drive for Time machine backups. (Link Below)

I'm finding the spinning disk whinning noise really irritating on the ear, and no way can I have that going on at the work desk all day without developing a headache.


3 questions:

Q1) Are all modern HDDs noisy like this in operation?

Q2) Is it because their sizes have been reduced, and so it is just physics that the noise is less dampened, with all the spinning disk moving parts?

Q3) Have I just bought a known noisy one, can you guys recommend a quiet, reliable HDD backup drive?


Note:
- I'm going the HDD route for my primary back up drive for now - As I understand the latest SDD drives are on a new drive format, and cannot get data recovered if the drive goes bad.
- I'd love to go the SSD route, for speed and quiet - but not for the next 3 years.



Links below:

WD 2 TB My Passport for Mac Portable Hard Drive - Time Machine Ready with Password Protection, Midnight Blue
More information: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VSPL..._dp_EYVBD6KYNCZ44HJ9TSBN?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I’ve got that drive. My question for you is this. Can you get the drive to interface with Time Machine and actually conduct a scheduled backup more than twice before getting error messages telling you a backup failed due to not being able to create a required folder? I sent on drive back and got a free replacement. But the replacement is doing it, too. Not wanting to hijack your thread, but curious as to your feedback. Thanks!

 

[svanstrom]

Q3) Have I just bought a known noisy one, can you guys recommend a quiet, reliable HDD backup drive?

Have a think about what you actually need to backup, and then maybe consider an SD card.

Personally I use external backups on external disk like this as an absolutely final defence against a major catastrophe; and there's just no way that I on such a backup also need the whole OS, every piece of software installed, and all movies/tv series etc. So even a 256 GB SD card is like overkill; and they are quite cheap nowadays; so you can easily have more than one, for off-site backups.

 

[Fishrrman]

3.5" platter-based drives in an external enclosure with a fan will "make noise".
That's how it is, and nothing can change that.

Your alternatives could be:
- Use a 2.5" platter-based drive in a small enclosure. These are considerably more quiet. But they mostly come in at around 2tb maximum. I haven't really checked more into that.
- Use a 2.5" SSD in a small enclosure. No noise. The downside is that an SSD can just "go dark" on you, never to be seen again. It happens.

I don't use time machine.
I've NEVER used time machine.
No interest or trust in it, and I've seen MANY posts in this forum over the last 12 years from folks who put their trust into it, and then have had tm fail them in a "moment of extreme need".

That's why I will ALWAYS recommend either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper as being "the better backup method" -- at least for Intel-based Macs.

 

[JohnMaldaner]

I don't use time machine.
I've NEVER used time machine.
No interest or trust in it, and I've seen MANY posts in this forum over the last 12 years from folks who put their trust into it, and then have had tm fail them in a "moment of extreme need".

That's why I will ALWAYS recommend either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper as being "the better backup method" -- at least for Intel-based Macs.

Pardon my ignorance, but do those alternatives to TM offer automated backups?

 

[Fishrrman]

"Pardon my ignorance, but do those alternatives to TM offer automated backups?"

I've never used such features, but I think they do.

For me, "backup" works like this:
a. connect backup drive
b. run backup utility
c. when done, eject the backup drive.

That's worked for me for about 33 years now...

 

[JohnMaldaner]

"Pardon my ignorance, but do those alternatives to TM offer automated backups?"

I've never used such features, but I think they do.

For me, "backup" works like this:
a. connect backup drive
b. run backup utility
c. when done, eject the backup drive.

That's worked for me for about 33 years now...

Gotcha. Old school. Basically, you have ingrained the automation into your habits!

 

[flyingspur]

"Pardon my ignorance, but do those alternatives to TM offer automated backups?"

I've never used such features, but I think they do.

For me, "backup" works like this:
a. connect backup drive
b. run backup utility
c. when done, eject the backup drive.

That's worked for me for about 33 years now...

Curious:
a. What hardware are you using? A time change coming on my RAID 0 Synology drives.
b. What utility?

 

[ght56]

As you already have a 2.5-inch drive (which is quieter than the larger 3.5-inch drives) and this particular hard drive is a 5400 RPM model (which is quieter than the 7200 RPM models), chances are other 2.5-inch HDDs are also going to be too noisy for your usage as well.

There are a few options.

In the power settings you have, you can select "put the hard disks to sleep when possible", and the drive will be spun down when not in use. However, A) this does not always work, and B) Time Machine runs every hour by default, so it would still spin a lot.

Alternatively, you could use that current WD drive for general storage and Carbon Copy Clone backups only, and then purchase a SSD (solid state drive) for Time Machine backups. A 2 TB SSD isn't crazy expensive, and you might even be able to get by with a 1 TB SSD.

As for "As I understand the latest SDD drives are on a new drive format, and cannot get data recovered if the drive goes bad", as far I know this is not accurate. You can use either file system you want (APFS or HFS+) and hardware recovery (i.e., professional data recovery) of SSDs is indeed possible...but if you are using it exclusively for Time Machine, you would probably not ever need hardware recovery given you would be using it exclusively as a backup drive. Additionally, SSD failures, like HDD failures, can often be predicted in advance with an app that can monitor drive health. Every SSD I've had go belly-up has warned me prior to this happening (through the use of the app that monitor's the SSD's self-reported health statistics.) If you are extremely worried about SSD reliability, then I recommend considering the Samsung 860 Pro.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

As you already have a 2.5-inch drive (which is quieter than the larger 3.5-inch drives) and this particular hard drive is a 5400 RPM model (which is quieter than the 7200 RPM models), chances are other 2.5-inch HDDs are also going to be too noisy for your usage as well.

There are a few options.

In the power settings you have, you can select "put the hard disks to sleep when possible", and the drive will be spun down when not in use. However, A) this does not always work, and B) Time Machine runs every hour by default, so it would still spin a lot.

Alternatively, you could use that current WD drive for general storage and Carbon Copy Clone backups only, and then purchase a SSD (solid state drive) for Time Machine backups. A 2 TB SSD isn't crazy expensive, and you might even be able to get by with a 1 TB SSD.

As for "As I understand the latest SDD drives are on a new drive format, and cannot get data recovered if the drive goes bad", as far I know this is not accurate. You can use either file system you want (APFS or HFS+) and hardware recovery (i.e., professional data recovery) of SSDs is indeed possible...but if you are using it exclusively for Time Machine, you would probably not ever need hardware recovery given you would be using it exclusively as a backup drive. Additionally, SSD failures, like HDD failures, can often be predicted in advance with an app that can monitor drive health. Every SSD I've had go belly-up has warned me prior to this happening (through the use of the app that monitor's the SSD's self-reported health statistics.) If you are extremely worried about SSD reliability, then I recommend considering the Samsung 860 Pro.

Hi again mr GHT!


RE: SSD recoverability
Thanks for the info! My understanding of SSDs may be wrong.... be great to use those instead, for my use case.


RE: Monitoring drive health.
- I never got that DriveX app thing to work in the end. Can certainly revisit.


I’ll investigate


Martin

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Some food for thought:


Converting SSD to HFS+

https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/62926-reverting-an-apfs-drive-to-hfs-the-easy-way/

https://www.lacie.com/gb/en/support...to-a-macos-extended-hfs-file-system-006712en/

https://www.switchingtomac.com/tutorials/osx/apfs-vs-mac-os-extended-which-mac-disk-format-is-best/


Data recovery from APFS:

https://www.remosoftware.com/info/repair-apfs-disk#Qone

https://www.r-studio.com/data-recovery-after-erase-APFS.html

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi All,


Aarghhh.... bit of a stumbling block!


Current prices:
2TB SSD external storage = £250 or more
2TB HDD external storage = £60 or more


Does Amazon ever do "Black Friday" type sales of the SSD storage?


I'm going to have to re-assess my backup needs and frequency!
May be living with the 2tb HDD WD drive I already have after all


Best wishes
Martin

 

[Fishrrman]

If you want an SSD with 2tb of storage, it's going to cost more.
It is what it is.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

hi All,


NB:
The HDD back up speeds seems to be going ok.



Last Sat
- 170Gb to back up (1st time did TM for the M1 MBA) - 35mins. (Then clean up time)
- Pre Big sur update top latest version.


Sat 30.01.2021
- 10Gb to back up - 20minutes. (Then clean up time)
- No idea why took so long.


Sunday 31.01.2021
Today
- 38Gb to back up - 10minutes. (Then clean up time)
- After backup up iphone and ipad to MBA.



---------
Post edits, so all in one place

Sat 06.02.2021
- 6Gb to back up - 6 minutes. (Including clean up time)
- really light user of the Mac


Sat 13.02.2021
- 7.5Gb to back up - 6 minutes. (Including clean up time)
- really light user of the Mac





Best wishes
Martin

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi Mr A,


Maybe the 4TB model, with the much wider body, is quieter


Testing:
I’ve just tried re-positioning the laptop and HDD, to test it. This time on the desk, with the HDD sitting on a cushioned mouse Matt. Much quieter, but still that high pitched whine when the HDD is spinning.

Previously:
The lead to the HDD is ridiculously short. So I originally had the HDD tucked behind the MBA. Both devices being on a 15yr old cathode ray monitor stand. I’m guessing the Stand is bit of a sound magnifier, for noisy things sitting on top of it, plus the HDD is more at ear level at my desk.


Next thing to try:
Put both back to my setup location.
BUT - put some cushioning under HDD and try that!


Regards
Martin

Hi All,

I'm glad I gave the HDD another go before putting it away in disgust for this week.
OK, I put both MBA and HDD back on my desk as yesterday, with a slightly different arrangement.


Outcome summary:
High Frequency whine-ing a lot quieter than yesterday.
A lot of possible reasons. See below descriptions of I what tried today.

Another reason, could be the new moving parts mechanics needed a bit of time to run in. E.g. The bearing mechanisms or whatever they are for the Spinning discs etc.





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's sound testing of the new HDD drive:


Changes in set up today:


1. The HDD NOT as tightly wedged in as before.

Before, I had laid the HDD flat, behind the MBA, and pushed the MBA back to "wedge" the HDD into the back of the upraised lip on the stand. I did this to hold the HDD in place, and to make sure not fall off the the back of the stand.


2. Left alone for a bit, before backup, and then left again, before ejecting.

Yesterday, I went straight into backup, then after back up I straight away set to EJECT. I was then waiting for the drive to spin down before taking off.



3. Note - I did NOT put foam etc. under HDD - I forgot before starting backup etc!




Results:

The HDD did not have as loud as before - That high whiny frequency.
1. Before backing up
2. During backing up
3. NB: Post backing up - I did notice the whining more here - but that could have been me remembering to hear out for it, with no backing up distractions!
4. NB: Ejection phase - I did notice the whining more here as well.

 

[weaztek]

I had a drive I thought was failing because it was making much louder whining noises than usual (HGST 3TB)! I have an extensive backup system so I decided to let it ride and see if it fails. Well that was a month ago and it's once again quiet. 🤓

 

[svanstrom]

I had a drive I thought was failing because it was making much louder whining noises than usual (HGST 3TB)! I have an extensive backup system so I decided to let it ride and see if it fails. Well that was a month ago and it's once again quiet. 🤓

For some reason I could imagine you getting into this situation:

You: I need tech support, my computer isn't working!!
Support: What have you tried?
You: EVERYTHING!! SEND SOMEONE RIGHT NOW!!
Support: *arrives*
Support: But… it's been disconnected?
You: Yeah, it was making too much noise.
Support: *reconsiders every life choice ever made*

😉