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

[colodane]

I have two Western Digital drives attached to my iMac. One for TimeMachine backup and one for Carbon Copy Cloner backup. Both drives are 2.5 inch in WD's "black" model. Each is in an enclosure - one laying on my desktop near the iMac stand and the other velcroed to the back of the iMac stand. Both within 3 feet of my ears and with no acoustic isolation on insulation.

I have a quiet office and have never heard any sound at all from either. The TimeMachine backup happens every few minutes and the CCC three times a week. The only way to see if the drives are active is to look at the light on the enclosure. Absolutely no audible noise.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

I have two Western Digital drives attached to my iMac. One for TimeMachine backup and one for Carbon Copy Cloner backup. Both drives are 2.5 inch in WD's "black" model. Each is in an enclosure - one laying on my desktop near the iMac stand and the other velcroed to the back of the iMac stand. Both within 3 feet of my ears and with no acoustic isolation on insulation.

I have a quiet office and have never heard any sound at all from either. The TimeMachine backup happens every few minutes and the CCC three times a week. The only way to see if the drives are active is to look at the light on the enclosure. Absolutely no audible noise.

Hi C,


Is this the external HDD you are talking about?

https://shop.westerndigital.com/en-...p10-game-drive-usb-3-2-hdd#WDBA2W0020BBK-WESN


Thats looks a much more chunky sized HDD. The one I have is tiny.


I’m on the lookout for another HDD, this time for the Windows laptop, so may go for your version, rather than another one of the one I’ve already got.


BTW:
I’m less than 1 foot away from the external HDD I’m talking about. My desktop is small Unfortunately.


Regards
Martin

 

[colodane]

I'm using inexpensive 3rd party USB3 enclosures sourced from Amazon. The brand name is Inateck. They seem to work well.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

I'm using inexpensive 3rd party USB3 enclosures sourced from Amazon. The brand name is Inateck. They seem to work well.

Hi again C,

Did you mean the kind of thing as the below link?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inateck-En...ild=1&keywords=Inateck&qid=1612385028&sr=8-23


Forgive my ignorance, I have never used or heard of anything like those before.


Is there anything to be gained by having my external HDD (link below) in one of these enclosure things?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07VSPL8FJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Is the main idea to buy a PC internal HDD, and run it inside one of these enclosure things?


Hope you can advise
Always good to learn something new


Regards
Martin

 

[colodane]

Martin ...

I used enclosures similar to:

Inateck 2.5 Hard Drive Enclosure, USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Case,Support USAP,FE2013

Multi-functional Equipped with SATA III, FE2013 works with your 2.5 inch SATA HDD/SSD. The external hard drive can be connected with your computer like a portable hard drive. It can also be connected with smart TV, as well as devices with USB port. Worth Every Penny The enclosure uses the high-en...

www.amazon.co.uk

I am using 2.5 inch drives.

The drive you linked to looks to have its own enclosure. It should work as well - and would not require a separate enclosure. But it may come with some software unique to WD ?

The general idea I (and others) use is to use a combination of regular HDDs along with an enclosure.

I am at a loss, however, to explain why your solution is significantly noisier than what I am using.

 

[DeltaMac]

Another option could be a longer USB lead to that drive. You can get those 3 to 6 feet, maybe 10 feet. Then, the noise, such as it is, would be further away from your ears.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Another option could be a longer USB lead to that drive. You can get those 3 to 6 feet, maybe 10 feet. Then, the noise, such as it is, would be further away from your ears.

Hi D,

Great idea!

Yup, ordered a longer cable from Amazon.

I’ll try that, put it as far away from me as possible on the desk

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Another option could be a longer USB lead to that drive. You can get those 3 to 6 feet, maybe 10 feet. Then, the noise, such as it is, would be further away from your ears.

Hi D,

Just used the longer Cable. Works fine, and HDD seems to disconnects cleanly much more often when the HDD is connected directly to the MBA, instead of through a HUB.


It was a Amazon Basics one with good ratings. (Came up 1st in amazon listings funnily enough.)
3 foot long (0.9m)


Argh, should have got an even longer one. The way my desk is arranged, with the MBA as the RHS Monitor. The wire plugs in the LHS of the MBA, and the lead needs to run across my desk, instead of any from my desk, and tucked away on a shelf the other side. Doh.

Still a bit of noise, the high pitched whining is a lot less evident now. The HDD has been running sitting flat for a few runs now. That seems to help, rather than hanging off the laptop stand at an angle, because of the previous short leads.



Regards

Martin