What are the Quietest hard drives for NAS
I work with a lot of photo and video files, therefore I need a way to store everything. I have two 5TB Toshiba X300 drives, bought around 5 years ago, which have been rarely used in an external enclosure.
Recently I built a new desktop PC and decided to put the two drives inside for convenience. Apart from the two Toshiba drives, I have a 500GB Nvme system drive and a 1TB SATA SSD for current projects and games. This setup satisfies me for now because I have everything easily accessible, however, as I suspect you know the X300 are quite noisy drives.
To minimize the time I have to keep up with the noise I have set up the PC to turn off the drives after 15 minutes, however, this works sporadically – sometimes they will spin up every 15 min for 15 min, then go to sleep for 15 min, and so on, which drives me crazy. When the drives are spinning they are indeed too noisy and distracting, especially within a modern silent PC tower. I have been thinking to replace the two Toshiba drives with a single drive of size 12 or 16TB.
And here is my question – from your experience, which is the quietest 3.5 HDD? It can be for desktop use or for NAS – I don’t mind. It won’t be on 24/7, but sometimes I can leave the PC on for quite some time. I have been considering the option of an external NAS device, but to be honest, for now, it is too much hassle, and can’t justify the cost. Speed of the drive is not a priority as all the projects I’, working on are always moved to the SSD.
It is not always about the decibels. Sometimes data scrubbing on those drives can be really annoying. Somehow WD Red plus drives seem to be the most tolerable drives regarding the noise.
I have also added some specs to compare. I hope this helps.
| model | serial | capacity | noise | watts | rpm | speed |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST10000NE0008 | 10TB | 26.0 | 7.8 | 7,200 | 240MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST10000VN0008 | 10TB | 30.0 | 7.8 | 7,200 | 210MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST10000NT001 | 10TB | 30.0 | 10.1 | 7,200 | 263MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST10000NE000 | 10TB | 30.0 | 10.1 | 7,200 | 240MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST10000VN0008 | 10TB | 32.0 | 10.1 | 7,200 | 210MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD101KFBX | 10TB | 36.0 | 5.7 | 7,200 | 240 MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD101EFBX | 10TB | 38.0 | 8.4 | 7200 | 215 MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD102KFBX | 10TB | 38.0 | 8.4 | 7,200 | 265 MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST12000NT001 | 12TB | 26.0 | 7.8 | 7200 | 270MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST12000NE0008 | 12TB | 26.0 | 7.8 | 7200 | 240MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD120EFBX | 12TB | 29.0 | 6.3 | 7200 | 196 MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST12000VN0008 | 12TB | 30.0 | 7.3 | 7200 | 210MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD121KFBX | 12TB | 36.0 | 6 | 7200 | 240 MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST14000NT001 | 14TB | 26.0 | 7.6 | 7,200 | 270MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST14000NE0008 | 14TB | 26.0 | 7.6 | 7,200 | 255MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD140EFGX | 14TB | 29.0 | 6.5 | 7200 | 210 MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD140EFFX | 14TB | 29.0 | 6.5 | 7200 | 210 MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD141KFGX | 14TB | 36.0 | 6.2 | 7,200 | 255 MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST16000NT001 | 16TB | 26.0 | 7.6 | 7,200 | 270MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST16000NE000 | 16TB | 26.0 | 7.6 | 7,200 | 255MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD161KFGX | 16TB | 36.0 | 6.1 | 7,200 | 259 MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST18000NT001 | 18TB | 26.0 | 8 | 7,200 | 285MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST18000NE000 | 18TB | 26.0 | 8 | 7,200 | 260MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD181KFGX | 18TB | 36.0 | 6.1 | 7,200 | 272 MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST1000VN008 | 1TB | 21.0 | 3.1 | 5,400 | 180MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD10EFRX | 1TB | 22.0 | 3.3 | 5400 | 150 MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST1000VN002 | 1TB | 23.0 | 3.76 | 5,900 | 180MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST20000NT001 | 20TB | 26.0 | 7.7 | 7,200 | 285MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST20000NE000 | 20TB | 26.0 | 7.7 | 7,200 | 285MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD201KFGX | 20TB | 32.0 | 6.9 | 7,200 | 268 MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST22000NT001 | 22TB | 26.0 | 7.9 | 7,200 | 285MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD221KFGX | 22TB | 32.0 | 6.8 | 7,200 | 265 MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD240KFGX | 24TB | 32.0 | 6.4 | 7,200 | 287 MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST2000VN003 | 2TB | 21.0 | 3.1 | 5,400 | 180MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST2000VN004 | 2TB | 21.0 | 4.3 | 5,900 | 180MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD20EFZX | 2TB | 27.0 | 4.8 | 5400 | 175 MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST2000NT001 | 2TB | 30.0 | 6.7 | 7,200 | 226MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST2000NE001 | 2TB | 30.0 | 6.7 | 7,200 | 220MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD2002FFSX | 2TB | 31.0 | 7.8 | 7,200 | 164 MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST3000VN006 | 3TB | 25.0 | 3.7 | 5,400 | 202MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST3000VN007 | 3TB | 25.0 | 4.8 | 5,900 | 180MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD30EFZX | 3TB | 27.0 | 4.8 | 5400 | 175 MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST4000VN006 | 4TB | 25.0 | 3.7 | 5400 | 202MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST4000VN008 | 4TB | 25.0 | 4.8 | 5,900 | 180MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD40EFPX | 4TB | 27.0 | 4.7 | 5400 | 180 MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD40EFZX | 4TB | 27.0 | 4.8 | 5400 | 175 MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST4000NT001 | 4TB | 30.0 | 8.7 | 7,200 | 250MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST4000NE001 | 4TB | 30.0 | 8.7 | 7,200 | 220MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD4003FFBX | 4TB | 36.0 | 7.2 | 7,200 | 217 MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST6000VN006 | 6TB | 26.0 | 5.3 | 5,400 | 202MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST6000VN001 | 6TB | 27.0 | 5.3 | 5,400 | 190MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD60EFPX | 6TB | 27.0 | 4.7 | 5400 | 180 MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST6000NT001 | 6TB | 30.0 | 9.3 | 7,200 | 250MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST6000NE000 | 6TB | 30.0 | 9.3 | 7,200 | 220MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD60EFZX | 6TB | 30.0 | 6.2 | 5640 | 185 MB/s |
| Red PRO | WD6003FFBX | 6TB | 36.0 | 7.2 | 7,200 | 238 MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST8000VN002 | 8TB | 26.0 | 5.3 | 5400 | 202MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD80EFBX | 8TB | 29.0 | 8.8 | 7200 | 210 MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST8000NT001 | 8TB | 30.0 | 10.1 | 7,200 | 255MB/s |
| Ironwolf PRO | ST8000NE001 | 8TB | 30.0 | 10.1 | 7,200 | 240MB/s |
| Red Plus | WD80EFZZ | 8TB | 30.0 | 6.2 | 5640 | 185 MB/s |
| Ironwolf | ST8000VN004 | 8TB | 32.0 | 10.1 | 7,200 | 210MB/s |
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