Hello,
I do not understand. The 12 TB and 14 TB are 7200 rpm, the 6 TB is 5400 rpm. Doesn’t the noise level depend on the rpm?
According to the WD documentation:
12 TB (WD120EFBX) or 14 TB
Iddle: 20 dB SeeK: 29 dB
6 TB (WD60EFZX)
Iddle: 25 dB SeeK: 30 dB
So far, I didn’t want to buy a 2 bay, 2 x 12 TB HDD because I thought it would be noisier than a 4 bay, 4 x 6 TB HDD.
What is the truth?
You’re worrying over nothing. The difference between 20 and 30db is the difference between leaves rustling and someone whispering.
Perhaps the higher rpm drive produces a higher frequency sound, and since energy scales with frequency^2, the amplitude comes down?
I’m surprised you can hear the drive to begin with
db is also not a totally objective value of how you will “feel” about the noise. Higher pitched sound might be 5db lower, but feel more disturbing. The regularity of it is also important, as irregular sound will feel more disturbing too.
I would suspect the quieter at idle is because of helium.
I have both drives and can confirm the old bruisers are pretty loud.
Drives are going to be a little louder doing a random workload than when idle or doing sequential work
