Seagate EXOS Data Center HDD Noise Level Test

[@therealmakmillion]

Many overlook how the drives are being utilized. For example; 6x Exos x16 12TB drives in 3x mirrored pairs will yield different noise levels than those same 6x drives in Raidz2 or those same 6x drives in 2x striped Raidz1 vdevs. It's refreshing to find a video that takes this in to account. Thanks for sharing, one year ago.

[@tredfxman]

Its truly impressive how the Seagate Exos 7E8 seem more silent than even a Western Digital Red Plus when it comes to pure writing operations. The only problem soundwise seem to be happening once its reading & writing at the same time. It seems the only noise problems you will have when using this one PS4/PS5 system woul be on spinup. As idont think its made to read / write simontaneously? But correct me if im wrong here..? 🙂

[@DJMeku]

4:55 the video starts here! You're welcome

[@vivianvaldi7871]

You are much louder than the Seagate. Thx for the test, I think one way this can be more entertaining is that you compare your most silent hard drive (or a near contender) with the one in test, so can have some reference point.

[@goku445]

Not sure this was meant to be entertaining. This drive was almost silent in the test except when seeking.

[@fauguy23]

I just tried out 4 drives, Seagate Barracuda, Seagate Exos 7E2, Exos 782, and WD Gold (all 2TB for home PC drive replacement). The fastest and most quiet was the newer Seagate Exos 7E8 (up to 250MBs), the regular Barracuda was also quiet but tested speed was 212MBs. The WD Gold and Exos 7E2 were the loudest.

[@user-eo1tw9ly8q]

EXOS 7E8 might be the most queit one among Seagate HDDs, but it is the noisiest one among my HDDs.

[@fauguy23]

@@user-eo1tw9ly8q So what so you have that is quieter? Even the WD Gold was louder than the Seagate

[@youtubesucksdicks9474]

Thank you for your hard work, gentlemen (or ladies).

[@AlejandroMartinez-cl4kk]

What about the high capacity Toshiba drives? Enterprise line, up to 18tb

[@michaeltristan]

​@@AlejandroMartinez-cl4kk did you ever get an answer to your question?

[@AhmadZeyadah]

Thanks for the video, I was thinking that my drive is broken because of all that noises but it's seems is just normal. I like how you are so knowledgeable about hard drives, there are a lot of information on your videos in general. You deserve more subscribers, keep up the good work.

[@leeksoup3199]

I’m in the same situation, this video calmed my worries that my new drives were broken. I think it’s also that my case is amplifying the noise somewhat.

[@onemoreVR]

I would appreciate a table with noise measurements, and comparison to other drives. Without the comparison it doesn't make sense. I do have 10 Exos X14s and they are REALLY noisy, while on your test they don't produce any noise.

[@curedanxiety1679]

that's a exos x16 i believe, i myself have the x16 16TB one and can vouche they aren't that noisy as you described, also itmay be the fact you have 10 of them.

[@goku445]

Probably in a RAID configuration, the noise will add up.

[@ChargedPulsar]

Yes, without tables comparison values, it's just good storytelling, while still useful to some, I would appreciate the tables more.

[@Dimondgamer123]

Better than my wd red sounds like a geiger counter constantly

[@nascompares]

18TBs coming soon - slap on those earplugs!

[@DJJumpdancer]

maybe they are broken I can't hear mine ^^

[@Dimondgamer123]

@@DJJumpdancer i know i don't reckon its supposed to be like it but i only store games so im not bothered

[@ross2k220]

I kinda love the sound, I'm gonna get one to use as a gaming drive

[@ross2k220]

I have had it for a little while now, I can hear it from my bathroom, it's awesome I love it. "It's thinking"

[@vladimir_egay]

Thank you a lot for the nice tests! It helped me a lot with the decision on these drives!

[@wfujay3946]

I just replaced two 4TB Seagate IronWolf drives with 2 16TB Exos drives in a DS220+ and wow these are WAY louder. I could barely hear the IronWolf's, but when these are working there's much more audible "clicking" and "thunking" noises going on. I'm guessing it's due to the drastic size and platter differences on the drives.

[@talktherapymentalhealth8938]

True, same happened to me.

[@carymcc3280]

Thanks for posting up this video. I was curious about the EXOS because their price is really fantastic but am unsure because of the spin up/down as well as noise. My supermicro platform IS in my basement storage area but I would worry that if we moved and that was not an option that the server would become fairly unusable because of said noise. As of this posting(3/23/22) exos 14tb on Amazon are $237 whereas 12tb wd red plus are $239. I may sacrifice the 2tb for the lower noise and 2yr less warranty considering.

[@Hephasto]

Since it’s a nas compares topic I’d actually appreciate the comparison: sata vs sas, exos vs wolf and so on. It’s sometimes said that sas runs as a server room itself

[@rubenthijs746]

Some more info for the rest of us: If you want silence: WD140EFGX & WD120EFBX. But stay away from the WD 8TB red version, It seems the same on paper, but is night and day difference.... My criteria to select/find silent hard drives are: • ≤29dB in use • ≤20dB in idle • ≤6.5W in use

[@tredfxman]

Its truly impressive how the Seagate Exos 7E8 seem more silent than even a Western Digital Red Plus when it comes to pure writing operations. The only problem soundwise seem to be happening once its reading & writing at the same time. It seems the only noise problems you will have when using this one PS4/PS5 system woul be on spinup. As idont think its made to read / write simontaneously? But correct me if im wrong here..? 🙂

[@lordrefrigeratorintercoole288]

call me old or nostalgic, but i love the noise of a good hard drive. I do love the speed in gaming of an ssd, but big hard drives are still magical to me, thats why i still have an optical drive in my new desktop...it is a blueray drive though.

[@ericshutter5305]

couldn't hear the HDD noise over my desktop fans ;-) Exos are quiet enough for my new NAS :-)

[@troymcdonald]

I wish the additional test videos were linked to, so I could watch them.

[@mdh.3421]

I won’t lie, I was listening for seagulls the entire time 😂

[@nascompares]

*point at door that leads to the pavement that is caked in bird crap* I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave...

[@InspectorGadget2014]

I would like to nominate you for Doctor Hard Drive Noise Levels :) And all that for quite some time from your attic, what a dedication! Indeed, interests will be a wee bit limited for noise levels, but it is nice to know. But wait until you start measuring high-speed multi-port switches, especially 10GBe's these are truly loud!

[@WeaselSW]

I just got a EXOS into my personal computer (mistake) and I hear a very noticable clicking noise coming from inside the enclosure. Don't notice this in your review, but others have pointed out the same clicking noise. Although may be fine in a data center, definitely annoying in a PC, so will be returning.

[@jdavis460]

I have 8 16tb Exos in my Qnap nas. When they were first installed in the TVS-873e (new) they made a terrible noise and after awhile the nas would kill the power and shut down. Cut a long story short Qnap eventually supplied me with another new unit and that runs sweet as a nut no problem and hardly any noise just slight click now and then from the drives certainly nothing to worry about and I’m sitting next to it. Want to get some more Exos but the price has sky rocketed. I would add Seagates service when I initially thought the drives could be at fault was first class.

[@Hephasto]

Have you been hit by cryptolocker in 2021?

[@palmariusbjrnstad1682]

Enterprise drives like Exos are significantly cheaper than the home/NAS drives, where I am, in Norway. For instance, the price of the Exos X18 16TB, is slightly lower (US$409) than the cheapest large "NAS" drive I can find, WD Red Plus NAS 14 TB (which is on sale for 24% off). I'm very sensitive to noise (and limited placement options), so I'm afraid I have to go with the Red Plus anyway. The Exos supports something called PowerBalance, which I think is likely to reduce the seek noise at the cost of performance. There's a command to enable/disable it in SeaChest tools. Doesn't say what the default is, I suspect it's probably "ON". @NASCompares, any idea about that?

[@bepbopcombr]

The Red Plus or Pro the same noise in this case?

[@jaspervallentgoed6715]

Great. could you also provide an overview of the data so far? PRO vs exos? thx!

[@georgevavouras]

Um, why you say its loud? It may just be my device, but seems rather quiet to me. If I get it right, is it increasing the ambient sound by ~3-6db? Which means it almost doubles the sound level? Btw, I'm searching these to make a home nas in summer. ~2 12tb drives in raid1. Exos is about 100€cheaper than ironwolf pro. (Do you know any compact cheap case to reduce sound or should I just use foam?) P.S. Lol, are you watching what I'm searching online? Yesterday I was searching for ironwolf pro and their specs, including sound, and found a recent vid of yours. Today I found the exos series and bam, a vid of yours. ~Waiting what new drive you'll post tommorow (so that I might prefer this). P.P.S. It seems like russian bots comment on your vid with a random timestamp and a site link🤔.

[@loen6478]

those are some really smooth clicks, ive had barracudas and they are pretty annoying with a dirty click, cant wait for my exos to arrive

[@nicholassmerk]

I just ordered a used 6tb. I have a feeling it's going to be much quieter than my 15 year old drives.

[@SApitz72]

can you make a comparsion Seagate PRO vs. EXOS 20TB?

[@zinnz7750]

id say 48k views proves the video was worth making, thanks

[@mushroomcrepes]

I have been looking at a bunch of drives and the exos are the cheapest by far price per tb wise. But the reviews are 50/50 going from "so loud you can hear it through walls" to "I can put my ear up to it without hearing much"

[@realjohnfox]

Boot sequence sounds like a transformer waking up, lol

[@nascompares]

Good god I'm glad you said "waking up" and not the W where I thought that sentence was going.....phew

[@sinephase]

compared my 4TB WD black desktop drive, it's not bad and honestly my WD black seems louder, although I prefer the deeper, crunchy sounds of the WD black compared to these higher pitched ticks

[@donsylvester5275]

Question: I'm a very casual NAS user. Have a 2 Bay QNAP NAS for 4 years now. Love it!!! ... but really just for storing and safekeeping my pics and vids. I've begun recording in 4K and that is filling my old 4 TB WD Red HDD's (RAID 1). I'm thinking of installing a pair of 16 TB Exos HDD's because they are much LESS cost per TB than IronWolf NAS HDD's here in Canada. BUT ... I'm not a Tech God ... I need plug and play. Is Exos reasonable or stupid for me? Small explanation of your answer pls? Thx!!

[@Hephasto]

@vrabaci pretty much sure both ironwolf and exos are PnP

[@helthuismartin]

I love computernoices to death.

[@Euragone68]

My Seagate Exos 16TB is very loud, I really wished I'd have gotten an Iron Wolf instead for my Home Theater Media Drive!

[@misterPAINMAKER]

I have a BE QUIET CASE so i think the noise won't be so loud. I really want to buy an EXOS X20 18TB for my video games.

[@kevinlsims7330]

I Have 3 Of The 12TB EXOS 16 Drives And 3 Of The EXOS 16 14TB Drives! I Have Never Been Able To Get 250MB/Second But Since i Am Using A USB3 Enclosure I Dont Think I Ever Will!! I Use These To Back Up All of My DVR'ed TV Shows That I Have Been Collecting Since I Built My 1st PC Back In 2005! That # Is In The 10's Of Thousands Now! Since I Bought These Drives Refurbished I Expect 1 To Fail Anyday! But They Have Not! The Oldest drive Being In My Possession For 2+ Years!

[@incaseofimportantnegotiations]

and then it goes BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR in the middle of a night

[@hassan_ksu]

I'm thinking of buying Exos or Ironwolf pro both 14tb. The Exos is $20 cheaper but I'm worried of the noise. I'm currently running 4tb Ironwolf. Any suggestions?

[@alexcapone3284]

I have a 5 bay Synology that I plan to install in a bedroom closet. If I filled up all 5 bays with EXOS and kept the closet door closed would it be loud enough to hear?

[@Raskolnikovbey]

how did this turn out for you? I intend to install a similar setup, only its 4 bay and not will be in a bedroom closet

[@WildHorseProductions]

I currently have the Barracuda Pro, 3 of them in a tower and they seem quite okay. These EXOS drives look like they're significantly more noisy.

[@bestsoftwaresolution]

great video

[@bobbymoss6160]

When you introduce DC HDD into a SSD environment, Good Lord! I hope your brain will get used to the white noise.

[@jay30840230]

Hi I'm using the same exact sabrent dock you have and exos x20 20tb. But its not showing on my laptop legion 7 6th gen. What could be the problem or do I have to do something to make it show?

[@levitezer]

I came here simply to hear how the HDD sounds, but so long and so much talking and on those places there is silence to hear the HDD it is gained so low that I can not hear it...

[@mdjaman7348]

great video you are great man love you 🙂

[@45eno]

Just cancelled my order for my x10 for $205. I have very basic storage needs for my personal media. I have 4 drives in non raid in an old Antec 900 case stored behind my TV in the living room. They usually are not accessed that often except for when I open up my photo collection. I loved the warranty and specs but concerned that I wouldn't want to live with it in my living room. What drives are good for light use storage drive that stays on 24/7 in a desktop used as a server to other PC's in the house. And there is excellent airflow in that old Antec 900 case. 120mm fan intaking air across them and a 200mm fan venting air out. Very good cooling for the drive so heat isn't a issue. Longevity and reasonably quiet. My old WD black drives are a bit too noisy for my needs here but my greens are more than enough for quiet. What 8tb-12tb drive should I consider for quiet and quality?

[@simonamyot-bourgeois6982]

I should have done that because the X10 I received is very loud when seeking and it's seeking all the time. I'll probably return it and order a WD Red plus instead which seems to have quiter seeking noise. If it's just as loud I don't know what I'll do my NAS is in the living room.

[@Adri9570]

@@simonamyot-bourgeois6982 Hi! Did you buy some HDD? How bearable was the seeking noise? I want a "nap friendly" HDD but with 10 or 12TB, so I'm doubting between Iron Wolf and WD Red Plus of that sizes.

[@simonamyot-bourgeois6982]

@@Adri9570 Hey there. I got a WD Red Plus instead. It's much less noisy than the Seagate Exos X10. But I got a 8TB instead of 10TB that I had with the X10 if that maked a difference.

[@dafe3106]

I have one along 3WD Blue 6tb smr drives in a meshy gaming case. The smr drives didn't really add any extra perceivable noise but this one... I was seriously concerned that it's already about to kick the bucket. Seems like I'm going to build a nas soon that is out of earshot...

[@ko95]

fantastic! thank you

[@adriangabrieljones881]

Thank you for the video.

[@kurthugger9107]

What about putting them im PCs

[@ms-ex8em]

does any1 know if the exos x18 by seagate is compatible with the Dell 3881 ?? thanks................

[@tntparapleion]

does seagate exos drive make a startup noise

[@SuicidalTwinkie]

Could you (or anyone) give any insight on how loud this drive would be compared to a WD Black HDD? I have a 3TB WD Black drive (from around 2015 or so) and its louder than any other hard drive that I've used (Some 1TB WD Blue's, but mostly 2TB Barracudas), It's not bothersome though, it's not obscenely loud. I've been looking at either upgrading to a 8TB WD Blue, or one of these Seagate Exos X18 12TB drives because I can get them for a good price refurbished (refurbished doesn't really concern me). But I see a good few people saying they're loud, but my question is how loud, because it's not like my WD Black is quiet. I looked up the rated acoustics for the Exos and my WD Black, and they're supposedly in the same range, so at the moment I'm leaning towards the Exos.

[@heypmp.5728]

I feel like my barracuda is way louder and it shouldn't be 💀

[@peny1981]

So this discs are quiter than wd red pro ?

[@goku445]

Was it an X16?

[@chriscardwell3495]

ROBBIE - I can NOT use you web site to buy products - the web site does not appear to be working - have tried 2 different web browsers Nobody is answering the phone -

[@BasNunnikhoven]

I tried the same but with the 18tb exos drive... When I put it in my powered HDD enclosure I hear a beeping sound in a stable timing. Is it the power that is too low? If yes, what external enclosure do you use?

[@talktherapymentalhealth8938]

What sound meter app are you using?

[@trulsvian]

Hi. From watching some of your reviews (and others) i just bit the bullet and ordered a DS1821+. The downside is that i have two EXOS 18TB drives already in my mirrored pool and i want to use them in the DS1821+ but Synology doesnt list ANY 18TB drives as compatible on their website. I enquired Synology an they stated that they where considered incompattible until tested, are they just slow to test new drives?

[@mnordin]

To be fair - Synology is slow in adapting *anything*

[@cybermorph]

Yes I have 16tb in mine, not approved yet but work fine.

[@krzys46kw]

I think I will buy it 20tb fow gamez😆

[@jaydmorales23]

starts at 4:50

[@Duckers_McQuack]

Well, it will be interesting how the exos 16TB will do in my synology until summer when i'm gonna get a 18TB or 2 for a nas i will build myself with unraid :) Also, which program did you use to share the screen of your phone?

[@Hephasto]

I either didn’t get your point or I don’t see why unraid if you already have dsm 7 ?

[@Duckers_McQuack]

@@Hephasto Because i plan to build a i3 10/12 gen with 8GB dualchannel ram nas this summer which will run unraid with 6 drive licence in a case with either 4 or 6 drive support. And for the price i plan to build that nas with, i get pretty piss poor specs and capacity support from synology. For the same price, you get a weak cpu and ram synology disk station. Plus with a unraid server, i plan to use a proper nvme as the cache drive as well as indexing for much faster access to the web GUI.

[@Hephasto]

@@Duckers_McQuack alright you must be so demanding if you bother with this setup, but I gotta admit synology is quite weak at hw and upgrading

[@Duckers_McQuack]

@@Hephasto I mean, yeah. Cause the reason i want to have a storage pool of 3-4 drives and have a nvme as a cache/indexing drive.

[@Dream0Asylum]

Obviously, the solution is to run the cheapest, loudest, highest capacity enterprise HDD you can get your hands on ... and run it externally in a 5 cm thick foam enclosure. 20TB, always ready, cheap as hell - and quiet as the day is long ... from the outside. 😆

[@krzys46kw]

I hear someone typing hha

[@larry_1096]

i loveu

[@mfmahmoo]

Goddamn this guy drags his videos out.

[@nascompares]

I think you spelt "thank you for this free video on the internet that answered a question that I had, that I was unable to find the answer to elsewhere" wrong... Easy mistake to make...

[@Dragoslav369]

Who care about noise.

[@dobrescusilviu4189]

Umm most people who build a home server? I specifically searched for this kind of video because I am building a storage server and I have to place it in my bedroom and was wondering if HDDs are too noisy and won't let me sleep lol

[@86ortega]

@@dobrescusilviu4189 Did you end up buying anything? I have the same concerns

[@TheNotoriousNemo]

Thanks for this video