WD Caviar Green HDDs Suffer from a Critical Design Flaw

[Gornot]

I got a WDC3200AAKS-00L9A0 Caviar Blue, and I think it's crap, IF it turns out THAT's what's causing a strange, low rumbling sound like a frikken engine every so often.

By the way, is 37 degrees (C) normal HDD temperature?

 

[mjf]

Personal views:
For me I would consider 37C a good temperature.
I have a mix of WDs & Seagates + 1 Hitachi. Their temps vary by Brand but mainly by:
1) Disk access/load
2) Ambient temp
3) Cooling
Check manufacturer for maximum operating temp. Many rate to 60C.
I would not be happy with a consistent 50C+

If your HDD is making a loud noise and firmly attached with mounting screws then I'd return it if still under warranty.

 

[Gornot]

I doubt it, stores over here sell HDDs like cheese. You buy it, you get stuck with it.
Thanks for the info, though.

 

[Alllant]

Have WD 5000aads 00s9bo 500gb ata drive is this a problem disk drive ??

Also is this causing my "not responding" problem which happens all the time and the disk light stays on until I either hit the magic button or it eventually corrects itself ???

Help !!!!

 

[biggles1000]

and to think I was strongly considering getting a WD Green for my next build... :S
Looks like it's back to Seagate for me then :/

there is no problem..

All the Western Digital Caviar Green HDDs that are shipping now are set to park their heads after 8 seconds of inactivity, so this fix is required if such problems are encountered.

WD Caviar Green HDDs Suffer from a Critical Design Flaw - Softpedia

still sounds a bit risky :S
I've had 3 HDDs die on me (admittedly none were WD, they were all Hitachi). All Seagates i've had have had a major failure once, but then work fine after fixing it
Are WD drives (ignoring this fault then, such as ignoring the Sandy Bridge flaw) as good as Seagates? I want something that runs spretty quietly, and WD say the green is quiet, but how quiet?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

still sounds a bit risky :S
I've had 3 HDDs die on me (admittedly none were WD, they were all Hitachi). All Seagates i've had have had a major failure once, but then work fine after fixing it
Are WD drives (ignoring this fault then, such as ignoring the Sandy Bridge flaw) as good as Seagates? I want something that runs spretty quietly, and WD say the green is quiet, but how quiet?

The current generation of WD drives has a good reputation, probably better than Seagate. Samsungs also have a good reputation. Any brand can fail and you can easily find horror stories about any of them.

The major source of noise in a PC is more likely fans than drives. I have a WD green drive and a WD black and both are quiet enough to suit me and I appreciate low noise drives.

Anything with moving parts makes noise to some degree. Only SSDs are silent.

The best way to quiet your PC generally is to use low noise fans in a case known to suppress noise to begin with. That's much easier than trying to silence a noisy case with noisy fans.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

OH

I got a WDC3200AAKS-00L9A0 Caviar Blue, and I think it's crap, IF it turns out THAT's what's causing a strange, low rumbling sound like a frikken engine every so often.

By the way, is 37 degrees (C) normal HDD temperature?

I was thinking getting Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB WD5000AAKX as a second drive for my build now I'm wondering if I should go another brnd as I've had a few rtabag WD externals.

Am after a 6Gbs so any alternatives?

As an afterthought someone mentioned noise - have a Samsung Spinpoint 103HJ which I was told was quite but it sounds like someone running their fingenails along the botom of the case when in use - normal??

 

[biggles1000]

The current generation of WD drives has a good reputation, probably better than Seagate. Samsungs also have a good reputation. Any brand can fail and you can easily find horror stories about any of them.

The major source of noise in a PC is more likely fans than drives. I have a WD green drive and a WD black and both are quiet enough to suit me and I appreciate low noise drives.

Anything with moving parts makes noise to some degree. Only SSDs are silent.

The best way to quiet your PC generally is to use low noise fans in a case known to suppress noise to begin with. That's much easier than trying to silence a noisy case with noisy fans.

Thankyou for your knowledge from experience
The 200GB Hitachi I had in my build that died was incredibly noisy. The much older 80GB drive was much quieter. I'm tallking about a noise that was even louder than the ten year old PSU
Noises like *wrrrrrTTTTTTTTT* *DRRRRRRRTTTTTT* *KAKLUNK* *DRRRTT* * KAKLUNK* *BANG* (yes, seriously, there was a loud bang like noise once)
Is the clicking from your drive's audible/barely audible?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hiyya

Hiyya biggles (expat Sussex here) if you were referring to me with -
Is the clicking from your drive's audible/barely audible? Then yes mate it is the Samsung was recommended for the build as it was good and quiet.

Plus I have six fans running - Nexus "Real Silents" and the drive is way louder than all put together including the PSU one (Corsair HX 650).

So am thinking of fitting a Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST3500413AS as it is quoted to have improved audio characteristics and it's 6bs transfer rate to boot (no pun intended but hey what the heck) at AUD$49 if it is only slightly less noisy I'm ahead..

 

[GeneO]

I got a WDC3200AAKS-00L9A0 Caviar Blue, and I think it's crap, IF it turns out THAT's what's causing a strange, low rumbling sound like a frikken engine every so often.

By the way, is 37 degrees (C) normal HDD temperature?

I was thinking getting Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB WD5000AAKX as a second drive for my build now I'm wondering if I should go another brnd as I've had a few rtabag WD externals.

Am after a 6Gbs so any alternatives?

As an afterthought someone mentioned noise - have a Samsung Spinpoint 103HJ which I was told was quite but it sounds like someone running their fingenails along the botom of the case when in use - normal??

Why are you after a 6Gb/s (600MB/s link speed) Hard drive? The only device that can take advantage of the 6Gb/s are Solid state drives. Hard drives can't even hit the 3 Gb/s (300 MB/s link speed). The best 7200 RPM hard drives can do about 120 MB/s tops. Even the 10,000 RPM velociraptor can only do 145 MB/s tops. Hard drive transfer rates are limited by their rotation speed which is much less than the SATA link speed. IOW you won't see any performance gain with a 6Gb/s drive over a 3Gb/s.

 

[biggles1000]

Hiyya biggles (expat Sussex here) if you were referring to me with -
Is the clicking from your drive's audible/barely audible? Then yes mate it is the Samsung was recommended for the build as it was good and quiet.

Plus I have six fans running - Nexus "Real Silents" and the drive is way louder than all put together including the PSU one (Corsair HX 650).

So am thinking of fitting a Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST3500413AS as it is quoted to have improved audio characteristics and it's 6bs transfer rate to boot (no pun intended but hey what the heck) at AUD$49 if it is only slightly less noisy I'm ahead..

thanks for the recommendation
I think i'll go for a 500GB Barracuda as well then (I do need to store lots of data, but I prefer to have it spread across several 500GB drives rather than one 2TB drive incase one fails.) Yeah, when I built my now dead PC, I was expecting the knackered PSU fan to be the loudest, but the HDD beat it by miles with some very worrying sounds

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hiyya Gene

No mate it was a Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST3500413AS and no I didn't know that the higher data rate is not possible.

Just that I have a 3.0 USB external drive that outstrips the 2.0 ones for backups by a factor of 4 - 8min as opposed to 35 with a 2.0USB ext HDD so naturally as the board supports 6Gbs I thought why not use one?

 

[GeneO]

No mate it was a Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST3500413AS and no I didn't know that the higher data rate is not possible.

Just that I have a 3.0 USB external drive that outstrips the 2.0 ones for backups by a factor of 4 - 8min as opposed to 35 with a 2.0USB ext HDD so naturally as the board supports 6Gbs I thought why not use one?

No reason not to. In fact a 6Gb/s drive will work on a 3Gb/s controller. Just saying you shouldn't limit your choices by ruling out 3Gb/s drives.

The reason USB 3.0 outstrips USB 2.0 is because USB 2.0 is limited to about 60GB/s, so is less than your hard drive capability so limits it. USB 3.0 is above your hard drive capabilities, so doesn't. With SATA both 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s do't can transfer faster than your hard drive can deliver.

Cheers

Gene

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok

Thanks Gene one of the other reasons for asking was that the Samsung is brand new in my new build (Gigabyte H67A-UD3H -B3 mobo) and rather noisier than I though it would be.


Anyway replacing it at current prices isn't going to be an issue - a nuisance yes but.., hence my query re data transfer speed.

 

[GeneO]

Thanks Gene one of the other reasons for asking was that the Samsung is brand new in my new build (Gigabyte H67A-UD3H -B3 mobo) and rather noisier than I though it would be.


Anyway replacing it at current prices isn't going to be an issue - a nuisance yes but.., hence my query re data transfer speed.

A hum from the Samsung - I heard about that - was considering them myself. The WD Blue & Green and a lot of the Seagates are very quiet - I find the WD more reliable and better overall performers at this point in time.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Gene

Yeah mate it isn't so much a hum as like some mad pixie drummig a beat out on the casing if it or like I said one scraping your fngernails along the machine case bottom.

Anyway cheap enough to get another (Seagate) and try it eh?

 

[lehnerus2000]

Thanks Guys

I wonder if this explains why my WD 1 TB HDD (2009) has "better looking" SMART stats, than my WD 1.5 TB HDD (2010).

 

[DeaconFrost]

Would these drives be any better in a RAID config than WD Green drives?

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda Green ST1500DL003 1.5TB 5900 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

 

[EvilOzzmess]

Looks like the Caviar Green [FONT=&quot]WD5000AACS-00ZUB0 in my Cavalry External is safe. Whew.
[/FONT]

 

[lehnerus2000]

Never Park?

I have a desktop and saving a few watts isn't a high priority (unlike a portable computer).

Is there an upper limit or "never park" option?
Can I set the time to anything I like (e.g. 43200)?

Update
You can disable the timer using this command:

wdidle3 /d
​

You can view the timer status using this command:

wdidle3 /r
​