# New Toshiba X300 6TB HDD - Clicking Noise When Writing Data and Loud Noise in General?



## Flogger23m (Mar 17, 2018)

Recently received a new Toshiba X300 6TB HDD. I am a bit worried as this drive is much louder than any other HDD I've ever owned and when writing large amounts of data I hear a minor clicking sound every 5-6 seconds. When this drive is plugged in the noise emitted from my case at idle practically doubles and you can certainly hear the X300 6TB, which sounds like a muted grinding noise. However the noise is far from being "loud", but in a quiet room you will hear it.

Here is an admittedly poor quality video I took which has the "clicking noises" (when writing data):









Crystal Disk Info:


http://imgur.com/yv7CwDF


My case is a Fractal Design Define S, which does include rubberized spacers for the HDDs to minimize the sound as well as padding on the side panels. For reference, I've only ever had 7,200 RPM drives including WD Blacks were are practically silent in comparison. Currently I run a 5 year old WD Black 2TB which is essentially noiseless, as well as a 7,200 RPM Toshiba 3TB P300 which is also essentially noiseless.

Does this seem normal for an X300 6TB? I've read reviews of this drive being quiet but it is certainly louder than any WD Black or Seagate 7,200 RPM I've ever owned.

Testing wise I've disconnected case fans to see if any were wearing out one by one and those made no difference. The noise levels return to near silent when I remove the X300 and return when I reinstall it, so it is clearly the X300 and not a case fan or the WD Black.


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 17, 2018)

Just a theory but because of the size there are a lot more platters stacked in there so “bouncing” between them during read/writes may be a little noisier than smaller drives.


----------



## MrGenius (Mar 17, 2018)

I just bought myself the 5TB version about a week ago. Ran it for half a day and decided there's no way I'm going to accept that much noise from a HD that I spent that much money on. Read the newegg reviews. You, me, and a bunch more of us saying the exact same thing. "Loudest HD I've ever owned". Mine's boxed up waiting to be returned for a refund at Fry's ASAP.


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 17, 2018)

So MrGenius has pretty much confirmed my theory that these large drives make more noise pretty much because of the multiple platters and the heads moving around them.


----------



## MrGenius (Mar 17, 2018)

I'm not in a position to agree or disagree with that...yet. I too am the owner of a WD Black(1TB) that's absolutely whisper quiet. I do plan on purchasing another High Performance 4TB+ HD(WD Black or Seagate Barracuda Pro) to replace it when I get my refund in hand. So I'll know soon enough if that theory holds water. I tend to think they can make them quiet if they want to though. My HGST Deskstar 1TB HD is almost as loud as the Toshiba X300. Whereas, like I said, my WD Black 1TB is almost inaudible. Even with my ear within 2 inches of it(in my open case) I can just barely hear it.


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 17, 2018)

1TB drives have 4 platters in them(I have 2 1TB WD Blacks in RAID 0) Those big drives have double that in them so in turn more heads so more noise to go with them doing their thing.
Edit: looked up platter counts


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 17, 2018)

You both are over-reacting somewhat. So they're a bit noisy. Not really a big deal. They are nothing compared to hard drives even 10 years ago and far more quiet than SCSI/IDE hard drives from 15 or 20 years ago. If they work and perform well, keep them or sell them to someone who doesn't/won't care about the noise.


MrGenius said:


> Mine's boxed up waiting to be returned for a refund at Fry's ASAP.


It's unethical and immoral to take a perfectly functional drive back to a retailer just because it's more noisy than you like.


----------



## R-T-B (Mar 17, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> It's unethical and immoral to take a perfectly functional drive back to a retailer just because it's more noisy than you like.



Depends on the return policy.  A few places around me have a period for a "satisfaction guarantee" or similar.

They usually cost more to cover it, of course.


----------



## FreedomEclipse (Mar 17, 2018)

totally normal, I have used the 4TB and have two 6TB versions in my NAS. Yes they are LOUD because the 'X' series of drives are built for performance If you want quieter drives go with the 'P' series of Toshiba drives. I have a lot of the P series and they are much quieter. The only issue with the P300 series is they dont come in bigger sizes so 3TB is the largest you can get.

I have two P300s in my current PC


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 17, 2018)

If hitachi updates disk fitness test, get it and test the drive, if it passes that test there is nothing  to worry about


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 17, 2018)

R-T-B said:


> A few places around me have a period for a "satisfaction guarantee" or similar.


I've never seen something like that before. I'm certain FRY's doesn't have that kind of policy for something like hard drive noise.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 17, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I've never seen something like that before. I'm certain FRY's doesn't have that kind of policy for something like hard drive noise.



Noise is typically not covered in most places.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 17, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Noise is typically not covered in most places.


Right. If the drives were advertised as being ultra quiet and was then noisy, that would be a different and valid reason. But Toshiba does not advertise such on their performance drive ranges, or even their standard lines, that I can find.


----------



## Flogger23m (Mar 17, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> You both are over-reacting somewhat. So they're a bit noisy.



But is that kind of clicking supposed to be normal? That is what I am worried about.

As for the idle noise, I wouldn't consider a ~100% noise increase to be "a bit". It isn't deafeningly loud, but you certainly do notice it. I know the WD Blacks were more pricey and maybe I should've went with another to keep a quiet PC.  



FreedomEclipse said:


> The only issue with the P300 series is they dont come in bigger sizes so 3TB is the largest you can get.
> 
> I have two P300s in my current PC



I was certainly satisfied with my P300 in terms of performance / noise. It was going to replace my WD Black 2TB and the X300 the 3TB P300.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 17, 2018)

Flogger23m said:


> But is that kind of clicking supposed to be normal? That is what I am worried about.
> 
> As for the idle noise, I wouldn't consider a ~100% noise increase to be "a bit". It isn't deafeningly loud, but you certainly do notice it. I know the WD Blacks were more pricey and maybe I should've went with another to keep a quiet PC.
> 
> ...



Try this tool

https://www.hgst.com/support/hard-drive-support/downloads

WinDFT, if it detects your drive run it.

I used IBM DFT then and it would do a thorough test of a drive, could do some repairs too.

If your drive is supported you can run this tool, if it turns up nothing on the test it is fine.


----------



## R-T-B (Mar 17, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Right. If the drive were advertised as being ultra quiet and was then noisy, that would be different and valid reason. But Toshiba does not advertise such on their performance drive ranges, or even their standard lines, that I can find.



Fair point.


----------



## MrGenius (Mar 17, 2018)

Fry's has a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. It applies to hard drives and a lot of other things. They take a certain percentage off the price you paid and refund you the rest. They then put a new lowered price tag on it and put it back on the shelf for sale. The next guy comes in and sees that he can get it at a bargain price, or pay full price. People, including myself, know that the product is only very slightly(if at all) used, was then returned because somebody didn't like it for whatever reason, and choose to buy it for the bargain price. It's a win win win. Everybody's happy. The ethics of the perfect world survive untarnished.


----------



## Flogger23m (Mar 17, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Try this tool
> 
> https://www.hgst.com/support/hard-drive-support/downloads
> 
> ...



Giving that tool a try. Doing the SMART Extended Test. Been stuck on the 3rd bar for a while. Roughly how long should the test take? I can leave it running over night.


----------



## Upgrayedd (Mar 17, 2018)

I have two of the 5TB X300's and when I put them in and installed a few games on them I never noticed any unusual noise levels while writing or reading. I actually thought mine were pretty damn quiet. Nothing out of the usual as for HDD noises.


----------



## Readlight (Mar 17, 2018)

Hard drive prices dropped  30-40 euro


----------



## cucker tarlson (Mar 17, 2018)

FreedomEclipse said:


> totally normal, I have used the 4TB and have two 6TB versions in my NAS. Yes they are LOUD because the 'X' series of drives are built for performance If you want quieter drives go with the 'P' series of Toshiba drives. I have a lot of the P series and they are much quieter. The only issue with the P300 series is they dont come in bigger sizes so 3TB is the largest you can get.
> 
> I have two P300s in my current PC


Agreed. P300 is acceptable as far as noise and plenty fast (for a HDD).

I'm looking forward to replacing two 7200rpm HDDs with a 5900rpm IronWolf, unless the OP really requires 7200rpm HDDs in his rig, I suggest returning the X300 and doing the same thing. They're much quieter and not so much slower. If you're after speed, the new helium barracuda pro's just eat the traditional competition 
they don't produce less noise than traditional 7200 hdds though.

de:md loading a savegame

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow...eagate_barracuda_pro_10_tb_hel_yeah?page=0,10

file copy

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow...seagate_barracuda_pro_10_tb_hel_yeah?page=0,5

game install

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow...seagate_barracuda_pro_10_tb_hel_yeah?page=0,9

multitasking (file copy + game install)

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow...seagate_barracuda_pro_10_tb_hel_yeah?page=0,8


----------



## yotano211 (Mar 17, 2018)

I have 2 of the 8tb model x300, I have the same issue with noise. But my sit in a external drive so I dont really care about the noise.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 17, 2018)

MrGenius said:


> Fry's has a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. It applies to hard drives and a lot of other things. They take a certain percentage off the price you paid and refund you the rest. They then put a new lowered price tag on it and put it back on the shelf for sale. The next guy comes in and sees that he can get it at a bargain price, or pay full price. People, including myself, know that the product is only very slightly(if at all) used, was then returned because somebody didn't like it for whatever reason, and choose to buy it for the bargain price. It's a win win win. Everybody's happy. The ethics of the perfect world survive untarnished.


Did not know that. It's been a while since I've last been to a FRY's. Personally would just live with it rather than take the loss, but that's me. Then again, noise isn't a big deal here.


----------



## cucker tarlson (Mar 17, 2018)

I personally would not be too concerned with the writing noise, although it is too loud. It reminds me of the noise of HDDs back in the 1990s/early 2000s, they were really noisy when writing and the noise they produced was very similar/the same. Well, at least the drive is very fast (for a HDD) so you got something to show for the amount of noise it makes. I'm more conerned with what you said about the drive making a lot of noise in general, that is a real pain in the ass with those 7200rpm drives, they produce a lot noise when spinning.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 17, 2018)

Flogger23m said:


> Giving that tool a try. Doing the SMART Extended Test. Been stuck on the 3rd bar for a while. Roughly how long should the test take? I can leave it running over night.



It may take awhile, its not a fast test, it is a pretty thorough one though


----------



## Jetster (Mar 17, 2018)

I have the same drive. It makes noise but nothing like the 3tb drives I have. As long as the smart data is good then your fine. Try placing some rubber or something wedged next to it. It could just be vibration on some lose piece of metal in the case


----------



## Flogger23m (Mar 17, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> It may take awhile, its not a fast test, it is a pretty thorough one though



Got it, going to run that over night.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 17, 2018)

Flogger23m said:


> Got it, going to run that over night.



Good, just follow up with us, post screen shots of it when finished too.


----------



## Flogger23m (Mar 17, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Good, just follow up with us, post screen shots of it when finished too.



Will do.

One other thing I do find a bit odd (given my small sample size of WD Blacks, Seagates, a Tosbhia P300 and X300 4TB) is that when the X300 6TB is at idle the grinding noise does go away after a while, but randomly returns. I am assuming that is some kind of power saving state?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 18, 2018)

Flogger23m said:


> when the X300 6TB is at idle the grinding noise does go away after a while, but randomly returns. I am assuming that is some kind of power saving state?


That sounds more like something loose vibrating to the resonance of the drive in the case/housing. Are you making sure all the screw are tight, wires and attachments are secured?


----------



## Flogger23m (Mar 18, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> That sounds more like something loose vibrating to the resonance of the drive in the case/housing. Are you making sure all the screw are tight, wires and attachments are secured?



Yeah, removed and reinstalled it a few times. My other drives in the same spot/mount don't have any noise or excessive clicking.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 18, 2018)

Flogger23m said:


> Yeah, removed and reinstalled it a few times. My other drives in the same spot/mount don't have any noise or excessive clicking.


Then perhaps your threshold for noise needs adjustment. People who want the latest and greatest need to accept that there will be trade-offs. Price, increased power use, extra heat and noise all factor into the equation of performance parts. It's just a fact of life. If you want a quieter drive, you have to either buy an SSD(and if you can find a 6TB SSD it will be *very* expensive) or go with a lower performance 5400rpm model. High performance parts make more noise. You want hear really noisy? Get an SAS card and a 15000RPM SAS drive. THOSE drives are noisy.


----------



## kastriot (Mar 18, 2018)

Both of them have OCD/Neurotic so it's subjective.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 18, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Then perhaps your threshold for noise needs adjustment. People who want the latest and greatest need to accept that there will be trade-offs. Price, increased power use, extra heat and noise all factor into the equation of performance parts. It's just a fact of life. If you want a quieter drive, you have to either buy an SSD(and if you can find a 6TB SSD it will be *very* expensive) or go with a lower performance 5400rpm model. High performance parts make more noise. You want hear really noisy? Get an SAS card and a 15000RPM SAS drive. THOSE drives are noisy.


My 1TB Velociraptor makes alot of noise, it is music to my ears because it's working.



lexluthermiester said:


> Then perhaps your threshold for noise needs adjustment. People who want the latest and greatest need to accept that there will be trade-offs. Price, increased power use, extra heat and noise all factor into the equation of performance parts. It's just a fact of life. If you want a quieter drive, you have to either buy an SSD(and if you can find a 6TB SSD it will be *very* expensive) or go with a lower performance 5400rpm model. High performance parts make more noise. You want hear really noisy? Get an SAS card and a 15000RPM SAS drive. THOSE drives are noisy.



Some drive makers provide firmware tools to adjust power profiles.

Hitachi in 2006 did.


----------



## Flogger23m (Mar 18, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Then perhaps your threshold for noise needs adjustment. People who want the latest and greatest need to accept that there will be trade-offs. Price, increased power use, extra heat and noise all factor into the equation of performance parts. It's just a fact of life. If you want a quieter drive, you have to either buy an SSD(and if you can find a 6TB SSD it will be *very* expensive) or go with a lower performance 5400rpm model. High performance parts make more noise. You want hear really noisy? Get an SAS card and a 15000RPM SAS drive. THOSE drives are noisy.



Okay we get it, you like old noisy drives. I really don't care. You're not being helpful and you're not looking "cool" because  you like grinding noisy drives when just about any other 7,200 RPM drive is half as quiet with the same performance. I'm not running a server and don't care to, so I am not sure why you keep bringing up server parts or quality circa 1990s. You're merely digging your hole deeper with these continued posts. 

From the sounds of others who own these same X300 6TB drives,  apparently they don't hear the loud clicking/"thunks" when writing. I have a 4TB X300 which is also practically silent (like the WD Blacks). So far it looks good according to the SMART Extended test. I've sent a message to the retailer in anycase. If they're okay with an exchange I'll take them up on their offer, if not, lets hope I just got an exceptionally loud drive but one that lasts a long time!


----------



## R00kie (Mar 18, 2018)

I've got an X300 4TB in my system, it's pretty much the loudest part, it's clicking away right now as I write this, but after a year of using it, I pretty much got used to it, as I game with a headset anyway.
Although I do admit, it is the fastest hard drive I've ever owned, and that tremendously helps with loading times.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 18, 2018)

Flogger23m said:


> Okay we get it, you like old noisy drives. I really don't care. You're not being helpful and you're not looking "cool" because  you like grinding noisy drives when just about any other 7,200 RPM drive is half as quiet with the same performance. I'm not running a server and don't care to, so I am not sure why you keep bringing up server parts or quality circa 1990s. You're merely digging your hole deeper with these continued posts.
> 
> From the sounds of others who own these same X300 6TB drives,  apparently they don't hear the loud clicking/"thunks" when writing. I have a 4TB X300 which is also practically silent (like the WD Blacks). So far it looks good according to the SMART Extended test. I've sent a message to the retailer in anycase. If they're okay with an exchange I'll take them up on their offer, if not, lets hope I just got an exceptionally loud drive but one that lasts a long time!



How was dft?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 19, 2018)

Flogger23m said:


> Okay we get it, you like old noisy drives. I really don't care. You're not being helpful and you're not looking "cool" because  you like grinding noisy drives when just about any other 7,200 RPM drive is half as quiet with the same performance. I'm not running a server and don't care to, so I am not sure why you keep bringing up server parts or quality circa 1990s. You're merely digging your hole deeper with these continued posts.
> 
> From the sounds of others who own these same X300 6TB drives,  apparently they don't hear the loud clicking/"thunks" when writing. I have a 4TB X300 which is also practically silent (like the WD Blacks). So far it looks good according to the SMART Extended test. I've sent a message to the retailer in anycase. If they're okay with an exchange I'll take them up on their offer, if not, lets hope I just got an exceptionally loud drive but one that lasts a long time!


Ok then. The point of my comments were to help you understand that if the drive works as it should, the noise isn't a big deal and should not worry you. If it's that much of an irritation, then sell it to someone that won't be bothered by such noise. If the retailer is willing to take it back for that reason then you're cool.


----------



## Flogger23m (Apr 4, 2018)

Bit of an update. Received a replacement drive today and just starting to test it. So far this drive is about as quiet as my other drives; nearly silent. The constant grinding does not seem to be present in this drive. When writing I don't hear the loud clucking/thunking every 6 seconds like the original drive did.

I ran a benchmark with both drives although I accidentally deleted the screen shot of the original drive. For those interested, this is the replacement X300 6TB's results:


http://imgur.com/eRxCMKL


I'm glad Dell stepped up and sent a replacement.


----------



## RejZoR (Apr 5, 2018)

I think only way to have performance and quietness is to go with a large "green/blue" model with 5400 RPM and pair it with lets say cheap 120-256GB SATA/M.2 SSD using PrimoCache to create a hybrid drive. This way you'll essentially have SSD performance across entire 6TB.

Going full SSD just isn't fiesible at such capacities as it'll be ridiculously expensive, but hybrid is very much an option. Those 5400 RPM drives are often a lot quieter even at huge capacities.

WD Blue 6TB 5400RPM drives go for around 170€, Samsung 850 Evo 250GB is 85€ and PrimoCache is 25€. 280€ for a queter, high performance setup with massive capacity. It's shocking how little people opt for such solutions...


----------

