Western Digital Black vs Gold (Hard Drive Noise issue)

Question

I recently bought a Western Digital Black 6 TB 256 MB hard drive. It works and has fast read and write speeds. The problem is that makes a slight “bump” sound every 5 – 6 seconds while at idle. If it’s quiet in the room and I’m just browsing the web I can hear it. If I’m watching videos or playing games I don’t really notice it. It’s also pretty loud during reads and writes. I have never seen a hard drive that makes noises like that (I’m assuming it has something to do with all of those platters for 6 TB of storage right?) I ran Western Digital’s Data Lifeguard Diagnostic software and did a quick test and an extended test (which took 8 hours). It passed both tests which is good, but the noise still kind of bothers me. I was on Amazon and saw the Western Digital Gold Drives.

Do any of you guys have any experience with the Gold ones (or both)? Would the 6 TB Gold drive make less noise than my Black one? One thing to note is that I am using it inside my PC for regular use. This is not a server or anything. So the noise is kind of important here. The sounds my Black one make are extremely distracting to me.

Just to be clear, this is the exact one I bought and currently have in my system right now:

WD Black 6TB Performance Desktop Hard Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD6003FZBX

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Performance-Desktop-Hard-Drive/dp/B0792GSD6N/ref=pd_sbs_147_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0792GSD6N&pd_rd_r=JVZG7F5Z01N1CKC0DWV3&pd_rd_w=pm8YJ&pd_rd_wg=4cYtJ&psc=1&refRID=JVZG7F5Z01N1CKC0DWV3

This is the one I'm thinking about getting:

WD Gold 6TB Enterprise Class Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM Class SATA 6 Gb/s 128MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD6002FRYZ

https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Enterprise-Class-Hard-Drive/dp/B01AV168FS/ref=pd_sbs_147_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01AV168FS&pd_rd_r=65NXPGJ9ZXJ7R8848G48&pd_rd_w=sEnwV&pd_rd_wg=7aDo1&psc=1&refRID=65NXPGJ9ZXJ7R8848G48

Do any of you guys think I should return the Black drive to Amazon and get the Gold one?

Answer 1

Do any of you guys think I should return the Black drive to Amazon and get the Gold one?

No;

The 6 TB WD Black HDD and the 6 TB WD Gold HDD have identical idle and average seek acoustics (dBA). Which means, both drives on average, generate the same amount of noise.

WD Black:

WD Gold:

So the noise is kind of important here. The sounds my Black one make are extremely distracting to me.

The WD Black and Gold product line isn't designed to be quiet. If you want the high capacity, high endurance, and long lifespan then those product lines provide that. if you want a quiet HDD, go with something else entirely, the two HDDs you are comparing are not designed to b quiet drives.

WD Black