Most silent 12TB HDD (helium filled)

Mastakilla

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Hi,

So far I wasn't able to find anywhere on the internet a decent noise comparison between 12TB (or larger) HDDs. I already know that helium filled HDDs are quite silent @ idle (and that is also the only specification that that most brands officially list), but I'd like to know which HDDs are the most silent @ load or which have the least annoying sounds with random access.
As far as I understand, it is a bit of a choice that needs to be made in the firmware between more aggressive and faster seek times and less noise. As almost all 12TB are more enterprise oriented, so I suppose they usually choose for a more aggressive and louder config in the firmware. That is why I find it even more important to investigate this aspect thoroughly before choosing which 12TB HDD to use.

I hope someone can tell me something about and even better if someone would have different brands / types of 12TB to do a direct (and less subjective) comparison.

I suspect that the WD RED (lower rpm) might be a good candidate, but as it currently is more than 100 euro more expensive then a Toshiba MG07SCA12TE, I certainly wonder how big the noise difference is... Also I've heard that the 8TB+ WD RED has a continuous annoying "maintenance-click" when idle.


Thanks!
 
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Constantin

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Well, so far, the fan noise associated with my system typically eclipses the he10 hard drives. I doubt that the 12TB series are built significantly differently. If noise is a serious concern, try to relocate the NAS. Good air flow and heat management are very important for a long life.
 

Mastakilla

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Well, it's either in my office room, where it needs to be absolutely silent, or in the room of the heater on the attic, where it can become very hot. Today will be the hottest day in history in Belgium, so I'll record exactly what the maximum temperature is and let you know (but I expect around 45°C -> it was only 35°C).

I must admit that I'm considering the heater room as well though, as the effort of getting this thing silent enough might be too much (if not impossible).

Edit: Today it was 41°C outside, but in the heater room, it was actually "only" 35°C... So not as bad as I expected...I guess on average it will be around 25°C and max 35°C, so perhaps that is still ok for a well ventilated case?
 
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Constantin

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It can be done, for sure, but it would likely take a lot of room. For a silent case, you could start off with a small metal case that can hold a low power motherboard and all the drives. Add good powerful fans.

Then build an external enclosure with lots of corners in the air path to help attenuate the fan noise from the case on the inside. Between mass, sound dampening materials, and a convoluted air path you may get to near silence. But this approach will likely add a lot of volume to the server and cable management will be very important to prevent audio leaks.

For the attic location, depending on your domestic hot water system (ie do you have a large hot water storage tank) you could also consider adding a external heat pump water heater and using that to actively cool the attic in summer. I do just that with a room in my house. The attic gets cooler, you efficiently heat the water, etc. Key thing being controlling the water heater with an external Thermostat.

Good luck.
 
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Mastakilla

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It can be done, for sure, but it would likely take a lot of room. For a silent case, you could start off with a small metal case that can hold a low power motherboard and all the drives. Add good powerful fans.

Then build an external enclosure with lots of corners in the air path to help attenuate the fan noise from the case on the inside. Between mass, sound dampening materials, and a convoluted air path you may get to near silence. But this approach will likely add a lot of volume to the server and cable management will be very important to prevent audio leaks.

For the attic location, depending on your domestic hot water system (ie do you have a large hot water storage tank) you could also consider adding a external heat pump water heater and using that to actively cool the attic in summer. I do just that with a room in my house. The attic gets cooler, you efficiently heat the water, etc. Key thing being controlling the water heater with an external Thermostat.

Good luck.
I've indeed looked in to building such large external enclosure around it, but must admit that I didn't find a very good spot for it in my officeroom. The best I could do is place a normal case in the closet and let it grap fresh air from behind. As the closet doesn't make it "that silent", I was trying to figure out which HDDs are "silent enough'. But I'm afraid that silent enough 12TB HDDs might not exist for this "closet-approach", which is why now perhaps that "heater-room" approach seems better to me (the floor in between should soundproof good enough).

Today the heater-room became 39°C though. Although this extremely exceptional, still something it needs to cope with... (usually it should be between 20-30°C in there)

There is indeed a large hot water storage tank, but I'm not sure if that will stay if we, in a couple years, replace the heater. Also it isn't very clear to me how you've attached your server to this and how you make the attic cooler with this?
 

Constantin

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In the US, we had one brand of external heat pump water heater called a Nyle Geyser. It allows the heating of water in a hot water tank using ambient air (plus it dehumidifies wet basements too). In my house, it draws water from the coldest part of the storage tank (ie the bottom inlet) and returns it at the top.

It keeps one room nicely cool. No attachments needed to the computer system.

If similar systems exist in the EU, you could keep the attic space cool enough in the summer to prevent the server from burning up. Your heating system electronics will thank you also. Key thing being that you use some of that hot water every day to ensure there is enough cool water so the compressor doesn’t have a bad hair day.

If such systems are not available, I’d consider going with a small mini-split or portable AC system. Mini splits are more efficient, durable, but also more expensive to install, the portable AC systems are the opposite. You could also consider installing a multi split system that keeps a few rooms cool, ie one emitter in the attic, another in your office.

After this summer, I reckon AC systems are going to become more prevalent in EU residential applications.
 
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If you are handy (I'm not but I did manage to build one that my wife didn't object - or maybe her expectations were low :)) you could build your own rack based upon these plans: https://tombuildsstuff.blogspot.com/2014/02/diy-server-rack-plans.html

I have seen some posts from others who based their racks on this set of plans but put in sound deadening insulation, etc. to make it quieter.
 
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