WD external HDD noise?

Iomega Man

Hey all,

Thinking of getting the Western Digital My Book II Studio edition.
Looks to be a nice little drive (FW400/800,USB2 .....).

Want to connect it up to my (new,oh yes..!!!) iMac.
Using the iMac for Audio projects and as I'll be using the oul mic,was just wondering how noisy the drive is?

Looking around,I'm getting pretty different opinions!

Cheers...

PaulieBoy

Not that most people care or anything like that, but Western Digital have introduced some really neat copyright protection that prevents you from sharing your files from your new WD drive to, anybody!
Including yourself.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7136069.stm

On a point of principle I would not buy anything made by WD.

Not that this helps answer your question any :-)

Beelzebub

PaulieBoy wrote: »

Not that most people care or anything like that, but Western Digital have introduced some really neat copyright protection that prevents you from sharing your files from your new WD drive to, anybody!
Including yourself.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7136069.stm

On a point of principle I would not buy anything made by WD.

Not that this helps answer your question any :-)

"Western Digital has blocked users from sharing more than 30 different file types, if they are using the company's software, called Anywhere Access."

But you don't have to use 'the company's software, called Anywhere Access." You can use SAMBA.

From their website

Still it will make me think twice before going WD again.


P.S. I think this only applies to their 1TB World Edition solution currently.

On second thoughts, I am now looking at the Western Digital My Book II Studio edition myself as it can be formatted for the PC too!

triple h

Iomega Man wrote: »

Hey all,

Thinking of getting the Western Digital My Book II Studio edition.
Looks to be a nice little drive (FW400/800,USB2 .....).

Want to connect it up to my (new,oh yes..!!!) iMac.
Using the iMac for Audio projects and as I'll be using the oul mic,was just wondering how noisy the drive is?

Looking around,I'm getting pretty different opinions!

Cheers...

Well i bought a WD my book pro edition just before xmas. Oh , congratulations on getting a new imac. Anyway the iMac is so peaceful and makes feck all noise and one gets use to the quietness.
But when you yolk a hard drive up to your iMac that quietness is gone. When i first yolked up my WD harddrive i found the humming noise disturbing. In fact after a while i started to plug my hard drive out and plugged it in when i felt i was ready for a back up. But i reckoned that would be bad for the hard drive , so i plugged my hard drive back into my iMac and put it on the ground and as far away as possible from my ears ( the cable is very very long) I can still hear the humming, but it is not as bad as it was when it was on my desk. The humming is not bad bad, i have often come out of a night club with really bad humming ears and that is worse.

I am going to buy time capsule and because it is an apple product i am hoping it is quiet. Anyway i have an iMac and a Macbook to back up now, so that is why i am getting it. But if you only have one computer the WD hard drive is grand. I like my WD. I will use it to store movies in when i get my time capsule.

Now i have to learn how to convert my WD into a back up for movies rather than a time machine thing. I have no idea how to do that just yet, but things will sort them selves out after a while.

whiterebel

I have the 500GB Pro WD, an enclosure 160GB, a WD 320GB MyBook and a 250GB LaCie. All hum to varying extents, the 500WD being slightly worse. However, putting it on a small pad or coaster takes out 90% of the sound. Great drive with triple interface, i just wish my Mac Mini had FW800 to take advantage.

K.O.Kiki

Could try the old trick used for speakers -- cut 2 squash balls in half for instant cushioning! (though with the size, might have to trim some more off those halves...)

babypink

i'm not a WD fan, honestly. I have found their drives to sound like turbines spinning up....

Sad Professor

whiterebel wrote: »

However, putting it on a small pad or coaster takes out 90% of the sound.

+1
Yep, I have my two WD My Books sitting on an old mouse pad, makes big difference, much quieter.

Iomega Man

Thanks folks for all the comments.
Overall it does seem that noise is a bit of an issue.
Suppose I can work around it with those tips.

Thanks again everyone.....