Looking to upgrade my NAS hard drives. Currently have two 4TB WD Red Plus hard drives but I wanted to get some large capacity drives. Was looking into getting 16 or 18TB drives. My current drives are basically whisper quiet and have been running great since 2019 but I feel like it’s time to upgrade the capacity.
The NAS is currently on a desk beside my computer. I don’t have any cabinets to place it in and would prefer not to connect to it through Wi-Fi. Hence why I’d like for the drives to be as quiet as possible.
I was considering getting a Seagate Exos or Ironwolf (and buying used for the great price) but I’ve read users online saying they regret buying those models because of their noise. I was also looking at the WD Red Pro but WD’s own website only rates them at 3.6/5 with most of the negative complaints about dead on arrival drives. Additionally 25% of all reviews are 1 star; both of which don’t fill me with much confidence.
TLDR: What’s a quiet and reliable hard drive recommendation for a NAS?
Would it be better just to go with the WD Red Plus at a lower capacity?
I have a consumer tier Ironwolf that isn’t too loud, it does make a little noise but it’s not a whine, more of a very low rushing air type noise when spinning (like the “brown noise” another commenter mentioned) and fairly quiet grinding when it’s active. Not the quietest drive ever, but less noticeable than some I’ve had in the past. The periodic thermal calibrations from a 2.5" HDD I have inside a mini PC next to it are more noticeable.