WD Red 8TB vs. Seagate IronWolf 8TB: NAS hard disk operating noise comparison on Synology DS118

Описание: NAS hard drive sound level and sound spectrum comparison: Which HDD is quieter for a 1 bay home NAS?

TL;DR: The Seagate IronWolf 8TB hard drive that I’ve tested had a distinct read/write head sound when operating (read/write), while the tested WD Red 8TB hard drive was a bit quieter and more unobtrusive in direct comparison. However, both NAS hard drives are not as quiet as I would like to have for home environments.

I have tested two 8TB hard disks on a Synology DiskStation DS118, the WD Red NAS Hard Drive (Western Digital) as well as the IronWolf NAS Hard Drive (Seagate). Both drives seem to be a good choice when it comes to set up a network-attached storage or home cloud. But which one operates quieter?

Although there is some information available about acoustics of both hard drives, I have so far been unable to find any truly helpful information for home users. Therefore I decided to try both, the WD Red and the IronWolf HDD in order to find out which product is perceived as quieter at my home.

It is important to mention that acoustic characteristics of hard drives can be inconsistent across a particular product line, depending on the capacity of the drive. This means that a WD Red drive with 4TB capacity may sound differently in comparison to the 10TB version of the same product line. This may also apply for IronWolf drives.
In addition to that, both manufacturers offer “pro“ line hard drives which I did not consider for my home NAS and which likely have different operating noise compared to the non-pro drives. Check the specs of each model!

This subjective and non-scientific comparison only applies to exactly these two NAS hard drive products:
WD Red 8TB (model WD80EFAX), made in Thailand Nov 2019
Seagate IronWolf 8TB (model ST800VN004), made in China Jun 2019

Keep in mind that the NAS housing also influences the acoustics. I used the Synology DiskStation DS118. The hard drives as well as the NAS were brand new when testing. The NAS’ fan speed was set to Quiet Mode.

I have recorded the audio tracks using my iPhone XS, which was positioned centered next to the NAS. The iPhone and its microphone did not have a solid connection to the NAS (only the air in between) and it was placed at a distance of approx. one phone length to the NAS. I haven't made any changes to the sound recordings.
Due to the proximity of the microphone to the NAS, operating noise of higher frequencies sounds more pronounced than I experienced in real life.

Please watch the video in order to compare the operating noise of both hard drives when using my Synology DS118 NAS (reading/copying approx. 800MB of some music files via SMB, same for both hard disks).

I’d like to share what I found out for me:
In general, the WD Red 8TB seems to operate a bit quieter than the IronWolf 8TB, at least when actually working (read/write operations)
R/W operating noise of IronWolf 8TB sounds a bit louder, more punchy, and darker. But its read/write noise only covers a very specific, narrow sound spectrum (only up to approx. 1.5 kHz, with a peak volume at around 750 Hz).
R/W operating noise of WD Red is quieter, less punchy but spread across a broader sound spectrum (mainly up to 900 Hz and again in between 5 to 6.5 kHz).
Interestingly, only when idle (but spinning) the IronWolf seems to be a bit less noticeable and quieter than the WD Red (when spinning idle) which emits some sort of extra hum.

Summary:
When it comes to idle spinning, the IronWolf 8TB emitted less hum and can be considered a bit quieter, even if spinning faster than the WD Red 8TB.
With regards to actual operation (read/write), the WD Red 8TB was quieter and produced less pronounced read/write head sounds than the IronWolf 8TB.
I personally experienced that the WD Red 8TB was overall quieter and more unobtrusive in my DS118 NAS than the IronWolf 8TB.