There are hundreds of hard drives out there but which one is the quietest hard drive for your PC? We’re living in the 21st century and there’s a lot of options to choose from so bear with us because we’ll be taking a look at the quietest hard drives on the market in 2024. Bye-bye noise, hello silent build!
Best Most Quiet Hard Drives: Quick Overview
In a hurry? The winner is Seagate BarraCuda Internal HDD (2TB Variant). It is an extremely quiet hard drive that can store 1TB of your data. This hard drive features 7200RPM and 254MB Cache with the support of SATA 6Gb/s.
Second, on our list a.k.a. quietest NAS drive is WD Red NAS Pro which is another 3.5’’ HDD with 7200RPM and a large 64MB cache. It is also supported by SATA 6GB/s and it is also one of the quietest hard drives that you can get your hands on.
The third and one of the quietest option on our list is Toshiba X300 5TB. It’s featured with 7200 Revolutions Per Minute and a 128MB Cache. Best suited for high-end Battlestations, Toshiba X300 is another great option in the market. You may also want to read the best quiet graphics card silent video card 2024
Quietest HDD 2024: Reviews
Seagate BarraCuda HDD
Best Rated Quiet Hard Drive
Seagate BarraCuda Internal hard drive is one of the most silent hard drives available in the market.
BarraCuda silent hard drive is available in different variants but the 2TB variant is the most user-friendly one.
It’s a 3.5’’ internal hard drive with 7200RPM and 256MB cache so there’s no doubt in the performance of this hard drive.
BarraCuda 2TB HDD is best suited for entry-level gaming rigs because it is quite cheap and the performance is really good.
A 7200RPM HDD is quite fast and can really boost the boot-up and loading times. One of the main downsides of these 7200RPM HDDs is that they tend to heat up more often and hence, their life is very short-spaned.
But, BarraCuda comes with a 2-year warranty so you won’t have to worry about such issues.
Seagate is quite famous for their hard drives and they’ve done a pretty good job at manufacturing durable and silent hard drives.
Seagate BarraCuda HDD is considerably cheap as well but if you’re looking for even less then you can always go for the 1TB variant of the BarraCuda hard drive.
Lastly, Seagate BarraCuda HDD is one of the finest and the quietest hard drives available in the market. It is very fast and offers a great boost to the overall performance of the computer.
Naturally, hard drives are not silent but Seagate BarraCuda is one of the most silent hard drives that you can get your hands on.
Pros
- Very Cheap
- Durable
- Extremely Fast
Cons
- Heats Up
WD RED NAS PRO 2TB
Quietest NAS Drive
It wouldn’t be possible for us to complete this article without mentioning the WD Red NAS Pro line up.
It’s arguably the most quiet hard drive for networks and servers out there but there’s one downside, it is not the best option for gaming rigs and casual computers.
WD Red NAS PRO 2TB variant is probably the one I’d go for because it’s a 3.5’’ internal HDD with 7200RPM which is more than enough for decent performance.
WD Red NAS PRO 2TB might not be the best choice for casual gamers but tech gurus will love this one because it’s incredibly fast and does not make much noise.
The NAS line up is best suited for large networks and servers.
Having a loud HDD in a server room can make your life miserable whereas having a silent hard drive is always a nice option to have.
WD RED NAS PRO is available in different variations and if you believe that 2TB is not enough storage for you then you can always go for 4TB, 6TB, 8TB, 10TB, 12TB, and 14TB variants.
These NAS PRO hard drives are quite silent but they are very expensive as well.
If you’re working on a tight budget then WD Red NAS PRO might not be the best option for you because it’s not the cheapest.
In conclusion, WD Red NAS PRO is another great option if you’re looking for a quiet hard drive and it’s a 3.5’’ HDD so chances are that this one will last for a very long time.
WD is a huge name in the industry and I definitely recommend their products.
Pros
- Shock Protection
- 5-years Warranty
- Featured with modern technology
Cons
- Quite expensive
- Not suitable for casual computers
Toshiba X300 5TB
Cheapest Silent Hard Drive
Finding a quiet hard drive can be a real struggle and it’s nearly impossible to find a silent hard drive in the market.
But Toshiba X300 is another one of those quiet hard drives available in the market. X300 might not be the quietest hard drive in the market but it is definitely quieter than most of your every day hard drives.
Toshiba X300 5TB variant features a spin rate of 7200RPM with a large cache of 128MB.
It has a massive capacity to hold a large chunk of data with incredibly fast performance. Toshiba X300 is designed to handle serious high-end gaming.
These hard drives can make a real difference in the overall performance of the computer and faster loading times are something that we all dream of.
Looking for a decent quiet hard drive that can actually make a difference? The Toshiba X300 should be right up your alley.
This silent HDD spins at 7200RPM which means that the rate of data transfer is considerably faster than your average 5400RPM hard drives.
But, 7200RPM also means that the hard drive will heat up faster and will make more sound than a 5400RPM HDD. There is dampening material around the hard drive which makes X300 ultra-quiet.
In the end, Toshiba X300 is a decent option for you and the price tag is quite reasonable as well.
It is quieter than most of the hard drives and it will serve you really well. If you’re looking for a new hard drive for your PC then I’d recommend taking a look at this one!
Pros
- Cheap
- 2-years warranty
- Very quiet
- 256MB cache size
Cons
- Heating issues
WD Green 4TB IntelliPower
Best Performance Most Quiet HDD
Featured with IntelliPower technology that provides efficient power consumption and balanced speed of transfer data, WD Green 4TB is another great HDD.
The spin rate is somewhere around 5200 to 7200RPM but it is not clear due to the IntelliPower technology.
WD Green is a 3.5’’ hard drive that is very much quieter than your usual hard drives and performance is really above the par.
This quiet hard drive is best suited for gaming computers and for office use as well but there is a downside to this hard drive.
WD Green 4TB variant is quite expensive and you’ll have to spend a very large chunk of money to get your hands on this beauty.
This one is one of the best performing hard drives that you’ll provide in the market and you won’t even have to deal with heating issues as well.
Having a fast hard drive means that the hard drive will make a lot of noise but this isn’t the case with WD Green.
It is super quiet and you won’t be hearing any noise coming from this one. Lastly, a 64Mb cache storage and 5TB storage is more than enough.
WD is indeed a very reputable company and all their products are very well balanced and I don’t think that you’ll be facing any problem with this hard drive.
The noise coming out of hard drives can be a bit annoying but with WD Green, you’ll definitely hear less of this sound.
This WD Green is without any doubt, one of the best performing hard drives available in the market in 2024.
Pros
- Higher performance
- No heating issues
- Reliable
- Easy to mount
Cons
- Expensive
Seagate IronWolf 3TB NAS
Great Value
Another high-performance silent hard drive from Seagate, IronWolf 3TB NAS is a great choice.
Then again, Seagate IronWolf is not the best option for casual computers and gaming rigs because it is specifically designed to handle large chunks of network data.
Seagate IronWolf 3TB NAS has a spin rate of 5900RPM which is slower than most of their other hard drives on this list.
Lowered RPM means that the speed of data transfer will be significantly lower than hard drives with a 7200RPM spin rate.
You’ll be compromising on the performance but one thing is for certain is that this hard drive will be very quiet.
This HDD is capable of storing a large amount of data and the chances of bad sectors in the storage are quite slim. Seagate has made a name for themselves in the industry and they’re highly respected as one of the most trusted vendors when it comes to hard drives.
This 3.5’’ hard drive is labeled as one of the quietest hard drives out there but not the best performance. You’ll also get a 3-year warranty with this one so you don’t have to worry about the durability of this silent hard drive.
In conclusion, IronWolf is a decent hard drive that you can be used for a very long time before it loses its valve. There are only a handful of silent hard drives out there and IronWolf is definitely one of the quietest.
Pros
- Very Quiet
- Can handle large networks and surveillance cameras
- Reasonable rate
- A 3-year warranty is more than enough
Cons
- Only 5900RPM
Is it worth buying Quiet Hard Drives?
Most of the people think that it’s better to have an SSD rather than going for a quiet hard drive. But, one thing that we have to consider is that SSDs are very expensive and offer very little storage when compared to hard drives.
Hard drives are naturally very noisy but the HDDs featured on the list are much quieter and still perform really well.
One thing that you might have to worry about is the heating issue but there aren’t any other common problems that you have to deal with.
7200RPM vs 5400RPM – Which one is Quietest?
A hard drive with a spin rate of 7200RPM will be much faster than 5400RPM but it will also make more sound. A 5400RPM HDD will be a bit slower but won’t make as much noise as a 7200RPM hard drive.
There’s a price difference between a 7200RPM and 5400RPM hard drives too. If you’re building a budget PC then you’ll have to go through with a 5400RPM because the other ones are a tad too expensive.
How to make your PC Quieter?
Going for a silent PC build? You will need to select quiet PC components and a noisy hard drive can ruin the whole set up. It’s advised to either go with a quiet hard drive, silent 3M fans, and a quiet PC case to build a genuinely silent PC.
There are a lot of options to consider but if you’re confused about which PC case to choose from then you can always check out our article with best quiet and silent PC cases in 2024 for your PC.
Conclusion
Seagate BarraCuda HDD is the way to go because it is one of the quietest hard drives on the market and the price tag is also reasonable. You can use this one in your gaming rigs as well as in your daily driver computers.
There are many other quiet and silent hard drives from different Chinese brands but I really wouldn’t recommend buying one of those.
Go for BarraCude because of the 7200RPM spin rate and its very affordable price.
The quietest NAS drive in 2024 is the Western Digital 2TB WD Red Pro NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD.
Or if you’re not on a very tight budget, go for the ultra quiet X300 Desktop and Gaming Hard Drive.
Dave Pearson is a Canadian musician, sound editor, and audiophile. He is also the founder and owner of the website SoundProofGeek. On SoundProofGeek, Pearson offers advice and resources on audio equipment, including how to assess and improve audio quality, how to troubleshoot and repair audio equipment, and how to improve the music listening experience.
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