Hello,I have been using a WD Green 2TB on my readynas 102, and I use Time machine. But when Time machine is backing up, drive makes lots of noise.I just changed the hard drive for a brand new WD Red 3TB, and the noise is the same.But when the system was rebuilding the new hard drive, the system was very quiet. Do you know what's going on? I'm about to buy another NAS solution, because the noise is driving me crazy, and I use time machine a lot.Thank you!

What kind of noise do you hear? whining or clicking? Did you test if this also happens when you have a backup job running?

More like clicking, but it's not that clicking noise of a damaged drive.When a backup job is running, it's not that noisy.

Kinda weird, what FW is it running btw?

The firmware I'm running is the 6.2.3 beta 9. The noise exists since I bought it, but I thought it was a problem with the drive. But since I changed the drive with a RED one, it can only be a matter of the firmware and the way it handles time machine (I guess?...)I'll try to screw the drives in the bays with some rubber, but I don't think that will help.

I suspect its actually a fan bearing, and that time machine heats up the CPU enough for it to kick in.I'd contact netgear support, it's a hardware issue and they should RMA it.

Hard Drive noise on Time Machine | NETGEAR Communities

21 Replies

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Nhellie
Virtuoso
Mar 17, 2015
What kind of noise do you hear? whining or clicking? Did you test if this also happens when you have a backup job running?
melojms
Aspirant
Mar 17, 2015
More like clicking, but it's not that clicking noise of a damaged drive.
When a backup job is running, it's not that noisy.
Nhellie
Virtuoso
Mar 17, 2015
Kinda weird, what FW is it running btw?
melojms
Aspirant
Mar 17, 2015
The firmware I'm running is the 6.2.3 beta 9. The noise exists since I bought it, but I thought it was a problem with the drive. But since I changed the drive with a RED one, it can only be a matter of the firmware and the way it handles time machine (I guess?...)
I'll try to screw the drives in the bays with some rubber, but I don't think that will help.
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Mar 18, 2015
I suspect its actually a fan bearing, and that time machine heats up the CPU enough for it to kick in.

I'd contact netgear support, it's a hardware issue and they should RMA it.
RX
Luminary
Mar 18, 2015
@melojms:

To contact Netgear Support, check this link: http://support.netgear.com/general/contact/#tab-call -- just select the country where you are located.
melojms
Aspirant
Mar 19, 2015
Thanks for your suggestions.

I recorded a video while backing up with Time Machine so you can hear the noise. It's definitely the hard drive and not the fan. The fan is actually really quiet.
When copying or reading files from the NAS through smb (large files), the hard drive noise is so much subtle.

Video:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ivqnopvqmbbdn ... 2.mp4?dl=0

Thanks
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Mar 19, 2015
Do you have a USB enclosure you can use to test the drive? Two drives making this noise is unusual (and not good). It'd be useful to see if WD lifeguard also creates this same noise. WDC Reds should be silent.
Piglet
Luminary
Mar 19, 2015
My WD Red drives in my 104 sounds just like that when Time Machine is doing its thing.

I think it's because TM reads/writes loads of different files located all over the platters causing the drive heads to move around more than usual.
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Mar 19, 2015
You often will hear noise when hard drives seek. The reds are acoustically quiet, so the noises shouldn't be very loud. Of course you can't really tell the level of noise in the video clip.