# WD Red hard drive noise level?



## headless chicken (Oct 8, 2004)

For those that upgraded their Roamio with a Western Digital Red 2 or 3TB HD, how noisy is your drive? 

Last year I replaced my iMac's native drive with a 1TB WD Black and regretted it ever since. I originally bought the WD Green but read green wasn't suitable for every day use and was more for backup drives, etc. The black is a nonstop noise machine that makes an incessant and very loud crunching sound. Moreover, it's very slow for a drive that's supposed to be top of the line.

Right now WD Reds seem to be on sale and I'm thinking of pulling the trigger, but I don't want to save a few bucks if that means a terribly noisy drive or having performance issues.


----------



## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

I have a 4TB Red. It isn't in the TiVo because I haven't cracked the 3TB barrier yet, but it's very comparable to Green AV drives that come in most TiVos in terms of heat and noise.

One note - Intellipark was set at 8 seconds from the factory.


----------



## headless chicken (Oct 8, 2004)

Thanks for your reply, *ggieseke*. I pulled the trigger and bought a 3TB WD Red.



ggieseke said:


> One note - Intellipark was set at 8 seconds from the factory.


How does one know? Does that mean I have to run that wdiddle thingie? I don't know how to proceed as a Mac user.


----------



## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

headless chicken said:


> Thanks for your reply, *ggieseke*. I pulled the trigger and bought a 3TB WD Red.
> 
> How does one know? Does that mean I have to run that wdiddle thingie? I don't know how to proceed as a Mac user.


The drive has to be connected to an internal SATA bus, then boot the Mac on the Ultimate Boot CD and run wdidle3. It has different command-line options to show or modify the current Intellipark settings.

Roamios may be able to deal with it, but I'd run the thingie.


----------



## headless chicken (Oct 8, 2004)

That sounds complicated. Is there a step-by-step guide on how to do that here for Mac?


----------



## MikePA1 (Nov 16, 2013)

What's the goal of changing the Intellipark setting and does the TiVo even use it?

Might be easier to use the drive as is?


----------



## DCIFRTHS (Jan 6, 2000)

MikePA1 said:


> What's the goal of changing the Intellipark setting and does the TiVo even use it?
> 
> Might be easier to use the drive as is?


If memory serves me, the original reason for changing it was that Series 3 boxes had soft reboot problems when Intellipark was enabled. Not sure if the problem affected other TiVo models.


----------



## MikePA1 (Nov 16, 2013)

This post, Click Here, proves the Red drive can be used as is, without changing any settings.


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

headless chicken said:


> Thanks for your reply, *ggieseke*. I pulled the trigger and bought a 3TB WD Red.
> 
> ...


Was it more expensive than a WD30EURS, or less?


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

DCIFRTHS said:


> If memory serves me, the original reason for changing it was that Series 3 boxes had soft reboot problems when Intellipark was enabled. Not sure if the problem affected other TiVo models.


I would expect any TiVo to potentially be at risk of having a problem with it, unless they modified the software in later models specifically to deal with the problem of people putting in replacement drives with this feature (which is of no use in a TiVo whatsoever) enabled.

I'm sure they learned their lesson about making sure the drives they put in in the factory don't have it enabled.


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

MikePA1 said:


> What's the goal of changing the Intellipark setting and does the TiVo even use it?
> 
> Might be easier to use the drive as is?


That's just it, Intellipark is not only of no use to a TiVo, since the drive is (or is supposed to be) running and fully awake whenever the TiVo is plugged in, the fact that it can screw up the reboot process (and sometimes even the cold boot) means that it's worse than useless.

Or as The Doctor would say, it has a negative utility factor.



The goal of changing the Intellipark setting is to disable it, or if it won't let you do that, set the timer for the maximum of 300 seconds (5 minutes), so that the TiVo motherboard never calls on it and fails to receive an answer because the drive has gone to sleep.


----------



## headless chicken (Oct 8, 2004)

MikePA1 said:


> This post, Click Here, proves the Red drive can be used as is, without changing any settings.


I'd rather not chance it. Better to be ahead of the game before the drive has any problems or recordings on it.

So there's been no instructions or prior threads on how to disable Intellipark with Mac?



unitron said:


> Was it more expensive than a WD30EURS, or less?


Depends on how much you spent for your WD30EURS. I paid $120 (no tax or shipping) and have a $30 mail in rebate for the drive, so the net price will be $90.


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

headless chicken said:


> I'd rather not chance it. Better to be ahead of the game before the drive has any problems or recordings on it.
> 
> So there's been no instructions or prior threads on how to disable Intellipark with Mac?
> 
> Depends on how much you spent for your WD30EURS. I paid $120 (no tax or shipping) and have a $30 mail in rebate for the drive, so the net price will be $90.


I don't have anything in the house new enough to be able to use anything bigger than 2TB, so I haven't paid really close attention to 3TB prices, other than to note they're getting down near 2TB prices, but I've had good results with the WD20EURS, so thought the 3TB big brother might be a good choice for S5s.


----------



## MikePA1 (Nov 16, 2013)

headless chicken said:


> I'd rather not chance it. Better to be ahead of the game before the drive has any problems or recordings on it.


No offense, but if someone wanted to 'not chance it' and 'be ahead of the game', they should have bought the green drive in the first place.


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

headless chicken said:


> ...
> So there's been no instructions or prior threads on how to disable Intellipark with Mac?
> 
> ...


Hook the drive up to a SATA controller on the motherboard, disconnect any other WD drives, boot with the Ultimate Boot cd, find the hard drive section in the main menu, and wdidle3.exe is in there somewhere at the bottom of whichever list it's in.

When you run that it'll launch a "virtual" floppy and load a version of DOS.

Then you type

wdidle3 /R

and it reports the current Intellipark status.

If it needs disabling,

wdidle3 /D

If it refuses,

wdidle3 /S 300

which will set the timer period to 300 seconds (5 minutes) which will amount to disabling it from a TiVo point of view.


----------



## tomm1079 (May 10, 2005)

i hooked up a 3 TB red drive and did not worry about intellipark. 

Did this on sat. no issues as of now. transferred a ton of things over and been recording stuff.


----------



## headless chicken (Oct 8, 2004)

MikePA1 said:


> No offense, but if someone wanted to 'not chance it' and 'be ahead of the game', they should have bought the green drive in the first place.


I'm not offended, just overly cautious.

I did my research and the Red drive is better. Called WD and they confirmed Reds are higher performance drives than green (hence the longer warranty) and there is no Intellipark, so I should be good to go.

If you buy a green then you have no choice but to do all the diddling nonsense.


----------



## headless chicken (Oct 8, 2004)

tomm1079 said:


> i hooked up a 3 TB red drive and did not worry about intellipark.
> 
> Did this on sat. no issues as of now. transferred a ton of things over and been recording stuff.


Thanks for the testimonial, tom. Makes me rest a little easier.


----------



## MikePA1 (Nov 16, 2013)

headless chicken said:


> If you buy a green then you have no choice but to do all the diddling nonsense.


No, you do not. You do not have to do any 'diddling nonsense' with any drive.


----------



## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

headless chicken said:


> I did my research and the Red drive is better. Called WD and they confirmed Reds are higher performance drives than green (hence the longer warranty) and there is no Intellipark, so I should be good to go.


It was definitely enabled on my 4TB Red (WD40EFRX). Other models may vary.


----------



## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

MikePA1 said:


> No, you do not. You do not have to do any 'diddling nonsense' with any drive.


The newer, some or most WD Green drives you are right, but when the WD Green Drives first came out you had to do that "nonsense" or come home to missed recording after a TiVo software update.


----------



## MikePA1 (Nov 16, 2013)

Leon WIlkinson said:


> The newer, some or most WD Green drives you are right, but when the WD Green Drives first came out you had to do that "nonsense" or come home to missed recording after a TiVo software update.


Does this apply to current green drives and the Roamio?


----------



## Crrink (Sep 3, 2002)

MikePA1 said:


> This post, Click Here, proves the Red drive can be used as is, without changing any settings.


Hey, that's my post! 
The Red drive in my Roamio Basic is still working 100% normally. No reboot issues, and I didn't run wdidle3 on it, so the TiVo seems to be able to handle whatever value is set at the factory.

If the price is the same, I'd go with the AV drive just because it's 100% proven to work well with TiVo. But if you can save a few bucks buying a Red like I did, I think it's a pretty safe gamble.


----------



## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

I wouldn't know... but If a drive set at Factory to power down quicker then a TiVo is set to communicate to it, it would cause a soft reboot problem, I figure.


That is my very lame MAN's Version as what I think causes the issues.


----------



## MikePA1 (Nov 16, 2013)

Crrink said:


> The Red drive in my Roamio Basic is still working 100% normally. No reboot issues, and I didn't run wdidle3 on it, so the TiVo seems to be able to handle whatever value is set at the factory.


Your experience doesn't appear to be convincing enough for those who 'don't want to chance it' or 'be ahead of the game'.


----------



## headless chicken (Oct 8, 2004)

MikePA1 said:


> Your experience doesn't appear to be convincing enough for those who 'don't want to chance it' or 'be ahead of the game'.


I've heard of selective hearing, but apparently there's selective seeing too.


----------



## TC25D (Aug 21, 2013)

headless chicken said:


> If you buy a green then you have no choice but to do all the diddling nonsense.





headless chicken said:


> I've heard of selective hearing, but apparently there's selective seeing too.


Must be contagious.


----------



## headless chicken (Oct 8, 2004)

TC25D said:


> Must be contagious.


Yes. You seem to have it too. It appears the affliction only affects recently registered users on tivocommunity.



headless chicken said:


> I'm not offended, just overly cautious.
> 
> I did my research and the Red drive is better. *Called WD and they confirmed Reds are higher performance drives than green (hence the longer warranty) and there is no Intellipark, so I should be good to go. *


----------



## MikePA1 (Nov 16, 2013)

headless chicken said:


> Yes. You seem to have it too. It appears the affliction only affects recently registered users on tivocommunity.


Length of membership is not always an indicator of wisdom, but it does serve some people, who registered a long time ago, as a springboard for insults.

Happy Thanksgiving.


----------



## kherr (Aug 1, 2006)

headless chicken said:


> For those that upgraded their Roamio with a Western Digital Red 2 or 3TB HD, how noisy is your drive?
> 
> Last year I replaced my iMac's native drive with a 1TB WD Black and regretted it ever since. I originally bought the WD Green but read green wasn't suitable for every day use and was more for backup drives, etc. The black is a nonstop noise machine that makes an incessant and very loud crunching sound. Moreover, it's very slow for a drive that's supposed to be top of the line.
> 
> Right now WD Reds seem to be on sale and I'm thinking of pulling the trigger, but I don't want to save a few bucks if that means a terribly noisy drive or having performance issues.


I have an NAS with 4 - 3TB Red drives and can't hear anything sitting next to them. They run 24/7 and were installed 5/13 ..... :up::up:


----------



## DCIFRTHS (Jan 6, 2000)

Leon WIlkinson said:


> I wouldn't know... but If a drive set at Factory to power down quicker then a TiVo is set to communicate to it, it would cause a soft reboot problem, I figure.
> 
> That is my very lame MAN's Version as what I think causes the issues.


What drive are you referring to that powers down before the TiVo can communicate with it? The Red or Green?


----------



## headless chicken (Oct 8, 2004)

kherr said:


> I have an NAS with 4 - 3TB Red drives and can't hear anything sitting next to them. They run 24/7 and were installed 5/13 ..... :up::up:


Good to know. My first experience buying a WD drive was problematic, but I hope the one I'm about to receive is problem free.


----------



## dmk1974 (Mar 7, 2002)

Is $120 for a 3 TB Red drive a decent price? Last I saw, Amazon and Newegg had it for that.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

MikePA1 said:


> Length of membership is not always an indicator of wisdom, but it does serve some people, who registered a long time ago, as a springboard for insults.
> 
> Happy Thanksgiving.


Exactly Mike! I simply HATE when people use that as some sort of mental barometer! What if Stephen Hawking just bought a TiVo and starting posting here, would that make him suddenly a moron, incapable of rational intelligent contributions here?


----------

