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The quietest hard drives

Written by
· 4 min read

Quietest hard drive on a desk beside an open computer case

Fifteen hard drive families publish maker acoustic figures, from 19 dBA idle for a 2.5 inch WD Blue to 34 for 7200 RPM NAS drives. See the quietest desktop, laptop and NAS drives in stock now, and why Seagate's own documents disagree with each other.

On this page
  1. How we chose
  2. Our picks
  3. How to choose
  4. Comparison
  5. FAQs
  6. Bottom line
  7. Review history

A quick look at the quietest hard drives

WD's 1TB Blue mobile drive idles at 19 dBA and seeks at 21, and WD marks both as sound power. No hard drive in this guide prints a lower pair in dBA.

Drive makers publish acoustics the way they publish capacity and cache: idle and seek, family by family. Fifteen current families carry figures from WD, Seagate or Toshiba. The hard part is the units. WD's dBA figures run from 19 to 34 idle, Seagate's data sheet dBA from 20 to 28, Seagate's manual bels from 2.0 to 2.8, and Toshiba's dB from 20 to 34.

How we chose these drives

Each idle and seek figure is reproduced from a WD, Seagate or Toshiba data sheet or manual, with the unit, operating mode and drive capacity it was printed for. WD's sound power dBA, Seagate's typical dBA, Seagate's bels and Toshiba's dB form four separate groups.

Every pick was listed new on Amazon, and in stock, on November 8, 2026; models that failed that check sit under also considered with the reason. Seagate's IronWolf figures come from its 2025 sheet, DS1904.23, which lists eight models and drops nine older IronWolf model numbers found on the 2024 edition.

QuietSpecs' picks of the quietest hard drives

Prices as of Nov 12. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change.

Quietest overall

WD Blue 1TB 2.5-Inch Laptop Hard Drive (WD10SPZX)

WD Blue 1TB 2.5-Inch Laptop Hard Drive (WD10SPZX)
  • Idle: 19 dBA sound power, 1TB (maker)
  • Price: $119.99 at Amazon, checked Nov 12
  • Best for: A near silent laptop drive, small PC drive or external backup
  • Skip it if: It is going into a NAS, where CMR counts

On WD's product brief the 1TB Blue mobile, the WD10SPZX, prints 19 dBA idle and 21 dBA seek, footnoted "Sound power level," the lowest pair among WD's sound power figures. Amazon had it in stock on November 8.

The 500GB WD5000LPZX shares those numbers, while the 2TB WD20SPZX is louder at 23 idle and 24 seek. This is a 7mm, 2.5 inch SMR drive for laptops, small PCs and enclosures, not for a NAS.

Check price at Amazon

Quietest in bels

Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 2.5-Inch Laptop Hard Drive (ST1000LM048)

Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 2.5-Inch Laptop Hard Drive (ST1000LM048)
  • Idle: 2.0 bels typical, sound power (maker)
  • Price: $139.99 at Amazon, checked Nov 12
  • Best for: A quiet 2.5 inch drive for a Seagate buyer

Seagate's BarraCuda 2.5 data sheet gives acoustics in bels of sound power. The 1TB ST1000LM048 is rated at 2.0 bels idle and 2.2 seeking, typical, the lowest bel pair in this guide, matched only by the 500GB ST500LM030.

Step up to the 2TB ST2000LM015 and both rows rise by 0.2 bels. Like the WD Blue mobile, it is a 5400 RPM SMR drive.

Check price at Amazon

Best WD NAS drive

WD Red Plus 4TB NAS Hard Drive (WD40EFPX)

WD Red Plus 4TB NAS Hard Drive (WD40EFPX)
  • Idle: 23 dBA, 4TB (maker data sheet)
  • Price: $166.71 at Amazon, checked Nov 12
  • Best for: A quiet two to four bay home NAS
  • Skip it if: 10TB or more per drive is the plan, where helium drives are quieter

A home NAS drive at 23 dBA idle and 27 dBA seek, by its data sheet. The 4TB Red Plus uses CMR recording, spins at 5400 RPM and carries a 180 TB per year workload rating for arrays of up to 8 bays.

Capacity moves the figure within the line: the 2TB rates 21 and 26, and the 10TB air-filled drive jumps to 34 and 38.

Check price at Amazon

Best Seagate NAS drive

Seagate IronWolf 8TB NAS Hard Drive (ST8000VN002)

Seagate IronWolf 8TB NAS Hard Drive (ST8000VN002)
  • Idle: "Acoustics, Idle (typical, measured in Idle 1 state)" 25 dBA (maker data sheet)
  • Price: $436.98 at Amazon, checked Nov 12
  • Best for: A quiet Seagate drive for a home NAS
  • Skip it if: Idle noise outranks everything else; helium IronWolf Pro drives rate 20

The IronWolf 4TB went out of stock on Amazon, so the Seagate NAS pick is now the 8TB ST8000VN002. The 2025 IronWolf data sheet rates it "Acoustics, Idle (typical, measured in Idle 1 state)" 25 dBA and seek 26 dBA.

It is an air-filled 5,400 RPM CMR drive for one to eight bays with a 180TB per year workload limit. In the manual, the 8TB and 6TB get 2.5 bels idle and 2.6 seek, typical, a separate figure kept apart here.

Check price at Amazon

Best desktop drive

WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Drive (WD10EARZ)

WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Drive (WD10EARZ)
  • Idle: 21 dBA sound power, 1TB (maker)
  • Price: $156.24 at Amazon, checked Nov 12
  • Best for: A quiet secondary drive inside a desktop PC
  • Skip it if: Bulk capacity is the point; the 8TB WD80EAAZ rates 24 and 28

The 4TB WD Blue went out of stock, and the desktop pick became the 1TB WD10EARZ.

Its 21 dBA at idle and 26 in seek are footnoted "Sound power level," and that idle figure is the lowest on WD's 3.5 inch Blue data sheet, shared with the 2TB WD20EARZ.

It is a CMR 5400 RPM drive at $164.99 on the WD store. The 3TB and 4TB EZAX drives seek lower, at 25, but idle at 23.

Check price at Amazon

How to choose

If one you own is already making a noise, start with Hard drive making noise or Sound power vs sound pressure.

dBA, bels and dB do not convert

WD publishes dBA and marks its Blue figures as sound power. Seagate publishes dBA on newer data sheets and bels of sound power, typical and max, in its product manuals. Toshiba publishes dB for idle only, without saying which quantity it measured.

Seagate supplies the proof that these cannot be mixed. For the IronWolf 4TB ST4000VN006, data sheet DS1904.22 from 2024 gave 27 dBA seek, the 2025 edition DS1904.23 gives 25, and the product manual gives 2.5 bels. That is one maker, one drive and three figures, no two of which match. If Seagate's own documents cannot be converted into each other, figures from different makers in different units cannot be either.

So each unit is ranked on its own and never converted. Why a drive's idle figure in bels is not a dBA reading is spelled out in our page on sound power and sound pressure, and every current Seagate family is sorted by unit on our Seagate hard drive page.

What is the quietest hard drive?

A small, slow one. WD's 2.5 inch Blue mobile rates 19 idle and 21 seek at 1TB, and Seagate's BarraCuda 2.5 rates 2.0 and 2.2 bels at the same capacity, both at 5400 RPM.

Among 3.5 inch drives on WD's sheets:

DriveRPMIdleSeek
WD Blue WD10EARZ, 1TB540021 dBA26 dBA
WD Red Plus, 4TB540023 dBA27 dBA
WD Red Pro and Gold, 8TB720029 dBA36 dBA

Seagate's current IronWolf sheet starts lower, at 20 idle and 21 seek for the 2TB ST2000VN003, but we could not find that model number new on Amazon. Our WD hard drive page lists every current WD capacity.

Capacity moves the figure within a family

WD's Red Plus rates 21 idle at 2TB and 34 at 10TB. That is a bigger swing than the gap between most families.

Seagate's current IronWolf sheet climbs from 20 dBA idle at 2TB to 28 at 10TB and above. Then the trend reverses for helium. Toshiba's N300 and X300 rate 34 dB idle at 10TB and under and 20 dB from 12TB up, and Seagate's IronWolf Pro drops from 28 dBA idle on its air-filled models to 20 on its helium ones. Neither maker explains why. For anyone who needs large drives, though, the biggest capacities are often the quietest at idle.

Read the figure for the exact model number you are buying.

Prebuilt desktops are declared as a whole machine, and our desktop PC guide shows how disk and optical drive modes appear in those declarations.

Which quiet HDD should go in a NAS?

A 5400 RPM CMR drive: WD's Red Plus 4TB at 23 dBA idle and 27 seek, or Seagate's IronWolf 8TB at 25 and 26.

Neither maker says whether those NAS figures are sound power or sound pressure, so the two sit side by side without one maker ranked above the other. Seagate's IronWolf 4TB rates 23 and 25 on the current sheet, but Amazon had it out of stock on November 8.

The two quietest drives here use SMR recording. That suits a single laptop or backup drive and performs poorly when a NAS rebuilds an array. Our NAS guide covers the enclosures.

Data sheets that leave noise out

Seagate's 3.5 inch BarraCuda, SkyHawk and Exos data sheets have no acoustics row, and their figures live only in the product manuals. Toshiba publishes no seek figure for any consumer drive, and its P300 appears only on its European site. WD names no measuring standard except on its Blue sheets.

None of this changes the ranking. It does explain why some drives are documented more fully than others.

How the quietest hard drives compare

ProductIdleSeekForm factorRecordingWarrantyPrice
WD10SPZX19 dBA sound power, 1TB (maker)21 dBA sound power, 1TB2.5 inch, 7mm, SATA 6Gb/sSMR, 5400 RPM class2 years$119.99
Seagate ST1000LM0482.0 bels typical, sound power (maker)2.2 bels typical, sound power2.5 inch, 7mm, SATASMR, 5400 RPM2 year limited$139.99
WD40EFPX23 dBA, 4TB (maker data sheet)27 dBA, 4TB3.5 inch, SATA 6Gb/sCMR, 5400 RPM3 year limited$166.71
Seagate ST8000VN002"Acoustics, Idle (typical, measured in Idle 1 state)" 25 dBA (maker data sheet)"Acoustics, Seek (typical)" 26 dBA3.5 inch, SATA 6Gb/sCMR, 5,400 RPM, air3 year limited, plus Rescue data recovery$436.98
WD10EARZ21 dBA sound power, 1TB (maker)26 dBA sound power, 1TB3.5 inch, SATA 6Gb/sCMR, 5400 RPM2 years$156.24

Prices as of Nov 12. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change.

Frequently asked questions

What is the quietest hard drive?

Small 2.5 inch 5400 RPM drives lead. WD's Blue mobile WD10SPZX rates 19 dBA idle and 21 seek at 1TB, marked as sound power, and Seagate's 1TB BarraCuda 2.5, the ST1000LM048, is rated at 2.0 bels idle and 2.2 in seek. For a 3.5 inch desktop drive in stock, the 1TB WD Blue WD10EARZ idles at 21 dBA, lowest in the WD Blue desktop line.

Is an SSD quieter than any hard drive?

Yes. An SSD has no moving parts and makes no mechanical noise, so it sits outside this ranking. Hard drives still win on cost per terabyte for bulk storage and backups, and for those jobs a quiet hard drive is worth choosing.

What is the difference between idle and seek noise?

Idle is the drive spinning with no reads or writes, a steady hum. Seek is the heads moving between tracks, the clicking and chatter you hear during file access. A NAS that sits idle most of the day is mostly about the idle figure; a drive under constant access is mostly about seek.

Should I avoid SMR drives?

For NAS arrays, generally yes, and the data sheets state the recording type. The quietest 2.5 inch drives here, WD's Blue mobile and Seagate's BarraCuda 2.5, are SMR, fine for a single laptop or backup drive but a poor fit for RAID rebuilds. The NAS picks, WD Red Plus and Seagate IronWolf, are CMR.

How do I make hard drives quieter in a PC or NAS?

Mount them on rubber grommets or isolated sleds, use a case or NAS with drive bay damping, and schedule heavy tasks like scrubs and backups for when nobody is nearby. Our NAS guide covers enclosures.

The bottom line

Few categories make ranking this easy. WD prints idle and seek in dBA on every data sheet and marks its Blue figures as sound power. Seagate prints dBA on some sheets and bels in its manuals. Toshiba gives idle only.

Don't trust a conversion between them. Seagate's own IronWolf 4TB reads 27 dBA seek on the 2024 sheet, 25 on the 2025 sheet and 2.5 bels in the manual. Three documents, one drive.

For a laptop or backup, buy small and slow: 2.5 inch, 5400 RPM. For a big NAS, go bigger than you think. Toshiba rates its 12TB and larger N300 at 20 dB idle and its 10TB and under at 34.

Stanley Alu, founder and editor

What we also considered

These are worth knowing about, and why they didn't make the list.

  • WD Blue 2TB 2.5-Inch Laptop Hard Drive (WD20SPZX)

    Our former top pick, 23 idle and 24 seek at 2TB in sound power. WD's Amazon listing was out of stock on November 8.

    See it at Amazon

  • Seagate BarraCuda 2TB 2.5-Inch Laptop Hard Drive (ST2000LM015)

    At 2TB the BarraCuda 2.5 rates 2.2 bels idle and 2.4 seek, and its manual prints those typical figures too, with maximums of 2.4 and 2.6.

    See it at Amazon

  • Seagate IronWolf 4TB NAS Hard Drive (ST4000VN006)

    Down to 23 dBA idle and 25 seek on Seagate's 2025 sheet, from 27 seek on the 2024 one, but out of stock on Amazon on November 8.

    See it at Amazon

  • WD Blue 4TB Desktop Hard Drive (WD40EZAX)

    The lowest seek in the 3.5 inch WD Blue line, 25, with 23 idle in sound power. No new Amazon listing had it in stock on November 8.

    Search Amazon for this model

  • WD Blue 8TB Desktop Hard Drive (WD80EAAZ)

    Bulk desktop storage at 24 idle and 28 seek, sound power, for $399.99 on the WD store.

    See it at Amazon

  • WD Purple 4TB Surveillance Hard Drive (WD43PURZ)

    WD's surveillance drive matches the Red Plus at 4TB: 23 idle, 27 seek.

    See it at Amazon

  • WD Red Pro 20TB NAS Hard Drive (WD202KFGX)

    Idles at 20 in its 20TB helium size but seeks at 32, on 7200 RPM; the 8TB version rates 29 and 36.

    See it at Amazon

  • WD Gold 8TB Enterprise Hard Drive (WD8005FRYZ)

    WD's enterprise drive at 8TB shares the 8TB Red Pro's 29 and 36.

    See it at Amazon

  • Seagate IronWolf Pro 16TB NAS Hard Drive (ST16000NT001)

    Helium brings the IronWolf Pro 16TB down to 20 dBA idle and 26 seek, 5 below the IronWolf 8TB at idle, but it spins at 7200 RPM; the air-filled 2TB to 10TB Pro models rate 28 and 30.

    See it at Amazon

  • Seagate BarraCuda 4TB Desktop Hard Drive (ST4000DM004)

    Its manual gives 2.6 bels idle, louder than the 6TB and 8TB versions at 2.3. The data sheet has no acoustics row, and Amazon had only renewed units in November.

    See it at Amazon

  • Seagate SkyHawk 4TB Surveillance Hard Drive (ST4000VX016)

    The surveillance SkyHawk sits at 2.3 bels idle and 2.7 seek, figures found only in the manual.

    See it at Amazon

  • Seagate Exos 7E10 4TB Enterprise Hard Drive (ST4000NM000B)

    An enterprise contrast at 2.8 bels idle and 3.2 seek.

    See it at Amazon

  • Toshiba N300 8TB NAS Hard Drive (HDWG780XZSTA)

    At 8TB the N300 idles at 34 dB, while the 12TB to 22TB models rate 20. Toshiba gives no seek figure, and this listing was out of stock in November.

    See it at Amazon

  • Toshiba X300 8TB Performance Hard Drive (HDWR780XZSTA)

    Same pattern as the N300: 34 dB idle at 10TB and under, 20 at 12TB and up. Its Amazon listing was out of stock in November.

    See it at Amazon

  • Toshiba P300 4TB Desktop Hard Drive (HDWD240UZSVA)

    Idles at 22 dB, a figure taken from Toshiba's European data sheet, since the P300 is not on Toshiba America's site.

    Search Amazon for this model

How we reviewed this article

Every statement here comes from the 9 maker documents, standards and agency pages listed under Sources, quoted where the wording matters. We did not measure, inspect or repair anything ourselves. Each substantive revision is dated below. How we work

  1. Current version

    Seagate's 2025 IronWolf sheet puts the 4TB at 25 dBA seek, not 27. That drive, the 2TB WD Blue mobile and the 4TB WD Blue went out of stock on Amazon, so in-stock 1TB WD Blue, 1TB BarraCuda and 8TB IronWolf models replace them.

  2. First published, written by Stanley Alu.

Sources

All 9 sources
Manufacturer pages and manuals for every product

Related guides

The quietest NAS boxes

Synology publishes the microphone model, the distance and the background noise for every NAS it sells. QNAP publishes nothing. See the quietest boxes and what the figures actually describe.

Are Seagate hard drives quiet? Their data sheets say 20 to 28 dBA at idle

Seagate's IronWolf and IronWolf Pro data sheets print idle figures from 20 to 28 dBA and seek figures from 21 to 32. The helium IronWolf Pro from 12TB to 24TB rates 20 idle, 26 seek. BarraCuda, SkyHawk and Exos figures appear in bels of sound power, mostly in product manuals, and are ranked on their own.

Are WD hard drives quiet? Their data sheets say 19 to 34 dBA at idle

WD prints idle and seek acoustics for every current internal hard drive. The 1TB WD Blue mobile WD10SPZX is lowest at 19 dBA idle and 21 seek, sound power. Among NAS, surveillance and enterprise drives, 20TB to 22TB helium models idle at 20 dBA, while 10TB and 12TB air models reach 34. Checked November 7, 2026.