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I purchased a Synology DS923 and 2 Ironwolf Pro 20TB Hard drives. The hard drives are very noisy. (it kinda sounds like small animals are moving furniture). I was thinking that I should swap these hard drives for 2 - 12 TB. Do I have any other options? Can use the 20TB hard drives in the NAS and have them not run all the time?

Also... I really like your YouTube channel and living in Seattle, I can relate to your dislike seagulls

[ed]

Thank you for reaching out, and I appreciate your support of the YouTube channel! I completely understand how distracting noisy drives can be, especially in a home office setup.

Large-capacity drives like your 20TB IronWolf Pros are inherently noisier due to the increased number of platters and heads inside. Unfortunately, this is a common issue with high-capacity drives, but there are a few options you can consider:

1. Enable HDD Hibernation
You can configure HDD hibernation in DSM to reduce how often the drives are running. This might help to some extent by spinning down the drives during periods of inactivity. Here’s how to enable it:

Go to Control Panel > Hardware & Power > HDD Hibernation.
Set a timeout (e.g., 15-30 minutes) to allow the drives to spin down when not in use.
This won’t eliminate the noise entirely, but it can reduce the time the drives are actively spinning.

2. Separate SSD for the Operating System
Another option is to dedicate one bay for an SSD where the Synology DSM operating system is installed. This way, the hard drives can be set up as a separate RAID array and used only when needed for file access or storage tasks. The SSD will handle frequent system operations, reducing how often the noisy drives need to spin up.

3. Consider Smaller Drives or SSDs
If the noise remains an issue and hibernation or SSD setup doesn’t provide enough relief, you might want to switch to smaller-capacity drives or SSDs.

Smaller HDDs: Drives like 12TB IronWolf or WD Red Plus are generally quieter.
SSDs: If budget allows, SSDs are silent and provide excellent performance, though they’re more expensive per terabyte.
Unfortunately, the trade-off with quieter options is either reduced storage capacity or a higher cost, but they might provide the peace of mind you’re looking for.