Noiser hard drive

[Digiface]

I recently bought new SATA drive. I have noticed that it makes louder
noise than my other drives (older SATA and ATA), when there's activity
on that drive (led is red). Also noticed "weird" noise,when i extracted large archive
file. It doesn't make any special noises, when there's NO activity.

I tested that drive with 'SeaTools for Dos' program (Short Test)
and it PASSED. Also S.M.A.R.T. data says that it's OK.

[insomniak1981]

Hi
If the noise you are hearing is like a really bad clicking it could mean your drive has a damaged or badly alligned platter. The same happened with the last drive I purchased. I had S.M.A.R.T. enabled and also ran some diagnostic tools which said everything was fine but it most definately wasn't the drive was really slow and even though it was a SATAII drive it was far slower than my old IDE drive. If it does turn out to be the platter then I would send it back because as far as I know this problem is unfixable.
Maybe you should take a look at this thread on another forum because it is quite possible that the drive is fine, but if it was my drive and I was at all unsure I'd change it.http://www.duxcw.com/yabbse/index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=7102

[Digiface]

...when the computer is "idle", e.g. sitting at the desktop with just the usual Win XP processes running, and no activity indicated by the hard disk LED, I can hear this hard disk making a series of regular, rhythmical clicks as it sits there spinning away.

My drive doesn't make any sounds, when it's "idle". It also doesn't make any strange noises, basicly just normal HDD noises, only louder.

[Shinigami-Sama]

if its under warranty send it back
what else do have to lose other than time?

[Digiface]

I don't send it back. I think that drive is OK. It's brand new.

[CWR03]

I don't send it back. I think that drive is OK. It's brand new.
Just because it's new doesn't mean it can't be bad. The only way to tell if there's a problem is to run a torture test on it. It could just be a noisy drive that you'll have to live with, or it could be a manufacturing defect that will cause it to fail prematurely. A torture test should reveal any problems.

[Digiface]

What is torture test? I got Spinrite program, should i run it?

[insomniak1981]

If you didn't have doubts you wouldn't have posted, so have you just wasted everyone's time or do you genuinely have a problem?
I had doubts about my hard drive so I sent it back, my data is valuable enough to warrant that. If your's isn't and your hard drive is only making normal hard drive noises then why have you brought it to our attention?

[foxyshadis]

I remember seagates had that issue where they'd constantly click while idle from adjusting heads, even in an operating system that isn't constantly writing to disk (as windows tends to). One danger of RMA'ing something on a slight suspicion is that if it's judged not to be bad, you'll be charged a stocking/handling fee as well as the shipping fees.

Just run a day-long or week-long torture test on it, Spinrite works (don't believe anything it says about fixing the drive, if it comes up with major errors it's totally lost). You'll know in no time whether the drive is really good or has a mechanical problem.

[delacroixp]

All said... even if it's 100% OK... a noisy drive is a nuisance, especially if it's your work PC.
Since the noise does bother you... listen to other SATA drives... and swop out the drive if possible...


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[burfadel]

You were saying it was a Seagate drive?

I have 3 Seagate SST3320620AS drives. These are Seagate 320GB 16mb cache SATAII. A few things of note:

- The first is that on Seagate SATAII drives, SATAI is enabled by default! There is a very small jumper on the back of the drive (smaller than a normal jumper) that needs to be removed to get SATAII speed etc.

- Secondly, they're made all over the place I bought mine at different times. One is made in Thailand, one in China, and one in Singapore! There were problems earlier with the drives that were made at the old Maxtor factory from what I've heard, but I looked in to it and my drive was newer than the 320GB drives affected.

- The drives are fairly quiet, and thats across the range from their 320gb drives up to the 750gb models. There are other drives that are noticeably louder such as the new Samsung drive range (which if I were upgrading I'd buy). Do you mean the noises are noticeably loud or just a little loud?...

- The Seagate's have a 5 year warranty on them, which you hope you'll never need to use. However, if the noises are due to a fault they won't replace it unless they find that fault, which is not likely since it passes the testing (and may pass the extensive test too... at least for now ...)

- Some companies allow a one replacement policy. That is, you buy it from the store and something is wrong with it, take it back and they replace it straight away with a new one and records it. Next time you have something go wrong with the drive or whatever the item is though the normal possibly lengthy procedure applies.

[Digiface]

I just finished Spinrite 'level 4' run. It took 18 hours. Maybe i'm just too paranoid...

[delacroixp]

I just finished Spinrite 'level 4' run. It took 18 hours. Maybe i'm just too paranoid...
np... Raptors (http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1746) probably sound like screeching Annie at 10 000 RPM...


:):D:eek:
Pascal


btw
Paranoid is all good...