Hard Drive Noise?

[Sakuya]

Recently, a "dadadadadada" vibrating noise began emitting from my hard drive. It sounds like a really loud fan. But I don't think there is a fan in my hard drive. It becomes really annoying at times. Is there a way to fix this? :/ I believe I have a Maxtor 6Y160M0 (137 GB). One thing of note is that the noise sometimes is really loud, and sometimes it's soft.

I'm currently running HD Tune to see if any hard drive problems comes up. So far, it's all okay. It's not related to how many programs I have up either because once I turn on the hard drive, the noise starts.

[lordsmurf]

Is it seated securely? All screws tight? Things like that.

[terjeber]

Recently, a "dadadadadada" vibrating noise began emitting from my hard drive. It sounds like a really loud fan.

Your drive is dying. If you have anything on the drive you like, back it up immediately. Go out and buy a new drive and remove the old one, or if you don't mind losing whatever is on it at some point in time, keep using it until it dies. Once the drive dies recovering anything on it will probably set you back 4-10 times as much as a new drive costs.

Drives die after a while, some Maxtor drives die after a shorter while than any reasonable person would find acceptable .

There is sadly nothing you can do about this.

[redwudz]

What lordsmurf said, and are you really sure it's the hard drive? Put something against it like a soda straw and hold it to your ear to be sure.

If it's really the drive, dump it, back it up, toss it. But if not, check your MB and case fans.

[whitejremiah]

hmmm....only drive's i've EVER had die on me were seagate drives...and i've owned a few differant brands...a few WD's, a couple seagates, and yes, even a maxtor drive....and most recently a hitachi drive...guess i'm lucky that my maxtor has outlasted BOTH the seagate drives and i bought that one before the seagates? but yea, check the screws that hold it in, also check your fans...i had a fan that died on me once, and until i actually carefully inspected it, it did sound like it was coming from the hdd.....also check to make sure nothing else is touching it...maybe a loose wire or something like that? but yea, just pull your panelling off the computer, boot it up and see if you can verify that it is actually the harddrive and not something else....also, make sure your harddrive is properly maintained and not unnessacerily seeking through a ton of fragmented files, this can cause some excessive noise, too....

[FulciLives]

I've had many MAXTOR drives since 1990 and only one ever died on me but it happened after only 2 years. That is unacceptable. Plus it just "died" with no tell tale signs before hand so I did loose some data that I did not have a back up of pissing me off even more.

I've never ever had a HDD fail on me ... but I upgrade often so maybe that is why but still 3 years for a HDD failure?

Based on that experience and all the bad things I seem to hear about MAXTOR drives the result is clear ... I will never buy one again!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[guns1inger]

I had 3 IBM 40GB drives die within 12 months. There was a major problem with a batch of them out here a few years back that didn't surface until after I had them in use These are the only drives to ever just die on me.

Seagate is my preferred brand for HDDs

[Sakuya]

Well, I got my hard drive around April of 2004. Can I really take off the case and turn it on? Wouldn't that make it dangerous?

[FulciLives]

Well, I got my hard drive around April of 2004. Can I really take off the case and turn it on? Wouldn't that make it dangerous?

LOL are you serious with this question?

We are talking about opening the computer case not opening up the HDD enclosure.

It is not going to ZAP you! :P

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[InXess]

It's time to back up your data. Don't think too long, it may die anytime (if this is HD...). Then buy yourself a Seagate. HD's are really cheap. Data recovery will cost like 10-20 brand new HD's.

Btw. call Maxtor tech. supp. and check its warranty status. They will swap it without any questions (if eligible) by means of a premailer (you return defective in 30 days). Some drives still carry 3 yrs. warranty (do not break the seal on the drive) while Seagate has 5 yrs. This is not worth tinkering with. Waste of time.

[budz]

Recently, a "dadadadadada" vibrating noise began emitting from my hard drive. It sounds like a really loud fan. But I don't think there is a fan in my hard drive. It becomes really annoying at times. Is there a way to fix this? :/ I believe I have a Maxtor 6Y160M0 (137 GB). One thing of note is that the noise sometimes is really loud, and sometimes it's soft.

I'm currently running HD Tune to see if any hard drive problems comes up. So far, it's all okay. It's not related to how many programs I have up either because once I turn on the hard drive, the noise starts.

Download the maxblaster tool to test the hard drive out before you even remove the computer case to check the screws. My bet is the drive is failing and the maxblaster tool will test the drive out which will take awhile since it's a 160gb. If it's failing you'll get a error code number then contact Maxtor by phone. The tech will tell you to read the code that you got from doing the test. They'll tell you if the drive is still covered under warranty. If it is they'll send you a refurbished hard drive. I had a 200 gb maxtor die within 3 months but I was lucky I didn't have critical data on there. Maxtor sent me a refurbished 250 gb hard drive. Another member posted that refurbished hard drives are tested more than new ones coming off the assembly line.

[InXess]

That is correct but not entirely. Although Maxtor may ask you to test the drive with PowerMax (not Maxblast this is drive installation utility) no error code is needed to swap the drive - drive may be fully operational but still emanating a noise. It's enough to say it is noisy.

[bevills1]

Check http://www.bensbargains.net/ where you'll find HDDs up to 160 GB for $40 or less after rebates from various vendors nearly every week if you want a good buy on a replacement drive. I got a 200 GB Seagate for $30 after rebates from CompUSA 2 about weels ago when I saw it on that site.

[SLK001]

Well, I got my hard drive around April of 2004. Can I really take off the case and turn it on? Wouldn't that make it dangerous?

Boy, I hope not! I don't remember the last time that my computer case cover was even ON! (By the way, where the hell did I put that thing?)

[INFRATOM]

As everyone said your HD is dying if not so yet. Use your power saving to turn off HD when idle otherwise it will spin forever and they are not designed for it and that plus heat will shorten their life. SCSI HD and raptors are designed to run forever on servers. After backup, check your warranty on their website and you need to run that diagnostic program and send them the report then they give you return authorization for replacement. For you it is better if it dies sooner to get good warranty report if it is still under warranty. Good Luck

[budz]

That is correct but not entirely. Although Maxtor may ask you to test the drive with PowerMax (not Maxblast this is drive installation utility) no error code is needed to swap the drive - drive may be fully operational but still emanating a noise. It's enough to say it is noisy.

I knew it was some utility tool from Maxtor!

[tomwil]

Then buy yourself a Seagate. HD's are really cheap. Data recovery will cost like 10-20 brand new HD's.

See https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=282214 about hard drive failures.

[lordsmurf]

If the drive is dead, I'd not be surprised, given it's a Maxtor. In all my years of computers, I have never known a Maxtor to not die after 2-3 years, or at very least develop large bad areas. NO drive is perfect, but WB and Seagate are not anywhere nearly as bad as Maxtor.

That said, I'm still not convinced it's the drive. My computer can make noise too. Usually one of the fans has dust hanging on the blades and I have to clean it off. Sometimes the metal and plastic on the case settles oddly, and I just have to push around on it to make it go back how it was. Screw come loose too, as drives and fans vibrate (internal parts constantly in motion).

[neomaine]

sakuya,

You post and subsequent replies begs the questions of wether or not we're all speaking the same language.

It's not related to how many programs I have up either because once I turn on the hard drive, the noise starts.

Well, I got my hard drive around April of 2004. Can I really take off the case and turn it on? Wouldn't that make it dangerous?

Just to be sure, a hard drive is a device within the pc case that holds the data. It doesn't have a fan. I also doubt that any drive would make that much noise and still live.

So, if I'm assuming correctly that you actually mean that the noise is coming from your pc case. Its probably one of maybe four fans in the case that are going bad.

- Power supply fan.
- CPU cooling fan.
- Graphics card cooling fan.
- Case fan, if you have one.

I'd take you pc to a local pc repair shop, even a Best Buy Geek Squad, and have them take a look.

[Soopafresh]

I have a pile of dead WD hard drives at work. I even had 2 die at the same time on a Raid 5 system (the worst possible scenario). No more of those, thank you.

I now use Seagates and have aluminium passive coolers and low RPM fans on all of the important drives on the servers and workstations at work. I also monitor the drives for temperature and SMART failure indictators. Makes me sleep better at night.

If anything, I'd encourage everyone to download Dtemp . It's a tiny system tray app which monitors drive temperature. http://private.peterlink.ru/tochinov/

Good drive temperatures are in the low 30s in Celsius. Do a defrag and watch the temperature spike. Remember, every 10 degrees C you can lower the temperature results in a 2X life extension of your drive (or so I've read).

[redwudz]

Do a defrag and watch the temperature spike.

That makes me wonder how much wear and tear a HD is subjected to by someone that defrags a drive daily, whether it needs it or not. After listening to a drive (A Maxtor. ) clunking away for a half hour during a defrag, I limit them until I need it. Some people seem to defrag a little too much, IMO.

Maxtor has a lot of HD models, some not so good, some fair. I've had about the same failure rate with them as other brands. But I have also had 2 Maxtor 80Gs than ran hot enough to burn your finger. That was one of the failed ones.

[rallynavvie]

I believe I have a Maxtor 6Y160M0 (137 GB)

I'd also like to point out that you're shorting yourself about 20GB of space on that drive because you haven't updated Windows and formatted with NTFS. 137GB is the old Windows barrier. Sorry, just figured someone else would have already pointed that out in the last 20 replies

[Sakuya]

I believe I have a Maxtor 6Y160M0 (137 GB)

I'd also like to point out that you're shorting yourself about 20GB of space on that drive because you haven't updated Windows and formatted with NTFS. 137GB is the old Windows barrier. Sorry, just figured someone else would have already pointed that out in the last 20 replies

At least that's what it said when I downloaded HDTune.

And yes, sorry about my computer illiteracy. When I turn on my computer, the vibrating noise starts. So it could be just the fan?

[jimmalenko]

I'd be fairly confident that this is "just" a fan.

If it were your hard drive, my experience shows that they generally make "whirring" noises when on they way out and the sound would only be present when the drive is being accessed, and not all the time. Varying degrees of volume would suggest a fan also, as at times it has to work harder than others, thus resulting in a different volume noise. I daresay you would have experiencing funky happenings such as files not being able to be accessed, CRC errors and whatnot when accessing files from the HDD if it were the HDD also.

[redwudz]

I would go ahead and pull the side cover of the computer case off. There is no risk of electrical shock, the voltages are no higher than a automobile battery.

You can unplug your case fans one at a time to see if that is where the noise is coming from. You can unplug your CPU cooler fan for maybe 30 seconds and be safe from overheating. The power supply fan is probably obvious if it's the source. As mentioned before, hard drives rarely make loud noises, if so they will probably fail very soon.

If it is the hard drive, save everything you really want off it, replace it. If you are running a newer OS like XP, use NTFS format instead of FAT32. Install your OS and upgrades.

EDIT: I guess I should add that it's easy to change case fans. Just a screwdriver needed. Make sure you get one with the same connector.

[InXess]

If I were you I'd wait with opening the case for couple more days. Too many eyes are watching plus it adds a lot of suspense...
in the meantime, let's hear some music...

[Sakuya]

If I were you I'd wait with opening the case for couple more days. Too many eyes are watching plus it adds a lot of suspense...
in the meantime, let's hear some music...

Thanks for the help everyone.