Hi every one and thanks for looking. I have had a few hard drive problems answered on this forum but I have yet another. What would you say is an acceptable amount of noise from a hard drive. I build a few systems to sell on e-bay and such like and have noticed some drives are very quite(silent) and some drives whine a little(nothing to bad just a faint whine) Does a noisy drive mean definite failure looming??? Or is it acceptable to have a small amount of noise?? Advice please....
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What is acceptable hard drive noise?
- Thread starter kes101
- Start date
I'm not an "ace" pc doctor but I've built a few pc's in my life and what I've found is this;
The whirring sounds depend on a lot of things>manufacturer,vibration from the case,etc so thats not an issue.What IS an issue is the sounds when it first spins up,you dont want to here funny grinding noises or vibration noises,just a nice steady whir.The next indication of a drive going south is that it starts losing clusters,theres all kinds of software around that will do a hard test on drives for you(I use an ancient utility called "fix-it utilities"by McAffee that still works pretty good)Also most of the newer drives have S.M.A.R.T so just dl utilities from the manufacturer and you can test the drives that way.If you want to build pc's I would also suggest a program called "bus hound" you can dl it at download.com for a trial and it'll do everything but wash dishes(damn!)but be very careful with it until you fully understand it because you can definately toast a pc with it.
The whirring sounds depend on a lot of things>manufacturer,vibration from the case,etc so thats not an issue.What IS an issue is the sounds when it first spins up,you dont want to here funny grinding noises or vibration noises,just a nice steady whir.The next indication of a drive going south is that it starts losing clusters,theres all kinds of software around that will do a hard test on drives for you(I use an ancient utility called "fix-it utilities"by McAffee that still works pretty good)Also most of the newer drives have S.M.A.R.T so just dl utilities from the manufacturer and you can test the drives that way.If you want to build pc's I would also suggest a program called "bus hound" you can dl it at download.com for a trial and it'll do everything but wash dishes(damn!)but be very careful with it until you fully understand it because you can definately toast a pc with it.
Maxtor hard drives are fairly noisy compared to most seagate hard drives. Western digital are in between.
However, if the hard drive is installed tightly and properly and all things being equal, meaning the rest of the computer is put together properly and the case is closed, then a hard drive shouldnt sound like there is a monster inside the case. In fact, it should be below the sound of any fans that are running.
But some noise from a hard drive only means its working fine.
Only bad noises are very loud and constant loud clicking noises, other than that, all should be fine.
If you do have a hard drive that is a bit too noisy for your liking heres a trick.
Get hold of some rubber, like the type from an old inner tube or a bicycle tire tube, like that. Cut it into strips and put the rubber in between the hard drive and where you are connecting it to on the case, such that screws will go thru it and the rubber will be between the hard drive and case. That should take care of any excess noise for you as long as the screws are the correct ones and they are all snug, not real tight, but snug.
Does that help you out any?
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
However, if the hard drive is installed tightly and properly and all things being equal, meaning the rest of the computer is put together properly and the case is closed, then a hard drive shouldnt sound like there is a monster inside the case. In fact, it should be below the sound of any fans that are running.
But some noise from a hard drive only means its working fine.
Only bad noises are very loud and constant loud clicking noises, other than that, all should be fine.
If you do have a hard drive that is a bit too noisy for your liking heres a trick.
Get hold of some rubber, like the type from an old inner tube or a bicycle tire tube, like that. Cut it into strips and put the rubber in between the hard drive and where you are connecting it to on the case, such that screws will go thru it and the rubber will be between the hard drive and case. That should take care of any excess noise for you as long as the screws are the correct ones and they are all snug, not real tight, but snug.
Does that help you out any?
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
- Thread starter
- #4
Thank you for the advise. Over the weekend I have had some rather nasty hard drive issues. I bought 20 reconditioned/second hand drives a while ago and some of them are making all kinds of racket. From screams(the sort of which would be at home in a Friday the 13th type film) to clanking and rumblings like an old tumble drier. So the lesson i am taking away from this experience is...only buy new drives. So really it serves me right for being such a skin flint.
Screams, they are likely dead.
Clanking and rumbling - likely dead. Especially if you hear click, clicking noises.
The freezer trick sometimes works to get data off a bad drive, but you arent needing that right now.
I have seen on the net where they offer like 20 drives for $100 or something and you are on your own. I would never take them as i figured they are getting rid of their junk drives that have tested bad for them and this is a great way of cheating the public. Hope i am wrong.
Did you get any kind of warranty at all on these drives?
Can you send bad ones back for a credit?
You should have mentioned this at the start. Now i know what you are getting at, lol, didnt before.
Hope you end with some drives that are ok!
Where did you get them from? I wonder if its the same place i saw on the net.
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
Clanking and rumbling - likely dead. Especially if you hear click, clicking noises.
The freezer trick sometimes works to get data off a bad drive, but you arent needing that right now.
I have seen on the net where they offer like 20 drives for $100 or something and you are on your own. I would never take them as i figured they are getting rid of their junk drives that have tested bad for them and this is a great way of cheating the public. Hope i am wrong.
Did you get any kind of warranty at all on these drives?
Can you send bad ones back for a credit?
You should have mentioned this at the start. Now i know what you are getting at, lol, didnt before.
Hope you end with some drives that are ok!
Where did you get them from? I wonder if its the same place i saw on the net.
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
- Thread starter
- #6
Hi again...its not a problem relay as I can send all failed drives back. But what I'm finding is that if a drive is clunking and banging its not worth me putting it in a machine I'm selling because I will only have people complaining when the drive goes south. So I may as well spend the extra and put a new one in at the start.
did you forget to tell me where you got them or is it you dont want to?
Im not trying to be rude here, just asking, i dont know if you forgot or not.
I'm curious to see what kind of deal can be had is all.
thanks
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
Im not trying to be rude here, just asking, i dont know if you forgot or not.
I'm curious to see what kind of deal can be had is all.
thanks
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
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