Hard Drive is LOUD. Any Solutions?

[Connoisseur]

Hey guys, a friend of mine sold me an old WD 40gig hd (I believe it's a 40JB or 400JB or something like that) a couple months ago for like 20 bucks. Since then i've used it to run both a linux box and my main rig with no problems. I always had a high pitched whining noise coming from my pc but since I have an overclocked mobile barton on there with a TT smartfan at 4000rpm I always assumed it was the fan. But recently I underclocked and undervolted my cpu and turned down my fan to inaudible levels and discovered that the high pitched whining noise was coming from my HD! My question is, is such a loud noise normal for these old HD's? It's a constant noise and so far I haven't experienced any problems with my system. Also, since this noise is extremely annoying, is there any way I can rectify this (noise dampening solutions)? In addition, is there any (cheap, decent quality) hd that is quiet?

 

[oneshot47]

You can put it in something like this

Ive never used one so i dont know how much it helps.

Basically any new hard drive is quiet enough not to be annoying.

 

[EULA]

I've got a number of old 10, 20, and 40 gig hard drives, and most of them do have quite a loud whining noise to them. Its only when they start clicking that I worry about losing data...

 

[Looney]

Nothing you can do really. I have an old 40gig WD too, and it's loud as hell.

 

[Demo24]

mine use to wind up and down upon start up and shut down like a Jet engine. Freaked us out after awhile so we replaced it

 

[imported_Phil]

Western Digital drives seem to be plagued with this issue lately- I've seen a 120Gb 7200rpm drive that was five months old, and you could hear it across the room. That experience wasn't limited to one drive however; at the recent installation / XP-rollout I was involved in at a school, a good half of the machines with WD hard drives were whining more then they should.
While it's not really an indication of the drive dying, I personally would get rid of it, because the whining noise would drive me bonkers.

 

[vegetation]

Yea, there's nothing you can do other than try to muffle the noise somehow, but it'd still be loud and then you'd have heat issues (bad). Toss it and buy a new drive if it's driving you remotely near insanity.

 

[Connoisseur]

heh heh it's tolerable at a distance but it's annoying up close especially since i'm trying to keep my system quiet. Any recommendations for a reliable, cheap, QUIET hd? I have 2 other maxtor 120gig hd's in there and they're barely audible, especially compared to the loud as hell WD.

 

[tynopik]

if you're serious about hd noise reduction, this is the place to check:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewforum.php?f=7

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Buy a Seagate.

- M4H

 

[Cerb]

Some things will help, but even elastic suspension can't get rid of that whine.
The best thing you can do is replace it with a Seagate or Samsung.
I got a Spinpoint, and had dual-boot plans for my previous drive (WD 20GB), but not anymore...the Samsung is just too quiet. I recommend Seagate, though. Still much quieter than the WD, and a 5-year warranty, where the Samsungs, while a bit quieter, are 3-year.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Buy a Seagate.

- M4H

Definitely. My 7200.7 is very quiet, and pretty damned quick. Recommended.

 

[CP5670]

I once got a continuous whine that became progressively louder for two months until the HD more or less died, but it was with one of the infamous IBM deskstar 75GB drives.

 

[0roo0roo]

not much u can do thats worth the price of that hd really. best to start with low noise. muffling is rather involved since you have to keep that thing cool. otherwise u'd be able to stuff it into foam or whatever, but that goddamned heat... sigh. my last wd 40gb gave out a few months ago. good riddance