How loud should a harddrive be?

[Xarick]

With my new WD black I am wondering what is normal and what is not. It seems to run just fine. HDtune full scan shows no bad sectors. But it very visible makes a clicking noise when windows boots and when it loads stuff. This noise is quite loud. My old seagate did the same clicking noise (it is a very fast past noise.. almost gravely sounding). I am just trying to find out if this is normal noise or not.

 

[techmanc]

Normal unless it sounds like a slapping the heads against the drives enclosure hard .

 

[0roo0roo]

depends on your case. good dampening case like antec p180 will have the hd isolated on rubber shocks. plus the case is non resonating and thick walled.

if your case is weedy and the hd is transmitting all its vibrations through it then it might sound horrible.

 

[Xarick]

it's not weedy, but not thickwalled. antec 300. Great case, but See what you are saying.

 

[somethingsketchy]

I'm surprised you are able to hear the HDD over the Antec 300. What speed settings are your fans set to? My 900 at the lowest setting, I can't even hear my Raptor 150. I figured I would have heard the HDD, but not over those front fans.

At any rate, does your HDD make the same noises when you are doing something really HDD intensive such as Disk Defragmenter or a virus scan? Because that may be normal operating noises unless, just as techmanc suggested, your HDD's spindle heads are crashing into the platters. At that point you should RMA the drive back to WD.

 

[Xarick]

a bit louder when I am doing a disk defragment or virus scan, but similar.
all my fans are set to low. My two front fans are scythe slipstreams so they are really quiet.

 

[0roo0roo]

300 looks like the fan heavy type cases built for max airflow instead of sound dampening. course antec isn't weedy at all, but still, its an open case design with lots of direct path for sound to come out whereas p180 type cases have baffled openings. and of course the walls on a 300 are probably a single sheet of metal. no layers. is it on your desk as well? if you are hearing seeking clicks and such thats just how it is. a mesh front is basically an open case

 

[Xarick]

the seeking clicks are just louder than I expected. Much louder. So I was worried it indicated an issue. But I have been running 5 days now without any issues.

 

[somethingsketchy]

I would let it run for a few more days (up to 2 weeks if you want) and see what happens. Chances are you got a HDD that is louder than usual. Maybe they are supposed to be quieter (I dunno, I have a raptor and two other WD HDDs) but at any rate, unless you start to see some signs of corrupt data I would leave it be. Just be sure to back up your data just in case that HDD goes south very quickly.

 

[Xarick]

well I ran HDtach and the noise is loudest during random access time. It is very loud and can be heard over everything. So my drive is probably fine, just got a loud one which is a bit sad. actually on all other tests is it pretty quiet, just that random access it is super loud.

 

[betasub]

You can take your head out of your case now

Some drives are louder than others - I know my old Raptor 74GB (Mk1) is. I can't find any Acoustic Management settings for the Raptor (I guess it's built for speed, not stealth) but most manufacturers have downloadable tools that allow you to change settings such as AM.

 

[Xarick]

I actually sit about 2-3' from my box.

 

[dunkster]

Warning, Xarick!

If you take this noise-irritation too seriously, the next thing will be a case-mod to elastically suspend the drive.

That will likely lead to further mods involving fan choices, fan controllers, sealing off noise-leaking ports, installing noise-absorber materials, experiments with air-filtering materials, dremeling case metal and such. Soon, the slightest case sound will be a major irritant.

Then your posts here will be less numerous as you spend more time at SPCR.

You've been warned!

 

[Xarick]

Okay thanks for all your help.
after reading and reading I found the only thing I hear is the seek noise which can be loud. Not much I can do about that. I have ran every test I can find and the drive is working fine. So I dont think it is a problem.


Hmmm. Further reading suggests it might be my case. Other antec 300 users are complaining that the cause causes seek noises to be very loud. I did notice my old seagate was a lot louder, but I thought it was going bad.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea theres no point to suspending the drive in an open mesh type case. it will defeat you at every turn. heh.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea saw a 300 up close at the store so i looked at it a bit closer.
its quite thin and rattly, its a budget budget case, tap the sides and it rings. it seems much worse than say the sonata which is also single layer metal but i guess the sheeting is thicker or something. even the bezel sounded bad when tapped

 

[Marty502]

Originally posted by: dunkster
Warning, Xarick!

If you take this noise-irritation too seriously, the next thing will be a case-mod to elastically suspend the drive.

That will likely lead to further mods involving fan choices, fan controllers, sealing off noise-leaking ports, installing noise-absorber materials, experiments with air-filtering materials, dremeling case metal and such. Soon, the slightest case sound will be a major irritant.

Then your posts here will be less numerous as you spend more time at SPCR.

You've been warned!

That's my story.

My computer is very quiet, I spend more time at SPCR than here... and my HD is elastic suspended. And with AAM!

 

[Xarick]

I am really confused now.
I ran check disk last night and did the full scan which took forever
Drive is much quieter now.

Does that make any sense?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: Xarick
it's not weedy, but not thickwalled. antec 300. Great case, but See what you are saying.

Built my dad a computer in a 300 with two VelociRaptors on RAID 1, it's on his desk. I swear to God I can hear that thing churning away the second I walk into his office. Don't sweat it, the case has bad acoustics.

*hugs P182*

 

[0roo0roo]

yup, tap that p182 anywhere and its a nice dull thud

tapping the 300 is like tapping a pie tin
spending money on an acoustically lousy case trying to quiet it down is a losing proposition. i've tried in the past, using acoustic foam and all that good stuff. getting a p180 was just much better, and less trouble. just save up for something better. and stick it under ur desk!!

 

[Xarick]

I had an antec 1080 case and hated it. The thing was HUGE, and only took 80s which were loud and I had temp and dust issues. I love the 300. No temp issues, no dust issues. Light and easy to manuever. I will take the noise for this case.

 

[0roo0roo]

heh well the 1080 is what? a decade old or something, it was a good thing when it came out. but yea 80mm fans..no good.

and yea if you were going from that to a 300, the only real difference would be the fans, the 1080 was also open..and rattly as heck

 

[zerocool84]

The 300 doesn't have the special HD mounts like the 900 and 1200 do. I can't hear my WD Black drive at all.

 

[imported_Scoop]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article904-page2.html

WD Black series isn't really amongst the quietest around. You may want to try suspending your drive, at least it'll help if the vibration is amplified by your case though it won't help with airborne acoustics.