laptop hdd's louder?

[lazybum550]

Hello, are laptop hdd's generally louder? I ask this question because i have a compaq 2800t with a 30 gig 4200rpm hdd. I first had a hitachi hdd in there and it would click followed by a high pitched rubbing noise whenever it tried to seek(every couple minutes or so). Compaq sent me a new hdd a toshiba 30 gig, the click followed by the high pitched rubbing sound is now gone but now it seems like my hdd seeks more often even when idle, the sound is quite annoying.

 

[kly1222]

Notebook hdd's are generally quieter (slower seeks, slower rpm)...it's just that notebooks themselves are so much quieter than desktop pc's, that's why you notice the hdd noise so much more.

As to your problem, any drive making a high pitched rubbing noise has a problem. It shouldn't do that. As for the random seeks during idle, it is a feature on some modern drives. Every now and then during idle the drive will move the head to another spot on the platters to prevent heat buildup on specific areas. This prolongs the life of the drive. I'm not sure if that is the case with your toshiba drive, but it might be.

 

[MWink]

The noise level depends very much on the drive. Older laptop drives could be VERY loud (especially Fujitsu). Newer ones tend to be much quieter than desktop drives. I think all or most of the newer ones use fluid bearing motors (IBM, and Hitachi).

I've used a few newer IBM and Hitachi drives and their motor's are dead silent. The Hitachi also has ultra quiet seeking (except for this weird umm...how do I put this.... slipping noise it does every few minutes (I've confirmed it is NOT a defect)). The IBM OTOH has very loud seeking noises. I should mention the IBM is significantly faster than the Hitachi.

 

[bacillus]

the latest ibm 40GNX models are very quiet in spite of being 5400rpm drives!

 

[murphy55d]

You have to figure that youre much closer to the laptop usually than you are to your desktop tower...so closer=easier to hear the noise.