Loud hard drive

[gregom]

Recently i noticed my drive has been getting louder and louder. A high-pitchted electronic hum of some sort is coming from it. It also takes a while to spin down when I turn off the system. Maybe it normally takes that long, but its even more noticable when its so loud.

I know some drives can be noisy, and the drive still works fine. But I'm wondering of maybe something is wrong with it. Maybe I should try to get a RMA from WD?

BTW The drive is between the DVD drive and another HDD. And this is in an SFF so its pretty compact. Is it possible the head has damaged the drive?

 

[AluminumStudios]

It sounds more like the bearings are getting loud (than any kind of head damage.) I always take a change in sound as a bad sign from a hard drive. I'd make sure your important stuff is backed up. If it was me I'd try to RMA it because A.) I don't trust drives who's sounds change and B.) whiny drives are just plain annoying.