What causes a HDD to make a high pitched whining noise?

[GreenBeret]

Somone suggested the heads are scratching the platters. This is not a new drive, but it isn't quite a year old yet. Is this what is causing the noise, or could it be something else? It did not start doing this until today, and I am concerned.

 

[shiznut123]

the platter spinning at high rates

 

[GreenBeret]

It just started doing this today. Forgot to say that before.

 

[Bartman39]

This might not have any bearing upon it but "bearings" or should I say the beginning of no bearings. Or a change in the shaft tolerance because of a defect in the material... Since its only about a year or less old "RMA" is the best words I can give at the moment... Sorry dude...

 

[GreenBeret]

Alright. I can deal with that, but how am I supposed to rescue all my data? I don't have another HDD I can use to back it up, or a CD burner which is accessible to that computer.

 

[The Sauce]

Hard drives do that when you install Barbie Super Collection and all educational software...you would too.

 

[Ornery]

Uh, it's a Maxtor, right? I RMA'ed one because of it's whine. Only noticed it when it was installed in a PC case other than my mega tower. The replacement whined too. It's the 5400RPM unit. I hear the newer ones aren't so noisy. I've since set the ah heck on a piece of foam rubber instead the usual mounting screws.

If yours is really screeching, I'd get an RMA. Buy another in the mean time. Best to keep backup data on a second physical drive anyway. And the dang things are so cheap, there's no reason not to.

 

[GreenBeret]

Actually, it's a Western Digital. The whine is a new developement.

 

[Booty]

I've had the same problem...WD Expert, 27 gig...and RMA isn't an option since they don't make the drive anymore, I got it from Value America (out of business), and all WD does is have you test the drive...in which case your drive would probably pass the tests...so no RMA = (

 

[GreenBeret]

I bought mine from Best Buy, so if WD won't take it back, i'll shove it down their throats :|

Maybe I can get it to fail their tests somehow... WITHOUT FUBARing the drive.

If they don't do something about it, I don't think I'm going to waste time buying WD products. :|

 

[highwire]

I've never had a bit of trouble RMAing a Western Digital drive. I also had a situation like yours where the drive stated making abnormal noises, but was still functional. If the unit is a year or so old and making bad sounds, I would guess you'll have no problems getting an RMA replacement.

Also, if you have a credit card handy, they will send you a refurb replacement so you can swap all your data to the new drive. Now, any more problems?

 

[GreenBeret]

I'll see what happens when I call them tomorrow. Hopefully, they will send me a refurb, let me transfer all my stuff, and then take the noisy sucker back.

 

[WetSprocket]

Is it a red whine or a white whine?





I think Highwire is right. You should have no prob. getting a new one. WD is a good drive dont let a single drive turn you off them. I dont think you can go wrong with Seagate, WD, IBM, Maxtor, or Quantum.

 

[jimmygates]

I had to RMA a discontinued WD drive a while back. It was a 3.2GB WD that went bad. Since the 3.2GB had been discountinued, they sent me a WD 4.0GB. Unfortunately the replacement didn't work and I had to get another replacement. The second 4GB is still working today.



-Jimbo

 

[GreenBeret]

hmmm. Maybe I'll get a better drive out of this? I don't think they make the 20.5GB ATA66 7200RPMs anymore. I'm sure they have some refurbs lying around though. Oh well

edit: I see that they still make it. I thought they had moved on to high density platters?