High pitched sound from HDs

[GnomeCop]

I hve a couple WD1200JB drives and I think they have gotten louder the longer I have owned them. I recent;y noticed that they were a lot loder than when I bought them, not in seek noise just idle rotation speed noise. It sounded like a high piched whine. I decided to get a couple of enclosures, the ones with the thick dense foam with aluminum casing. After installing the drives in those, they pretty much eliminated all noise from the case, except a very quiet high piched whine.

What seemed to have happened is that the HD enclosures have stopped all the HD noise except the high pitched sound. Granted my system is a lot quieter than before , the isolation of this high pitched noise, makes it all the more annoying.

any suggestions on getting rid of the noise. I may try installing the hds in the enclosures upside-down tonight.

 

[netjack]

i have 2 wd 100jb drives and they make the same idle whining noise..waht hd enclosures did u buy?

 

[OulOat]

That's what you get for buying WD. Whinny drives = bad bearings. RMA them. Better yet, ebay them and get Seagate Barracudas.

 

[amcdonald]

Originally posted by: OulOat
That's what you get for buying WD. Whinny drives = bad bearings. RMA them. Better yet, ebay them and get Seagate Barracudas.

Yea almost every drive turns into a noise machine after awhile.
apparently the exception to this rule are the barracudas.
My first one (60gb V) arrived today along with my 2x256 hyperx pc3000!
can't wait to get home and try it out after I get tired of migrating this server

 

[wampa]

I was thinking of getting the Maxtor 120 8mb cache to replace my WD120 JB. Does anyone have any experience with the maxtor 8mb cache drive? Since they are fluid bearing I believe they should be alot more quieter than the WD. I agree with you that the WD makes a very annoying high pitch sound, I plan to get rid of mine and replace it with the maxtor since it would go nicely with my 80gb cuda IV.

 

[GnomeCop]

so when you guys are talking about the barracudas are you talking about the IV or V ?

I have my eye on a couple of the 120GB barracuda V 's w/8meg cache.... still deciding SATA or pATA

 

[wampa]

Originally posted by: GnomeCop
so when you guys are talking about the barracudas are you talking about the IV or V ?

I have my eye on a couple of the 120GB barracuda V 's w/8meg cache.... still deciding SATA or pATA

I'm talking about the IV. I never had a chance to get the V's.
I'm not sure if they are also quiet. Probably something to look into.

 

[blade]

I had a WD 1200JB drive that had that same high pitched sound. I couldn't take it and that problem could possibly lead to future troubles so I RMA'd it. WD did a cross ship, though I had to leave a cc number. So far the replacement has been fine. But I use a seagate IV as my main drive. After having several noisy WD drives I've lost my faith in them.

 

[OulOat]

The funny thing was my 5400RPM WD drive made more noise and heat than both my 7200 RPM Maxtors and Barracuda IV. A lot more. So I got rid of WD (actually lost it in a bet :-() and now the loudest thing is the Maxtor. I've heard the new Maxtor fluid bearings are as quiet as the Barracuda IVs, but I would go with Seagate just to be sure.

 

[amcdonald]

I'm talking about the IV. I never had a chance to get the V's. I'm not sure if they are also quiet. Probably something to look into.

the barracuda V's are rated at much lower dba compared to any other ide drive.
My source for this is here
Just goto the seagate barracuda V ata review, they also have a sata review gnomecop.

 

[mgpaulus]

I can attest to the Barracuda IVs. I had a machine with an IBM Deskstar 7200 20GB in it, and it was ok in the old case it was in. But when I put it in it's new home, a Chieftec/Antec SX1030, it was just unbearable. So, in the interest of keeping my sanity, I replaced it with a Barracuda ST340016A (40GB ), and it was pure bliss. Now, in the same room I have 2 systems in Antec SX1030 cases, with all fan slots filled with Panaflo L1As. The CPUs are XP 2200+, HHC-001/Panaflo M1A & XP 2100+, HHC-001/Panaflo L1A. Both systems have ST340016A, and when you walk in the office/room, all you hear is a gentle wind sound. Nothing like the standard computer hum/whine sound. This was important to me, because this office is on the upper floor with all our bedrooms, and I didn't want that nasty whining sound disturbing my sleep/work time.

The Barracudas are more expensive, but if quiet is important to you, they are well worth the extra $$$.

 

[GnomeCop]

yeah I'm really interested in getting a couple of the barracuda V's now. Just wading through all the reviews I've found. hopefully I can find the sata version for a decent price.

 

[keyeye]

Another vote for the barracuda's. I have a 40gig and 80 gig IV. I also have a DM9 FDB 60 gig Maxtor. The bearings are actually very quiet (slightly louder than the almost silent seagates), but the performance seeks were very loud. On quiet mode, it's not bad, but I still prefer the cuda's. As above, the reviews suggest the cuda V is even quieter.

 

[SinfulWeeper]

I like the new 180GXP series from IBM. Nice and quiet. Also better performing than Seagates offering.

WD is teh suk as far as I am concerned.

 

[RWalker2]

i couldnt stand the noise from my WD 40GB drive so i took it out and got a 80gb Seagate IV, its sooo quiet - best decision i ever made
Oh and did i mention that i had 2 other WD 40GB drives die before? 1 in only a week too :/

 

[Zap]

For me the big selling poing on the WD "JB" drives is the 3 year warranty. A minor point would be the performance. If I wanted low noise I'd get a Seagate (which I have, a Barracuda IV, in a near-silent machine with a VIA C3 CPU).

 

[GrumpyMan]

I've got a 80 WD JB and it is a lot quieter than the 120 Maxtor Ultra 8mg cache with FDB during seeks. They are both quiet on idle.

 

[GnomeCop]

hey does anyone know how loud Western Digital External Firewire HDs are? Do they get loud after awhile too?

 

[SinfulWeeper]

External drives are 100% identical to internal ones. The only difference is is with the enclosure that converts the wiring from IDE to firewire or usb.

So in time it will suffer the same fate.

 

[GnomeCop]

thx you just saved me a couple hundred dollars, didn't need it that much anyways, and when I do i will look into getting an enclosure and a seagate to go in it

 

[Bookie]

I had the exact same problem with WD's drives. Last week I got a Seagate Barracuda V 120gig drive and I have to say that it the most damn quite hard drive I have every used. When you put your ear up to it, you have to concentrate to hear anything.

I'm putting in an order for two more of these drives for my other computers. All the old drives are being sold on Ebay.

 

[wetcat007]

All WD's whine sadly, normaly when mine is cold after having rhe PC off it's whiny then after my PC heats up after an hour or so it's not audioble unless u put ur ear up 2 the case or something. I have a 120GB JB hd and a 17 GB 5400 RPM WD and a 100 WD and a 30GB each whines, i have one maxtor 30GB 5400 that does not, but new maxtor drives do whine. Seagates right now are the way to go, there's also companies that sell material the is supposed to absorb high pitched sounds you might wanna look into that.

-Mark