WD120 JB Hurting ears

[wetcat007]

Apparently from what i've heard this is a VERY problematic hd, i've owned it for about 4 months, and the noise it makes has been getting worse, what is the best thing to do about this? Ebay it? Try and get western digital to fix it or get them to refund me. If i were to replace the hd what would be a very quiet alternitive to it, perferably with 8mb cache.

thanks,
Mark

 

[CovertCow]

Call WD and get them to replace it. I would not be a very honorable thing to do to auction something off that you know does not work without mentioning it in the auction (If you were to go down that route). Also I would make sure that all your vital stuff is backed up.

Good luck

 

[TronX]

It should not make a lot of sound. I've got 2 of them
and can't hear them over the Antec Fans.
All I can say is that they are not SCSI loud
or Maxtor loud.

Backup your files to another HD first.

Then use the Advanced - RMA
http://support.wdc.com/warranty/selection.asp?custtype=END

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: TronX
It should not make a lot of sound. I've got 2 of them
and can't hear them over the Antec Fans.
All I can say is that they are not SCSI loud
or Maxtor loud.

Backup your files to another HD first.

Then use the Advanced - RMA
http://support.wdc.com/warranty/selection.asp?custtype=END

I got 3 antec fans in my case along wiuth my cpu fan and vid card fan and my hd is easily hearable over them, with a very high pitched whine. I've seen other messages on the board saying this is a problem that occurs with all hd's of this type, due to poorly designed bearings. Anye suggestions on another hd that would for sure be quiet?

 

[TronX]

Originally posted by: wetcat007

Originally posted by: TronX
It should not make a lot of sound. I've got 2 of them
and can't hear them over the Antec Fans.
All I can say is that they are not SCSI loud
or Maxtor loud.

Backup your files to another HD first.

Then use the Advanced - RMA
http://support.wdc.com/warranty/selection.asp?custtype=END

I got 3 antec fans in my case along wiuth my cpu fan and vid card fan and my hd is easily hearable over them, with a very high pitched whine. I've seen other messages on the board saying this is a problem that occurs with all hd's of this type, due to poorly designed bearings. Anye suggestions on another hd that would for sure be quiet?

Odds are the drive is just fine. But
there might be a hole or pin sized gap
that the sound is getting out of.

You could try the SilentDrive!

http://www.molex.com/product/silent/silentdrive.html

SilentDrive is a thermal and acoustic enclosure designed to reduce
the noise of a hard drive by >90% while still maintaining the drive's
required ambient operating temperatures

 

[wetcat007]

Well I'm gunna try and get some other use for this thing, and buy a new seagate baracuda IV at the same size since they are supposed to be very quiet, WD said that the hd would overheart if i used the silentdrive.

 

[John]

I have owned 3+ 80/120 JB drives, and all had a horrendous whine to them. The Maxtor DM+ 9 w/8mb is pretty quiet during idle, but the seeks are audible to someone (like me) with a semi-silent pc.

 

[T2T III]

My WD "JB" had a bad whine, too. It was the 160 GB version and WD replaced it with a new, 200 GB drive - still sealed. I immediately put the replacement up for auction on E-bay and bought a Maxtor 120 GB and a Maxtor 80 GB drive with 8 mb of cache and liquid ball bearings. I love my Maxtors.

 

[GnomeCop]

when I got my 1200JBs they were dead silent.... now they are worse or about as bad as my old scsi setup.

I sold a bunch of scsi equipment and made a nice profit to get these 1200JBs now they are pissing me off too. I put them in a couple of SMART DRIVE 2002 enclosures and they are a lot more tolerable now.... I can still hear a tiny amount of whine though.
If they get baked, they get baked... I got them for a good price anyways.

I dont think I could sell them, with the sound that they make.

 

[wetcat007]

Seagate IV is supposed to be very quiet as well too right? I was just making sure I've heard good things bout it b4 and they advertise for it being quiet, i got ordered one online from bestbuy online, so at least i'll be able to return it if i don't like it

 

[John]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
Seagate IV is supposed to be very quiet as well too right?

They are extrememly quiet at idle & seek. I have a pair of them in my gf's pc behind me.

 

[TronX]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
Well I'm gunna try and get some other use for this thing, and buy a new seagate baracuda IV at the same size since they are supposed to be very quiet, WD said that the hd would overheart if i used the silentdrive.

I've heard those are nice HD.. good luck
I'd RMA the other drive anyway and then sell it if still too loud.

 

[TronX]

Originally posted by: John
I have owned 3+ 80/120 JB drives, and all had a horrendous whine to them. The Maxtor DM+ 9 w/8mb is pretty quiet during idle, but the seeks are audible to someone (like me) with a semi-silent pc.

Strang...you can't even tell if mine are on unless you thouch them.
I got them when they first came out. Maybe they have gone down hill?
My case is built out of steel..

 

[TronX]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech
My WD "JB" had a bad whine, too. It was the 160 GB version and WD replaced it with a new, 200 GB drive - still sealed. I immediately put the replacement up for auction on E-bay and bought a Maxtor 120 GB and a Maxtor 80 GB drive with 8 mb of cache and liquid ball bearings. I love my Maxtors.

Maxtor is okay.. I've had a few older drives from them that would kill cats and dogs.
It's good to know they finally put the animals to sleep.

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: TronX

Originally posted by: John
I have owned 3+ 80/120 JB drives, and all had a horrendous whine to them. The Maxtor DM+ 9 w/8mb is pretty quiet during idle, but the seeks are audible to someone (like me) with a semi-silent pc.

Strang...you can't even tell if mine are on unless you thouch them.
I got them when they first came out. Maybe they have gone down hill?
My case is built out of steel..

My case ius aluminum and has air venting right by the hd's (Chieftec Dragon Tower) so it's pretty noticable my old maxtor 5400 30gb is nice and quiet thoiugh, but it is afterall 5400rpm.

 

[TronX]

Originally posted by: wetcat007

Originally posted by: TronX

Originally posted by: John
I have owned 3+ 80/120 JB drives, and all had a horrendous whine to them. The Maxtor DM+ 9 w/8mb is pretty quiet during idle, but the seeks are audible to someone (like me) with a semi-silent pc.

Strang...you can't even tell if mine are on unless you thouch them.
I got them when they first came out. Maybe they have gone down hill?
My case is built out of steel..

My case ius aluminum and has air venting right by the hd's (Chieftec Dragon Tower) so it's pretty noticable my old maxtor 5400 30gb is nice and quiet thoiugh, but it is afterall 5400rpm.

Yeah.. those are the good old days. I got so mad at my old Maxtor
for making noise that I rapped it in leather from my wifes old purse.
Then used ducktape the seal in the noise. Sure enough it worked
like a charm and never over heated either. I can't really say one
brand is better than another because each harddrive can have small
changes done to them to perform better or worse. I always just return
those parts that are not working out.

Right now it's these super fast CD-R's that are killing me.

Talk about noise.. you should have seen the last SCSI raid tower
we built here at work.:Q

 

[wetcat007]

Hey one thing i was wondering, I ordered it from best buy from the following link: http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11188587&m=488&cat=511&scat=512

The thing is seaghates site shows the IV goes only to 80GB and this is a 120GB model, did they decide to expand it or something? It has all the specs of a IV, not a V. Or is this somethine else or what's with this?

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: John
I have owned 3+ 80/120 JB drives, and all had a horrendous whine to them. The Maxtor DM+ 9 w/8mb is pretty quiet during idle, but the seeks are audible to someone (like me) with a semi-silent pc.

Yeah i oridinally had one of those and returned it because the seek noise was getting to me, bearings were silent though, lol, let's hope my seagate is the charm of the HD brands otherwise im not sure where to go.

 

[TronX]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
Hey one thing i was wondering, I ordered it from best buy from the following link: http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11188587&m=488&cat=511&scat=512

The thing is seaghates site shows the IV goes only to 80GB and this is a 120GB model, did they decide to expand it or something? It has all the specs of a IV, not a V. Or is this somethine else or what's with this?

http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/desktop/
The prices at bestbuy are a ripoff!
You should try http://www.newegg.com

The Barracuda ATA V's are not as quiet as the IV's.

 

[wetcat007]

$130 on sale isnt any better than newegg can do on it, and it's also the retail box i guess it is the IV from the look of it.

 

[everman]

I have a WD 120 se and it has the same whine to it. So I just got a cuda V and it's silent except for seeks which isn't bad at all. It was the constant whine of the WD that was unbearable. I'll probably RMA the wd and throw it in my file server.

 

[Paulson]

I have 5 western digitals and none of them make the whine noise (2 80 gigs, 120 gig, 60 gig, and a 40 gig which are all 7200RPM)

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: Paulson
I have 5 western digitals and none of them make the whine noise (2 80 gigs, 120 gig, 60 gig, and a 40 gig which are all 7200RPM)

Are they JB?

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: everman
I have a WD 120 se and it has the same whine to it. So I just got a cuda V and it's silent except for seeks which isn't bad at all. It was the constant whine of the WD that was unbearable. I'll probably RMA the wd and throw it in my file server.

How loud is seeking on the Seagate?

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: wetcat007

Originally posted by: everman
I have a WD 120 se and it has the same whine to it. So I just got a cuda V and it's silent except for seeks which isn't bad at all. It was the constant whine of the WD that was unbearable. I'll probably RMA the wd and throw it in my file server.

How loud is seeking on the Seagate?

I don't have any actual numbers on the db. My entire system is extremely silent so that attributes to the fact that I can hear it well, but it does not bother me at all. I have a lot of ram so I never really use much virtual memory either so there's less hd access needed.