Do all SSD's screech?

Dew itt right

2[H]4U
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Oct 28, 2005
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I've owned maybe a dozen SSD's but they've always been in a PC where any other fans would make the SSD impossible to hear. Now I've got my first laptop with an SSD installed and the laptop is so quite that you can hear the SSD screeching during heavy use (or anytime I use Firefox for some reason). I was just wondering if I can get a different drive that won't screech or if they all do it and I've just never heard it before. For what it's worth the current drive is a Crucal M22 120GB SSD. I'd love to make it stop though because it's driving me crazy...
 
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My guess would be the fan in the laptop, or static from speakers from interference
 
My main rig does the same thing but pretty much the only time I hear it is when the computer first boots into Windows. I haven't narrowed it down to the component but I've been assuming it is my 60GB OCZ Vertex. It definitely isn't interference from the speakers because it is coming from the case and I suppose it is possible it could be from the fan that is close to the SSD, but it doesn't sound anything like noises you would expect to hear from a fan. The 128GB Samsung SSD in my wife's laptop does not make any sounds, though.
 
I hear a screech when I do 1-1.6gbyte/sec with 8 x X25-E Intel SLC's SSDs, but I think its the RAID card (LSI 9260-8i)
 
Anything with a coil (inductor or transformer) can "whine." It's the actual coil resonating at high frequency. It's just like how CRT monitors and TVs can do it (usually via the flyback transformer).

The Compal HEL80 laptop I had whined a bit. It was somewhat annoying.
 
It' definitely the SSD. It's a very distinct noise - definitely not a fan or anything like that. Ramping up graphics or CPU usage doesn't really do anything but running ATTO or CrystalDiskmark really makes some noise. I only used it a couple time before putting in the SSD but I don't remember hearing it with the standard HDD it came with. Oh well, looks like it's time to go SSD shopping...
 
The problem with this theory is I do not think there are any components inside a SSD that can make a sound. NAND chips can not make a sound. Circuit boards don't make a sound. Normal capacitors do not make a sound. Resistors do not make a sound. I am not sure about the super capacitor. And the SSD probably does not have a coil/inductor so no chance for coil whine.


Most likely when accessing your SSD your power supply or some other power circuity makes this sound.
 
I've occasionally had solid state components squeal a bit, think it's capacitors, but not sure. Power supplies definitely can. Rather uncommon, but I did have some old fanless motherboard that did squeal a bit.
 
My two are silent. I am sensitive to high pitch noises so if it had a noise I would go nuts. I know the processor can make a noise.
 
The processor can not make a sound.

The coils that are used on the power circuitry can however. Also the sound card can pick up electrical noise from several sources.
 
You guys know alot more about this than I do but I have to tell you you're wrong here. I removed the SSD from my laptop and plugged it into my desktop PC. I left the side panel removed, stretched the SSD about 2-3 feet outside of the PC to isolate it, and held it up to my ear while I ran a benchmark on it. Sure enough the high pitched screeching noise appeared. Plus it was very easy to pinpoint that the screeching was not coming from anywhere in the PC, it was definitely coming from inside the SSD casing somewhere. I don't know - maybe a little baby spider is in there getting electrocuted and screaming! :p Whatever the reason - it's definitely the SSD. But apparently it's pretty rare so I'll be picking up a new 120Gb SSD soon. Thanks guys...
 
If it did Christmas tunes I'd be inclined to keep it but screeching is pretty low on the Hit Parade these days. :D

Merry Christmas!
 
If it did Christmas tunes I'd be inclined to keep it but screeching is pretty low on the Hit Parade these days. :D

Merry Christmas!

Hey O.H. - nice to see you again! Hope you're having a Merry Christmas!

Thanks everyone - new Vertex 2 on the way. Hoping for a screech-free new years...
 
The processor can not make a sound.

The coils that are used on the power circuitry can however. Also the sound card can pick up electrical noise from several sources.

Right, the voltage regulation would be the problem.
 
Maybe you are hearing the PCI bus through the speakers or headphones. I never didn't hear this God-awful noise when using onboard sound cards.
 
It's definitely the SSD. I have the same Crucial SSD and mine does that sometimes too. My 60GB OCZ Agility also did it. I think it's a thing with Indilinx drives, as others have said maybe the power regulation just isn't the highest quality on these drives. It's not that bad anyway, it doesn't happen all of the time (only during heavy load) and it's only audible when the room is very quiet.
 
Same here on my Dell Vostro 3700. Replaced the HDD with a 60 GB OCZ to make it silent, I thought, just to realized that part of the HDD noise was the SATA voltage regulators resonance noise. During high load on the SSD, such as when booting Windows, the resulting whine is more noticeable than the HDD noise at high loads because the SSD can drive the components to stronger resonance than the HDD can. Thankfully there's almost no idle noise, but SSD usage is always audible which is a huge disappointment. All in all, Dell really let me down by allowing such subpar merchandise to pass through testing and reach the consumer. Everyone in the Dell production line are probably near deaf and can't comprehend what coil whine is.

I spoke with Dell and they said that they can't replace my laptop if the noise is "within the acoustic specifications of the computer", which it probably is. Thanks Dell. How about giving the circuit board designer a slap instead?

I am sensitive to high pitch noises so if it had a noise I would go nuts.
I also want to say that I agree with this. Resonance noise from circuit boards drives me crazy. Producing circuit boards that even has the ability to cause resonance in the audible range (15 – 20 KHz) from any component under any circumstance should be severely punished. Partly because it's so unnecessary, it's just crappy engineering, if they had just attached the components firmly they couldn't cause resonance, and partly because it's so annoying to deal with RMA people that "don't hear the noise", like they're deaf. Apparently they coil whine has to be on the jet engine level before it's a complainable issue.

Someone should start a database or wiki where we can report audible circuit boards and drive them out of the market place and out of the production lines! This abomination must be handled ferociously! The CPU Noise Informational Wiki is one example of sush a site that I found. But it must be emphasized that it's not the CPU, GPU, SSD or graphics card itself that cause the noise, but poorly designed or poorly attached inductors, often on the PSU circuit board or the PSU equivalent circuitry on a laptop.
 
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Was searching if other people had this problem, my intel 510 ssd makes a screching noise that seems to be coming from my center speaker. It was so wierd because it sounded my SSD sounded like an actual hard drive. Only noiticed it when running adaware, that was really taxing my SSD.

When I shut off my speakers, which are connected with an analog cable to my motherboard sound, it stopped making the noise.

So SSD's can cause some kind of electrical noise that will be heard through the speakers as a whine, similar to a hard drive sound.
 
You will hear the same "electrical noise" through your speakers if you use a traditional hard drive as well. You need a premium sound card to avoid this.
 
Was searching if other people had this problem, my intel 510 ssd makes a screching noise that seems to be coming from my center speaker. It was so wierd because it sounded my SSD sounded like an actual hard drive. Only noiticed it when running adaware, that was really taxing my SSD.

When I shut off my speakers, which are connected with an analog cable to my motherboard sound, it stopped making the noise.

So SSD's can cause some kind of electrical noise that will be heard through the speakers as a whine, similar to a hard drive sound.

That's electrical interference between the power being used on your SATA controller on the mobo when it's being taxed, and your audio processor.

If you can, switch from your 3.5mm analog jack to a digital S/PDIF or optical connection, and you will hear the whine from the interference no more.

Another potential solution would be to use a sound card, but it's not really worth it for the money imo.
 
The problem with this theory is I do not think there are any components inside a SSD that can make a sound. NAND chips can not make a sound. Circuit boards don't make a sound. Normal capacitors do not make a sound. Resistors do not make a sound. I am not sure about the super capacitor. And the SSD probably does not have a coil/inductor so no chance for coil whine.


Most likely when accessing your SSD your power supply or some other power circuity makes this sound.

An inductor can induce a physical vibration when the magnetic field collapses.
 
You will hear the same "electrical noise" through your speakers if you use a traditional hard drive as well. You need a premium sound card to avoid this.

Or just use a digital S/PDIF or optical connection, that will get rid of any "whining" or "hissing" noises caused from the electrical interference.

No, you do not need a premium soundcard to get rid of the noise, but it is definitely an option.
 
An inductor can induce a physical vibration when the magnetic field collapses.

This same thing happens when my GTX260 is under load when folding, it makes a whiny-type noise.

I know there is a way to fix it with super-glue, but with SSD, that might get a little tricky. :p
 
There's two labeled 2R2 (2.2 µH) on the first circuit board pic in your link.


Nope, they're SMD inductors.

Agreed. I just figured that out. It's been a long time since my EE degree. As mostly a programmer I do not do any board design at all.
 
I have tried several SSDs from Intel and Western Digital, and they all screech. A high pitch whiny noise, which matches the amount of HDD activity going on.

I have seen people complaining about the noise on Crucial SSDs too.

Is there any SSD brand & model which is guaranteed not to screech?

By the way, some people simply can't hear the noise because their hearing is bad. So, when recommending a silent SSD, it would help if you HAVE heard the noise before on a SSD, that way we're sure it's the SSD that's silent rather than bad hearing :)
 
The SSD in my old laptop is noisy too, some kind of high pitched whine that few people can hear (but I can and it bothers me a lot). It does it constantly at a low level but when I give it some work it becomes much much louder (and does my tits in).

The Intel SSD in my desktop seems to be perfectly quiet though (or the sound is covered by the fans/HDDs/PSU/GPU?).
I could try running it off an external SATA adaptor to tell you if it's really quiet but I can't do it right now since it's my main machine and I need it :p Had I seen the thread earlier, I could have checked it out since I was opening the PC and adding some RAM.
 
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Neither of my Intel SSDs make a sound that I can hear. However my ears are nearly 40 years old..
 
The inductors used on SSDs are probably part of a buck-boost circuit to regulate the incoming voltage down to levels it can use. Inductors generally vibrate due to the rapidly changing magnetic field which causes noise, sometimes in the audible range. This is probably what is happening here.

Also agreed on the S/PDIF output. They're great because they circumvent the analogue circuit of the onboard sound. I am using the analogue outputs on my AMD 770-based mainboard and I can clearly hear it when I move the mouse/scroll a page in addition to a distinct background hiss.
 
The inductors used on SSDs are probably part of a buck-boost circuit to regulate the incoming voltage down to levels it can use. Inductors generally vibrate due to the rapidly changing magnetic field which causes noise, sometimes in the audible range. This is probably what is happening here.

Thanks. Hmm. Is most 25nm flash 3.3V or 1.8? If it is 3.3V are they not using the 3.3V SATA power?
 
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wow this is strange. I have quite literally had over a hundred SSDs of all different ilks, and none have screeched that i am aware.
 
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