HDD vibrating?

[jmartis]

I can feel my WD3200AAKS vibrate when I hold it in my hand, and when I put it in the case, the vibrations get conducted to the case and the table. The result is audible low frequency hum.

I tried two older HDDs, both Seagate Barracuda, 120GB and 80GB. The 120GB model vibrates too while the 80GB one does not.

Is this a reason for returning my HDD or is it normal?

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

-J.M.

 

[jmartis]

anyone please?

 

[yacoub35]

isolate it so it doesn't vibrate. also you held a running drive in your hand? hope you didn't move it around too much. =P

 

[jmartis]

isolate it so it doesn't vibrate. also you held a running drive in your hand? hope you didn't move it around too much. =P

yes I held it in my hand, whats the problem?

The vibrations come from the motor/platter (constant hum) so its probably off-centre or tilted. I was just asking if its normal as i have another drive which is completely free of that problem, and this drive is NEW.

 

[Impulse]

Well, exactly how much is it vibrating? I'm pretty sure if, as you say, the platters were really tilted noticeably the drive would not be operating normally... At all, they're pretty sensitive devices. However all modern hard drives vibrate to a certain extent and hard drives transferring those vibrations to the case is one of the biggest sources of extraneous noise in a system... Only other significant source being fan motors. That's why many enthusiasts who want a quiet system will 'decouple' their drives, basically find a way to mitigate those vibrations. See www.silentpcreview.com

Same reason why a lot of modern cases, if not most, come with grommets on the drive screw holes... There's simpler and/or more effective ways to decouple a drive though. I've had my main drive inside my case sitting on a thick (2") slab of foam for over 3 years, the other drives are mounted on the standard sleds that go into the case's drive cage, said sleds have rubber grommets. I've got the main drive on the foam simply because it's the most accessed.

Drives actually get hotter around the sides than the bottom/top, so it has no impact on it's operating temperature. Some people go for fancier solutions, suspending the drives on webs of bungee-like cords, I think Antec's got a few mainstream cases that come with a similar system. Your older drive could simply be a slower 5400 RPM model, or it might just have less platters inside it than either of your other drives.

 

[E.T]

I can feel my WD3200AAKS vibrate when I hold it in my hand, and when I put it in the case, the vibrations get conducted to the case and the table. The result is audible low frequency hum.

Welcome to world of silencing...
That vibration is why any case without soft HDD mounting is out of question for me. After getting rid of noisy fans vibration causes most noise.
There's apparently considerable variation in vibration between drives so it's much easier to get case with soft mounting than always get drives which wouldn't vibrate.

I tried two older HDDs, both Seagate Barracuda, 120GB and 80GB. The 120GB model vibrates too while the 80GB one does not.

Now might that 80GB drive be Barracuda ATA IV?
Quite legendary drive for its quietness... after PATA drives Seagate just dropped the ball and Samsung and WD left it into dust cloud.

Drives actually get hotter around the sides than the bottom/top, so it has no impact on it's operating temperature.

And IBM "Deathstars" were frying their control electronics just for fun...
Of course bottom wouldn't feel the warmest part because PCB isn't as good heat conductor as metal... and especially sides conduct heat well as very thick parts.
But any kind soft mounting prevents conductive cooling to metal structure of case so especially preventing PCB from getting cooling airflow isn't the best thing.

 

[Impulse]

Well, the Deathstars were an exception to the rule... I actually had one of those IBM 75GB 75GXP's and it died all on it's own without me ever suspending it or having it on any foam, it was standard mounted into a drive cage right in front of a fan... That whole series was just defective from the get go, we all know that. Like I said, I haven't had an issue having my main drive just sitting on a slab of foam, the temps reported for it are actually slightly lower than the other two similar drives I've got on the drive sleds/cage over it. /shrug It's a pretty firm foam anyway, so it's not like the PCB/chips really sink into it and get smothered.

The only two drives that have ever failed completely on me were that IBM 75GXP and, ironically, and old Quantumm that came with a Dell.

It's just an alternative either way, I mentioned others as well, but it's still more effective at mitigation vibration noise than the rubber grommets common on most cases these days, that's the 'least effective possible form of decoupling if you ask me... Still a lot better than nothing though. Having the drives mounted directly to the cages will certainly cause a racket when everything else is relatively quiet, 'specially on Al cases or more flimsy cases.

 

[Surly73]

OP: Your drive may have an issue. I had a Seagate 7200.10 on which the bearings started to squeal (sounded like a faint, continuous BIOS POST beep). The drive they returned to me after RMA had a very noticeable hum due to vibration. I RMA'd that one, and the final drive was quiet.

Without having experience with other units of the exact same model it's hard to tell what's "normal". If your other drives are significantly quieter, you should possibly RMA.