High pitch from hard drive, fixable?

Not fixable.

That's just the noise that some drive models make. All hard drives are not the same (or even close) when it comes to idle noise.
 
KenF said:
Not fixable.

That's just the noise that some drive models make. All hard drives are not the same (or even close) when it comes to idle noise.
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True, but I have heard some individual drives gradually get noisier over time; so far, empirically, those drives have always failed soon. I suspect the cause is worn bearings or perhaps the motor.
 
Thanks for replys, I should have been more precise.

I have had this sata drive for 1.5 years. The high pitch noise has developed recently. It is intermittent. Sometimes goes for minutes, sometimes hours, sometimes not at all for days.

Stll though, not fixable? Will mess up the drive simply by opening and maybe trying to blow around with compressed air?
 
$5 says its a bad bearing in the drive. I've had several drives do this and they kept on working for years. That said.. Backup ur data.
 
Thanks for reply, Are you saying that sound could be an indicator of potential failure?

Back to topic, if it is a bearing can in be cleaned, fixed or replaced?
 
scivian said:
Thanks for replys, I should have been more precise.

I have had this sata drive for 1.5 years. The high pitch noise has developed recently. It is intermittent. Sometimes goes for minutes, sometimes hours, sometimes not at all for days.

Stll though, not fixable? Will mess up the drive simply by opening and maybe trying to blow around with compressed air?
Click to expand...

scivian said:
Thanks for reply, Are you saying that sound could be an indicator of potential failure?

Back to topic, if it is a bearing can in be cleaned, fixed or replaced?
Click to expand...

The drive is nearing the end of its life. You can't replace the bearing, and if you open the hard drive's casing and blow compressed air into the drive, you have found one of the most efficient ways to ensure the drive is destroyed, and your data irrecoverable. The slightest bit of dust or debris on the platter has catastrophic consequences.

I would backup your data, and think about getting a new drive. It might not go for a few months or a few days, but it sounds like its on borrowed time. $0.02

P.S. I've been running a noisy drive on a dev box for a couple of years without incident. It serves no critical function, so it beats throwing it away.
 
Is it a WD? Western Digital drives have a history of high pitched spindle noise issues. And I in turn have a history with them.

In fact, I'm having an issue right now. My 1 week old 150gb WD Raptor is starting to make that high pitched squeal. I thought it was the new 1 TB WD I just put in today, but it's actually the Raptor.

Although it's hardly evidence, the 4-5 WD digital drives I've had over the last 8 years always began spindle squealing because of radical ambient temperature/humidity changes. A warm rainy day after a cold dry one can do it.

The bad thing is it never cures itself, or goes away.

I'm probably going to have to RMA.
 
yes it is a wd.

About the raptor, if you have fans running at about 1200rpm, cpu fan and gpu fan running at default speeds, is the raptor still louder? Is it very noticeable?
 
It's very noticeable because it's different sound altogether. The fans are just air. The hard drive really sounds like an Ant is cutting through metal with a buzzsaw.

My CM830 has 7 Scythe 1600rpm fans on full power it and the WD high pitch spindle noise slices through that windstorm like a hot knife through butter
 
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