Noisy Drives

A

angrybusdriver

Gawd
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Jul 16, 2003
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I recently moved my old computer down the desk-chain, and I found it to be way too noisy.

So, since it won't be under much load (only used as a TV), I removed all fans except for the PSU fan and the CPU fan.

It was still noisy. I located where the noise was coming from, and it turned out to be both of my WD 60gb 7200 RPM drives....

They've always been this noisy, and they're fairly new. Also, both of them make the same noise, so I'm confident that they're not dying on me.

What do you guys suggest I try to quiet them down? The noise is kind of a high pitched noise that you can hear over my PSU fan (which is also kinda noisy and is going to be replaced).

I was thinking of a plexiglass enclosure with 1 80mm exhaust fan only... think that would be any quieter?

I'm really stumped here. It's an Enlight 7232 case, so.. very basic and not too hard to mod.

Any ideas?


edit: Oh, and I have tons of room because there are no optical drives installed. I also removed the front intake fan shroud. So I have a looooot of room right now.
 
http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/fr...Dampening/se=HDD Silencer/mp=menu_search.html

They look almost promising. But I don't think I would waste the money unless your desprest. For my living room box I used Dyamat on the case, along with some low-density foam. With the vantex stealths, a big orange for the CPU (At half speed it's not to bad with the sound meterial.) So deting the case is a much better option then trying at just the drives.

There are rubber covers for HDD, but they really heat up the drive and don't work well enough to warrent the extra heat. If yea want I'll post pics of the "quiet case" Also go to tech-tv the screen savers. They did a quiet case mod tool.

Good luck.
 
Western Digital drives support "Automatic Acoustic Management" feature to lower operating noise.

Try enabling it (if it is disabled). However I cannot find where to download the utility. Several forums say, however, that the Hitachi Feature Tool (from http://www.hgst.com/) works with other brands. I've not tried it myself, so you are on your own on this one.

Note that it will lower your performance a bit.
 
Originally posted by Flyingfenix
Western Digital drives support "Automatic Acoustic Management" feature to lower operating noise.

Try enabling it (if it is disabled). However I cannot find where to download the utility. Several forums say, however, that the Hitachi Feature Tool (from http://www.hgst.com/) works with other brands. I've not tried it myself, so you are on your own on this one.

Note that it will lower your performance a bit.
Click to expand...

So I read this and started looking for some app to download or more information... and I'm surprised to say that although the drives boast supporting this... Western Digital apparently doesn't even make software to do it!

So I suppose they condone the usage of third party or other manufactuer's apps to take care of this, because from everything I've read they've never made software under the title "Automatic Acoustic Management" or any software that does anything like that.
 
a) sel them and get 2X seagates or maxtors
b) hang them from bungee cords
c) put little rubber gromets in there between cage and hdd
OR
d) get enclosurs OR a zalman type hdd cooler/noise dampener
 
im in a room right now with 6 wd hard drives, its not the brand,

Ill try to look for the program that was mentiond b/c i know its around... (no promises)

is the noise the sound of the drive itself, or the drive rattling around in the case, (does it make the same sound when your holding it in your hand) if not, then use rubber gromits, (or a sheat of ruber cut some small holes in it for the skrews, it will cussion the vibrations between everythin) im alos kinda confused if they are new drives, but in an old system, why is this a problem just NOW (just wondering)

good luck hope this helps and hopefully ill find that program (but to be honist im not rushing it for ya sorry)
 
It's definitely the drives.

I've suspended them, I've laid them on rubber, i've screwed them in tight with rubber washers, I've held them in my hand.

I've also done all of the above with each single drive, same noise.

Thanks for reviving this thread. Maybe there will be some new ideas.

Enclosures MAY work, but since it's not a vibration issue, I can't see them helping any more than the foam insulation I tried. They're also expensive, (~35 cdn a piece).

I saw someone build a hard drive enclosure out of a cookie jar. Pretty good idea, but I can't find the right size container.
 
If it's not vibration issue, build a baffled foam enclosure, with airspace between the hd and the foam. Have a fan mounted at the front of the enclosure blowing air through the enclosure to keep the drive cool. Then, baffle the exhaust fan(the PSU fan) if you've got the room/time to minimize noise.
 
Originally posted by angrybusdriver
It's definitely the drives.

I've suspended them, I've laid them on rubber, i've screwed them in tight with rubber washers, I've held them in my hand.

I've also done all of the above with each single drive, same noise.

Thanks for reviving this thread. Maybe there will be some new ideas.

Enclosures MAY work, but since it's not a vibration issue, I can't see them helping any more than the foam insulation I tried. They're also expensive, (~35 cdn a piece).

I saw someone build a hard drive enclosure out of a cookie jar. Pretty good idea, but I can't find the right size container.
Click to expand...

If isolating the drives doesn't help, its probably time to invest in some new drives.. Seagates are great for low noise situations...
 
Try the ULTIMATE BOOT CD!!!! I know it's got stuff for the Maxtor drives regarding the noise issue but I haven't checked it for WD stuff. Personally I've found the WD drives to be noiser than Maxtor's. Hope this works for ya.
 
I recently dumped my WD drive becuase of this same high pitched whine. Bought a Samsung from newegg and the thing is almost silent. I would get rid of the drives and buy the aforementioned seagates or samsungs.
 
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