Seagate 7200.10 seek noise

Hi guys,

I just built my new PC last night with no major problems (details below). Some BIOS tweaking is in order but otherwise everything is good and blazing fast.

The only thing is that my Seagate 7200.10 320GB drive is making a seek noise that I've never heard on my old WD 160GB drive with 8mb buffer. Perhaps it was because the Sparkle "Jet Engine" Power PSU drowned the sound out, but now I'm hearing this "crackling sound" that I haven't heard since my sisters old Compaq Presario ('98 or so).
I got an RMA number and all that, until I found a review of the 750GB version of the drive on silentpcreview.com. There I found this audio recording of the drive (you can hear the crackling towards the end...scroll down):

http://www.silentpcreview.com/file [...] 7200.10-24 - 34dba.mp3

So now I know that my drive isn't broken, and if I RMA for a replacement I just get the same issue. I also listened to their other recordings and it seems that this is "normal".

So is there any way to reduce this seek noise? Any case mods I can do? EDIT: found this on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835226020 will that help with the seek noise or just the idle noise? It doesn't seem that vibrations are the problem here, so I don't want to waste $30 on nothing.

Rig: Intel E6750, Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R, Corsair XMS2 DDR800 (2x1), EVGA 8800GTS 320MB ACS3, Corsair 520HX, Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB, Vista 32-bit.

Thank you!
Dswissmiss

I too have the Seagate 320GB 7200.10. I used the Hitachi tools disk (which works on my other HDD's) to see if I could set the AAM and it said that AAM wasn't available. Does the 7200.10 have AAM and if so is there another utility to change the setting?

For the OP, you can get an internal hard drive enclosure to drastically reduce read/write sounds like this one:

http://www.quietpcusa.com/Silentma [...] 26C44.aspx

I'm not able to hear the audio file you linked at the moment, but I can confirm that my Seagate HDD is audible, though the clicks sound rather muffled. I've had quieter HDD's, but I've definitely had louder ones as well. If silence is extrememly important, take a look at the Samsung SpinPoint line of drives - they concentrate on accoustics rather than performance and are quite popular with the sound-sensitive HTPC crowd.

As a cheaper solution that might work, you could install rubber grommets between the HDD and the mounting holes where you secure it.

When I get home, I'll check out the sound file you linked and report back if that's how my 7200.10 sounds.

I have been noticing a noise on my new Seagate 500GB 7200.10 AAK HD? I wonder if it is the same noise you heard? The sound I hear is similar to a read/write, but it's at a higher pitch than the usual low volume one (not a chirp or clink), and it is intermittent. On the recordings given at the site, mine seems to be at a higher pitch (I don't know if the lower pitch is a recording artifact) with a little more variation in rhythm, and for much shorter (2-4s). I noticed it after the first few hours of using it. It's not overwhelmingly loud, it's just different; I've never heard it before on older HDD, I definitely wondered what the heck it was the first time the noise was made. I have listened to online recordings of various failing hard drive noises, and this is nothing like that. My last drive was a 250GB Seagate in my POS Gateway that died and prompted me to build my first PC.

I am running SeaTools; the Short DST Passed without a problem, I'm still running the Long DST.

Since it was my first build, and nothing bad has happened yet, I'm being a bit pessimistic and neurotic. Is this the HDD calibrating, a consequence of the new perpendicular storage technology, or a prelude of darker things to come?

Thanks for helping a newbie out

This is only one reason why I don't like Seagates, they should have never released a product that makes noises like this. What happenned to Q Control?