Caviar black help

[jhyukkang]

hi, i recently noticed strange sound from my 7501aals. its a year old, but almost never used. (170 hrs or use and 120 start/stop count)

so when i put my ear right next to the drive when i turn off the computer, first I hear normal platter slowing down sound heard from any other hard drives. but once it slows down to the point where it is almost to the stop i hear "sik..sik..sik...sik....sik....sik.....sik.....sik......sik.......sik.......sik.......sik.......sik...." and it comes to stop. It is not very loud, but i can hear it when my ears are within 5 inches from the drive without any walls between. it sounds like platters are not balanced and it is hitting the guard at low RPM.

btw there is nothing wrong with its operation.
i know this is very weird question.

does ur caviar black makes that sound too?? is this something that i should worry about for its long term reliability??

I did hear similar noise from my F3 103 SJ but alot quieter. I had to let the drive 0 inches from my ear to hear it. I did not hear anything like this from my old se16 320GB 3200aaks, and 320gb hitach drives.

please help me

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hi othere,

WD drives are normally quiet. If you are hearing a noise that is new, that's not a good sign. You should back up any important data on that drive.

Consider downloading and running HD Tune, which can give you detailed info about the drive's health, and S.M.A.R.T. data. It can also give you read (and write) speeds to see if it is slowing down at all.

Also here is and interesting web site that gives you audio sounds of manufacturer's drive noises, and what they mean.

http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php

Hope that's helpful.

 

[jhyukkang]

thanks for reply. I have three drive in my pc, and all data that is in this caviar black are also backed up on samsung F3. so im good.

and i did use hdtune to see other datas as well. my speeds are normal. compared to other 3 platter caviar blacks. (750GB)

as i said before, there is nothing wrong in its operations and SMART data. everything is good.
just that little scratching noise when spindle comes to stop(or platters touching other part of the drive)

again, not loud. I cant hear it when case is closed. when all fans are off and case is open with my ear very close to the drive, then I hear it.

 

[jhyukkang]

also that site with different hard drive noises does not have my drive sound.

"sik..sik..sik...sik....sik....sik.....sik.....sik......sik.......sik.......sik.......sik.......sik...."
this is to illustrate the frequence of the sound as motor comes to stop.

I heard this in samsung F3 as well but quieter

 

[John_VanKirk]

Might run TD Tune every week or so, to see if any of the SMART parameters change, or if there is any slowing in read/write speeds.

 

[jhyukkang]

ok. so ur drive doesnt make that sound right? even if you put ur ear right next to it?
drive takes about 5 to 10 seconds after power supply have stopped supplying power. thats when it happens on mine

 

[John_VanKirk]

ok. so ur drive doesnt make that sound right? even if you put ur ear right next to it?
drive takes about 5 to 10 seconds after power supply have stopped supplying power. thats when it happens on mine

No my WD drives don't make that sound. Using 1 & 2 TB SATA caviar blacks.
My ears are probably older than yours are!

When they spin down after the power's removed, you are hearing the head being placed in the parking zone near the spindle area.

 

[jhyukkang]

hmm. that could be a reason why. if this is not normal i was thinking unbalanced platters become unstable at low RPM thats causing little vibrations and touching other part of the drive. I also asked WD about this. ill see what they say about this