Very Loud noise from WD 3TB HDD
Hello,
I have a Win7 Pro, 64bit system and one week ago I installed 2 brand new, WD 3 TB Black Caviar, 3.5" SATA HDDs in my system for added video storage and one of them makes a loud spinning noise. The disk works fine otherwise, the noise appears only randomly and first appeared on day 3 after installation.
Sometimes on start up it begins SUPER loud (no clicking or whining, just LOUD spinning sound) then after about 10 minutes the sound begins to lower, then after another few minutes or so it levels off to a soft hum. Twice it started making a racket after the system had been on for more than 12 hours, but it only took about 5 - 7 minutes for it to completely settle down.
This system is on 23 hours, 5 days a week recording the stock market. During the week, I do daily maintenance and then turn it off for 1 hour every day. On the weekends it gets used during most of the day, but gets turned off overnight.
The soft hum level is what it's twin drive does ALL the time so I'm not sure why this drive makes so much noise when it does.
I visited this page and none of the disk sizes or sounds match my problem. Some other forum writers have said that these higher speed HDD are louder then slower models, but the sound my disk makes seems a bit extreme to be classified as normal.
Anyone with experience with these drives, I'd appreciate your input.
Thanks,
Ana
I have a Win7 Pro, 64bit system and one week ago I installed 2 brand new, WD 3 TB Black Caviar, 3.5" SATA HDDs in my system for added video storage and one of them makes a loud spinning noise. The disk works fine otherwise, the noise appears only randomly and first appeared on day 3 after installation.
Sometimes on start up it begins SUPER loud (no clicking or whining, just LOUD spinning sound) then after about 10 minutes the sound begins to lower, then after another few minutes or so it levels off to a soft hum. Twice it started making a racket after the system had been on for more than 12 hours, but it only took about 5 - 7 minutes for it to completely settle down.
This system is on 23 hours, 5 days a week recording the stock market. During the week, I do daily maintenance and then turn it off for 1 hour every day. On the weekends it gets used during most of the day, but gets turned off overnight.
The soft hum level is what it's twin drive does ALL the time so I'm not sure why this drive makes so much noise when it does.
I visited this page and none of the disk sizes or sounds match my problem. Some other forum writers have said that these higher speed HDD are louder then slower models, but the sound my disk makes seems a bit extreme to be classified as normal.
Anyone with experience with these drives, I'd appreciate your input.
Thanks,
Ana
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I have faced similar issue in the past. I was disappointed at that time that the brand new Hard Drive is giving trouble so soon, but I got that drive RMA and the replaced drive worked perfectly fine.
I would suggest you get the drive replaced without bothering too much about troubleshooting etc.
Regards
I would suggest you get the drive replaced without bothering too much about troubleshooting etc.
Regards
ASKER
Hi Happy,
After checking the disk with DLD, I opened up the case, and cleaned and oiled all the fans. I had just blown the case out last week when I installed the new disks so I thought everything was OK, but I found that the fan on the HDD bay case had grown a farm of dust bunnies BEHIND the blades, which I had to us a Q-Tip to dislodge!!
I also tightened every screw that holds the 3 drive bay cases in place (the one holding the noise maker in question was a tad looser than the other 2) and when I turned the system back on......not a sound.
So far, so good. After restarting the system a few times to see if the sound would return, I purposely left the system on all weekend to see if it would randomly start after hours of use but it hasn't returned yet. I can't even hear the HDDs at all, only my 4 case fans making their humming sound.
So I think in my situation it was a combination of the bay fan being too dusty and the screws securing it in place not tight enough. The only thing that I wonder about is how when the noise began, it was EXTREMELY loud, like a mack truck engine sound and then gradually it would settle down to a hum, a bit louder than the the soft fan noise I have now, but completely bearable. I will keep an eye on it and if it returns, then I will look into RMA-ing it.
Thanks again everyone,
Ana
After checking the disk with DLD, I opened up the case, and cleaned and oiled all the fans. I had just blown the case out last week when I installed the new disks so I thought everything was OK, but I found that the fan on the HDD bay case had grown a farm of dust bunnies BEHIND the blades, which I had to us a Q-Tip to dislodge!!
I also tightened every screw that holds the 3 drive bay cases in place (the one holding the noise maker in question was a tad looser than the other 2) and when I turned the system back on......not a sound.
So far, so good. After restarting the system a few times to see if the sound would return, I purposely left the system on all weekend to see if it would randomly start after hours of use but it hasn't returned yet. I can't even hear the HDDs at all, only my 4 case fans making their humming sound.
So I think in my situation it was a combination of the bay fan being too dusty and the screws securing it in place not tight enough. The only thing that I wonder about is how when the noise began, it was EXTREMELY loud, like a mack truck engine sound and then gradually it would settle down to a hum, a bit louder than the the soft fan noise I have now, but completely bearable. I will keep an eye on it and if it returns, then I will look into RMA-ing it.
Thanks again everyone,
Ana
I could imagine that because the disk wasn't properly fastened, and the dust causing vibrations to the case, the disc moved against the case and that made the noise.
ASKER
I'll check the fans all over and mounting as well as disk health. As it is a brand new drive and the other that I received with it is just fine it is most likely defective, so I'll RMA it.
Thanks again.
Ana