Do Barracuda IV's cause PSU coil whine? mine does

toltery · Post by **toltery** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 10:33 pm

I have been noticing a slight whine from my PSU. For an unrelated task I hooked up a DM9+ to my computer instead of the Cuda. The whine went away. I tried 3 different psu's that I had lying around and got the same result. Psu whine with the cuda connected but not with the DM9+. The whines were of varying levels but always present with the cuda hooked up.

Just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience. I could try rma'ing the drive but I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with it.

The label on my cuda IV says
5V .85A
12V .75A

My DM9+ is
5V .67A
12V .96A

Badashmods · Post by **Badashmods** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 8:19 am

I may have a similiar problem, not sure. Move this over to the power supply forum, then we can see if anyone else has had this. Thanks

Doomer · Post by **Doomer** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 11:00 am

I had the same problem and tried different power supplies too. I installed a ferrite ring to the power cable that goes to the Barracuda. It decreased the whine so that it could be only heard after listening the PSU at close range.

I know a guy who solved the problem by soldering capacitors to the +5 and +12 power lines.

Seagate tech support gave me a copy&paste answer about hard drive noise in general.

blakerwry · Post by **blakerwry** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 1:41 pm

my ATA IV hasn't casued any whine in any of the 4 computers I've used it in... (6 PSUs)

Enlight 250 watt PSU that came with Enlight 7237 case
Antec PP303x (300watt smart power)
Antec SL300 (300 watt smart power solutions series)

Achme ~230 watt PSU that came with shuttle SB51G

LiteOn 150 watt that came in NEC pentiumII system.

unknown PSU, Compaq K6 system

My ATA IV is currently in the sb51G which is nearly silent, no whine from it at all... in some of the other systems there could have been a faint whine and I might not have noticed because of fan and other noise... if there was whine, it wasn't very loud.

Badashmods · Post by **Badashmods** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 2:12 pm

Do you think these would work? And you need to put them on the IDE power cable to the HD ?
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... ct_ID=3057

Doomer · Post by **Doomer** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 2:24 pm

Badashmods wrote:Do you think these would work? And you need to put them on the IDE power cable to the HD ?
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... ct_ID=3057

It's best to use a ring shaped ferrite and tie the power cable on it. Like this:

http://www.mh.ttu.ee/risto/rc/electroni ... errite.jpg

toltery · Post by **toltery** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 3:56 pm

Well I tried it again on the silenx with the ferrite ring. Basically I just used an old speaker magnet as you can see in the pic. I can still hear a high pitched noise coming from the psu. Admittedly with this psu I have to stick my head within 2 feet to hear it. I'll try later with my other ones. Owing to the fact that some people don't seem to get the whine I think I'm going to exchange the drive and see what happens. If my setup in the picture is wrong please let me know.

powergyoza · Post by **powergyoza** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 7:43 pm

At that distance, a speaker magnet might be too strong for your needs and it's magnetic field may be detrimental to your drive's data integrity and general health.

Be careful

blakerwry · Post by **blakerwry** » Sat Mar 15, 2003 4:40 am

lol, that's a huge magnet....

dinde · Post by **dinde** » Sat Mar 15, 2003 6:02 am

what exactly is a ferrite ring? just a magnet basically?

Gekkani · Post by **Gekkani** » Sun Mar 16, 2003 4:25 am

toltery wrote:I have been noticing a slight whine from my PSU. For an unrelated task I hooked up a DM9+ to my computer instead of the Cuda. The whine went away. I tried 3 different psu's that I had lying around and got the same result. Psu whine with the cuda connected but not with the DM9+. The whines were of varying levels but always present with the cuda hooked up.

Just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience. I could try rma'ing the drive but I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with it.

The label on my cuda IV says
5V .85A
12V .75A

My DM9+ is
5V .67A
12V .96A

YES! Same problem here.

When i connect a cuda IV ( I tried with 2 drives) to my PSU it whines. (Mapower 300w)

I tried to connect the cuda to another PSU (an old 220w one) and the rest of the PC to the Mapower..... No whine!

I bought an enermax 350w (manual fan model) and no whine ... BUT i changed by mobo for a gigabyte Titan (i845PE) and the enermax begun to whine with this mobo

Tried with a Levicom 420w ... NO whine.

Tried with a SkyHawk 400w ... NO whine.

Doomer · Post by **Doomer** » Sun Mar 16, 2003 7:23 am

dinde wrote:what exactly is a ferrite ring? just a magnet basically?

If it sticks to your fridge door, it ain't ferrite.

Fastman · Post by **Fastman** » Mon Mar 17, 2003 6:50 pm

dinde wrote:what exactly is a ferrite ring? just a magnet basically?

Ferrite is a form of iron. For EMI noise, whether it is magnetic is not important.

The ring is an inductor that evens out electic voltage swings.

This http://www.qedata.se/e_emikomp.htm explains a bit about EMI suppression and different ways to tackle the problem.

dinde · Post by **dinde** » Mon Mar 17, 2003 7:42 pm

so, what frequency and type of interference are we trying to stop?

TerryW · Post by **TerryW** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 10:11 pm

Hi all.

Ferrite cores are to eliminate high frequency noise. You will see ferrite cores on video monitor cables, usually at the end where it terminates at the video card. Ferrite cores are readily available and should be "sized" for the wires (inductors) passing through them.

The link that Fastman provided has the details that "techies" can use.

To Toltery:

I highly recommend removing the speaker magnet!! As the HDD & floppy drives use magnetic media, the speaker magnet could demagnetize your equipment & make your computer useless.

TerryW

Doomer · Post by **Doomer** » Tue Mar 25, 2003 7:49 am

TerryW, as you are the expert, could you give any ideas what in the Seagate Barracuda IV causes the whine in some PSU's? Is it the frequency noise I lowered with a ferrite ring? Something else?

TerryW · Post by **TerryW** » Tue Mar 25, 2003 9:01 am

Doomer,

I am no expert in these matters, but I do have some experiences. I have been a techie at a local electronics company for 30-years. Does that make me an expert? Not! Lots of experience.

Anyway, to try & answer your question: the Seagate Barracuda IV could have a more-than-average current draw on the +5VDC line & the PSU you are using may be sensitive to the load provided by this HDD.

Please keep in mind, most computer PSU offer some form of whining noise. Some just start at a low level & go higher, and some always whine. Either from the torroid cores (ferrite cores with wires wound around) or the transformers. The high frequency "noise" is possibly originating from the PSU when a higher current demand is required.

Recommendations:

1. Try a ferrite core around the red +5VDC wire to the HDD. You will need to wrap at least 3 windings through the core.
2. If the whining noise is too loud, I would use another PSU.

Good Luck!

TerryW

elamb · Post by **elamb** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 12:01 pm

Doomer and Others: Your ferrite suggestion greatly reduced the whine in my Cuda IV & PC Power and Cooling Silencer PSU system. But strangely, the ferrite acts as a speaker for the hard drive, and emits the same grinding seek sounds that the hard drive makes.

So the terrible whine is gone, but the grinding noises are louder. Does your ferrite ring also make this noise? Unfortunately I could only find a snap-together ferrite choke core (like what you find on many external PC cables) at radioshack.com (Catalog #: 273-105), so maybe this is my problem. Do you have any ideas how I could eliminate this noise from the ferrite?

Eric

Gekkani · Post by **Gekkani** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 12:21 pm

uh?

the ferrite emites sound??

LOL!

Hows that possible? Its just a piece of metal

jinu117 · Post by **jinu117** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 2:40 pm

When I had Zalman and cuda IV, yes the HDD noise was transmitted to Zalman PSU.
However, I knew it was the problem with Zalman PSU as there was a recall in S.Korea for it. What PSU do you have and use?

TerryW · Post by **TerryW** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 6:18 pm

To Gekkani,

Yes, I have heard ferritte cores whining or buzzing. Usually during high-current demands, etc.

Also, a ferrite core is a little more than a piece of metal. In actuality, the core is compressed ferrite, an iron-based material and can easily be broken if dropped.

To Elamb,

WOW

It appears that you are having a bigger problem when the ferrite core starts a buzzin'! What does Seagate have to say? Also the vendor of your PSU?

The 'snap together' type usually is a low cost, 2-piece product with a plastic case to hold it together, and usually has a small gap between the two halves. The small gap might be causing the problem.

I would recommend trying a 1-piece core. Most non-consumer electronic stores would not carry this item. You will need to try & locate at a electronics supplier in your area.

Good Luck

TerryW

elamb · Post by **elamb** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 8:37 pm

Thanks for all of the feedback.

Gekkani: My initial reaction was the same as yours. I held the ferrite up to my ear, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

Jinu117: My power supply is a Silencer 275 ATX made by PC Power & Cooling, Inc. (www.pcpowerandcooling.com). I emailed support today. They said if the PSU was causing the whine, the fan inside the PSU was the likely culprit, and I could test this by stopping the fan momentarily by sticking pencil through the fan grille. Otherwise, if it wasn’t the fan but I was still certain that the PSU was causing the whine, I could send it in to have them look at it. I wonder what measures Zalman took to fix the whine problem with their PSUs? Maybe I could pass their solution along to PC Power & Cooling so they can fix mine!

Terry W: I can’t decide whether the whine elimination along with the new noise created by the ferrite is an improvement or a step backwards. Seagate said the whine is common with these hard drives, possibly because they are so quiet that there was no other typical HDD noise to cover up the whine, like with most HDDs. They also told me that some people notice the whine more than others. I exchanged the drive for a second unit, but this didn’t help.

I called a professional electronics store, and they only had the snap on variety of ferrites as well. I will have to look in the phone book for another supplier. Radio shack also had a 1-piece ferrite cylinder with a small bare wire sticking out of each end. It can be soldered inline with a wire. I’m wondering if this might work? It looked a little like Catalog #: 273-102 (www.radioshack.com). Or would 2 of the snap on ferrites improve anything if I can’t locate a 1-piece core?

Eric

Steerpike · Post by **Steerpike** » Sun Mar 30, 2003 9:39 am

Wow! Interesting thread!

I have a 'cuda IV and Zalman PSU. Haven't specifically noticed this, but maybe this is the 'last bit of noise' I'm trying to eliminate! (the holy grail!).

Anyway - anyone compared the 'cuda IV to the 'cuda V in the same system - in other words, have Seagate changed the nature of the 'cuda design from 4 to 5 such that this is no longer an issue? I'm about to buy more hard drives so this would be interesting to know.

smush · Post by **smush** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 6:52 pm

I have both a WD 80mb 8mb cache HD and a Cuda IV 80gb HD. And since replacing my Antec Truepower 430 with a NExus 300 PSU, I have been noticing that oscillating high-pitched whine more & more. After reading this post, I pulled the plugs on my Cuda HD, and the oscillating high-pitched whine is gone! I remember there was an "smscan" utility that Seagate had to download, to fix some type of weird noise thing, I think I already ran it on this Cuda HD though. Well, for now I'll keep it unplugged, though my entire Mp3 collection resides there.

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Fri May 30, 2003 2:16 am

TerryW wrote:...The high frequency "noise" is possibly originating from the PSU when a higher current demand is required.

Recommendations:

1. Try a ferrite core around the red +5VDC wire to the HDD. You will need to wrap at least 3 windings through the core...

TerryW, by "at least 3 windings", do you mean just make sure that only the red 5V wire (and no others) makes three simple loopings through the center of the ferrite ring (i.e. so that Doomer's picture link above shows an example of 6 windings)? Are more loopings even better, and is there a "best" way to make the wire secure (so it won't become loose around the ferrite ring)?

elamb wrote:...I called a professional electronics store, and they only had the snap on variety of ferrites as well. I will have to look in the phone book for another supplier...

Eric, at the www.mcmaster.com site, find part #8495K57 (their widest diameter toroid ring ferrites, $4.18 each)... is this what you're looking for?

wemagor · Post by **wemagor** » Fri May 30, 2003 1:24 pm

elamb wrote:But strangely, the ferrite acts as a speaker for the hard drive, and emits the same grinding seek sounds that the hard drive makes.

I had a similar problem with an Asus P4PE motherboard and a Seagate Barracuda V. The Asus motherboard has a built-in buzzer, I guess as a substitute for the cheap PC speaker. Anyway, the grinding sounds from the hard drive were being amplified by that buzzer! I thought "Man, this is really strange". Anyway, I removed a jumper from the motherboard to disable the buzzer and never worried about the problem again.

The Barracuda must draw power in a strange way or something, do you think? I doubt Asus would have designed something that worked like that normally. I'll bet it only does that with these Barracuda hard drives.

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Fri May 30, 2003 3:37 pm

elamb wrote: ...My power supply is a Silencer 275 ATX made by PC Power & Cooling, Inc...

And the OEM of the Silencer 275 is...

...ready for it...

Fortron!

Harry Azol · Post by **Harry Azol** » Fri May 30, 2003 6:30 pm

Riffer wrote:
elamb wrote: ...My power supply is a Silencer 275 ATX made by PC Power & Cooling, Inc...
And the OEM of the Silencer 275 is...

...ready for it...

Fortron!

how can you find out who makes which PC P&C products? I know the Turbo Cool 400's are (or used to be) made by Zippy/Emacs

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Sat May 31, 2003 8:45 am

Harry Azol wrote:
Riffer wrote:
elamb wrote: ...My power supply is a Silencer 275 ATX made by PC Power & Cooling, Inc...
And the OEM of the Silencer 275 is...

...ready for it...

Fortron!
how can you find out who makes which PC P&C products? I know the Turbo Cool 400's are (or used to be) made by Zippy/Emacs

Actually, that's it, as I understand it.

Zippy/Emacs for 400+ (although the latest models seem to have different casings, the guts look pretty much the same)

Sparkle=Fortron for the others.

Steerpike · Post by **Steerpike** » Sat May 31, 2003 11:14 am

Just because brand 'x' is OEM'd by mfr 'y', that does not mean they are all the same. The OEM mfr's use different components to meet the various requirements of the different customers. Fortron make a whole load of PSUs under different labels; they are not, by any means, all the same.

Do Barracuda IV's cause PSU coil whine? mine does

Do Barracuda IV's cause PSU coil whine? mine does

Re: Do Barracuda IV's cause PSU coil whine? mine does

Ferrite removes the whine, but adds other noise

Re: Ferrite removes the whine, but adds other noise