300gb seagate 7200.8... supposed to be noisy?

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duud
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:36 pm

300gb seagate 7200.8... supposed to be noisy?

Post by duud » Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:08 pm

Hi,

Today I bought a 300gb seagate 7200.8 drive. I've been using a 80gb Barracuda ATA IV for years and its proven a pretty quiet and reliable drive, so I got another seagate expecting it to behave similarly, even though it wasn't the cheapest brand available.

Seek noise is good (seems better than the old drive), but the vibration is annoying (the old HD didnt have any noticeable vibration). The drive seems to vibrate for 3 to 4 seconds, then the vibration stops for 1 or 2 seconds (or becomes inaudible) and starts over and over again. It doesnt matter if the drive is idling or not.

Does anyone have experience with this drive? Is this behavior normal? I'm looking to return the drive but the store where I got it might only replace it with a similar model so I might be stuck with this noisy thing...

TomZ
Posts: 386
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:59 pm

Post by TomZ » Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:26 pm

What is the vibration like - it is like a humming sound or seek noise?

I have one of those drives here, but I haven't used it yet. If you don't get any other responses, I'll throw this one in and see how it sounds.

duud
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:36 pm

Post by duud » Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:45 pm

It's more like a humming sound. Also I have the computer on a big wooden table, which is probably helping amplify this noise.

Still the odd (and most annoying) thing to me is the fact that that sounds comes and goes...

aeropenny
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2006 5:46 am

Post by aeropenny » Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:25 pm

It sounds like the new drive is causing your case to resonate, making that pulsing humming noise. Pretty common problem when the drive is hard-mounted to the case, i.e. screwed in (I assume that's how yours is mounted). The only way to really get rid of the vibes is to soft-mount the drive. See here: http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=8240. Edit: I don't think there is anything wrong with the drive, and I think a replacement would vibrate much the same. It doesn't take much to create a big resonance effect unfortunately.

jasonb885
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:07 pm

Post by jasonb885 » Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:21 am

duud wrote:It's more like a humming sound. Also I have the computer on a big wooden table, which is probably helping amplify this noise.

Still the odd (and most annoying) thing to me is the fact that that sounds comes and goes...
Yes, I have that. I have a few drives, predominantly older SCSI, that do that.

Is it a constantly wooooossshhh... wooooossshhh... sound?

Suspension and isolation seem to be the recommendations. I'm surprised a modern FBD drive is doing that. On my systems it's the older SCSI drives, so I'm just replacing them entirely.

But this is your new, large drive. :(

RaNDoMMAI
Friend of SPCR
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Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 8:12 am

Post by RaNDoMMAI » Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:40 pm

I just got two seagates 300 gig HDD, one 7200.8 and one 7200.9 both 16mb cache. Both are too noisy for me.

I am looking for a replacement as of now. My old samsungs 160gig are still my fav.

LMK if you find any big harddrives that are quiet. i thinking WD ones
~RaNDoM

duud
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:36 pm

Post by duud » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:14 pm

First, thanks everyone for the input.

Well, after a few days the noise seems to remain. I've tried enclosing the HD in a Cooler Master Cooldrive case but the vibration noise is the same. So far I haven't been able to try suspension.

Still I may be able to return this drive and get a Samsung 300gb PATA instead. I don't know the exact model, but looking at Samsung's site, it seems like this is the only 300gb drive they have:

http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDis ... D300LD.asp

Has anyone tried it?

Zebo
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:26 pm

Post by Zebo » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:19 pm

New Seagate's, from 7200.7 on, generally suck - they perform a proceedure called "off line scan" when idle making intermintant noise best discribed as "buzzing" they also lost AAM due to a lawsuit filed by I forget whom but basically an injuction was issued for thier alleged theft of the technology w/o paying royalites.

Look elsewhere.

jasonb885
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:07 pm

Post by jasonb885 » Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:10 am

Zebo wrote:New Seagate's, from 7200.7 on, generally suck - they perform a proceedure called "off line scan" when idle making intermintant noise best discribed as "buzzing" they also lost AAM due to a lawsuit filed by I forget whom but basically an injuction was issued for thier alleged theft of the technology w/o paying royalites.

Look elsewhere.
Seriously? Ouch.

Anyone have more details?

Thanks.

LOUISSSSS
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2006 9:20 pm
Location: Brooklyn

Post by LOUISSSSS » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:47 pm

yea my seagate 160 sata 7200.7 makes spinning noises at idle that i can hear through my case and is as loud as my 6800 sound card at close range

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