Noisy Harddrive

A bit slow tending to this issue, but I finally installed a replacement drive today, but it is making a grinding noise. Not loud, mind you, but noticeable. I don't recall ever hearing a laptop harddrive make a noise to the best of my knowledge. Should I be concerned about this?

This is in reference to a thread I posted last November.

 

James,
My wife's computer started making a grinding noise a couple of months ago. I diagnosed it as hard drive going bad and replaced it with a SSD - which I had been wanting to do in any event. However, the noise was still there and I discovered it was the CPU fan that was making the noise. Replaced it and the noise went away. Probably not your problem but just thought I would mention it.

 

If you are sure the noise is coming from the drive, send it back. Grinding noises suggest worn or defective bearings. That drive has a 3 year warranty.

BTW, the easiest way to determine if a fan is making the noise is to momentarily and softly stick your finger on the center hub of the fan. This will cause the rotation speed to change slightly and that will cause the pitch of the fan noise to change in direct proportion to the fan speed. If you slow down the fan speed and the sound of the noise does not change, it is not that fan making the noise.

Noisy bearings in drive motors can harder to isolate because they are inside the drive housing. Also such noises often reverberate though cases (especially PC cases) making the source of the noise more difficult to isolate. Sometime you can determine if a drive is making the noise by resting your finger on the drive housing and "feel" for the vibration. Using a paper towel tube as a stethoscope may help. A mechanic may suggest using a screwdriver but I don't like sticking hard, conductive objects into electronics. One small slip and you can gouge a Grand Canyon size (microscopically speaking) trench across many motherboard circuit runs, for example.

Removing the drive and connecting it to a spare power supply is an easy way to detect if a drive or fan is making noise or not too - though with notebook drives, it may take an adapter.

Remember to observe ESD prevention precautions. Touch bare metal of the case interior to discharge any static in your body BEFORE reaching and touching any components.

 

RMAed the drive days ago, and I just installed the replacement today, but it is not quiet either.

Is it possible Seagate drives tend to be nosier than some? When I first setup my new Dell desktop computer in 2013, the drive (Seagate) made some minor noises as well. The drive had to be replaced about year ago due to chkdisc errors, and the replacement drive (Seagate also) sounds like the original. For what it's worth, I installed a 1TB Seagate storage drive in the same desktop PC, but it makes no noise that I am aware of except for when it starts up (spin-up sound).

Not sure what to do outside of calling the manufacturer and getting their opinion.