Storage Solutions Seagate 160 gig SATA2: Noise problem

T

thelord

Disciple
Hi guys.
I upgraded my system few days ago. Everything was working great until my Seagate 160 gig SATA (3gbps) started making a strange clanking noise. :(

For the first two days, there was no noise. And now, first, it makes a strange kind of beep when the system starts. Second if I try to access any folder, it takes quite a lot of time (this happens for a minute or so). And third, the drive makes a strange clanking type of noise even for very low disk activity.

Are these signs of a faulty drive?
Seagate users, please share your experience.
Do your drives make a beep sound while starting up too?
 
Thelord, can u tell me what type of connector are you using to power the drive?

I think I might know what might be the issue....
 
Am using the normal SATA connectors that came with the ASUS A8N-E motherboard. For power, I can see two IDE power channels coming from the SMPS.

1a) goes to DVD ROM

1b) goes to DVD-RW

2a) Connected to a SATA power distributor, so I get two SATA power connectors with this

2b) Idle
 
search the forum for hard drive noise, there is a topic where you can download the sound files and compare it with your sound.
 
Thanks Anish, Hacker.

I got my HD replaced today.

The new HD made no noise, and was amazingly fast but unfortunately, that didn't last long.

Now this is how it happened.

I installed Acronis True Image to make an image of my C drive.

The image making process started & the HD started making a periodic noise which was much louder than earlier.

And after the intense 2 minute backup process, my worst fear is realised. :(

The new hard disk that was performing to its maximum levels just a few minutes ago has been reduced to the loud, noisy crap drive that I got replaced.

My system has now gone really slow.

Am in a fix guys. What should I do?

Should I get it replaced with a Maxtor drive.

Please help!

(p.s. I trust the Acronis software. I have been using it for quite a while on my older pata drives and it works as promised.)
 
i think the remember the beep sound in my old cel466 comp.
But in the current BIOS (the latest version , i think) they hav an option to "Enable Silent Boot."
Thaz what i use.
 
^^ I gues you'll need to get the other drive replaced as well.

Also at the service center, tell the guy to give you a "7200.9" drive (newer revision)..
 
@smitz
Thats not the problem I guess.

@Anish
I already had the 7200.9 drive. (with NCQ)
I think that all these problematic drives were from a bad batch.
Have checked three drives & they seem to have a faulty "read arm" (or whatever its called). Like, they perform at optimum speeds when they are brand new but as soon as I perform an intensive copy test(1 Gb file from the first to the last partition), the arm gives up & starts making noise. And the performance drops drastically after that.

As for now, I have convinced my vendor to exchange it with a Samsung HD160JJ SATA 2 drive.
I know, Seagate slightly performs better than this particular drive but given my experience with Seagate so far, am going for Samsung.
 
This might not be applicable but just check to be sure!!

My Friend's HDD had similar problems!!
But was actually a PSU problem!!
Molex were a bit loose!!
So he used pliers to tighten each pin and then pushed it in tight!!
With the better connection, probs disappeared!!
Silly but true!!

Also guys- are the hitachi SATA2 drives quite noisefree and cooler??
Funky mentioned that he's happy with his Hitachi 250GB SATA2!!
My Hitachi 80 SATA2 seems quiet too!!
 
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