I just bought a 20gb Deskstar drive, and immediately noticed that it was unusually noisy. It works just fine other than that. Is this typical of Deskstar drives (at least older ones), or is this thing ready to kick the bucket already?
IBM Deskstar noise
- Thread starter RWIndiana
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blakerwry
Storage? I am Storage!
Bearing noise is not an indicator of failure, just age.
If the drive has been used a few years that would be expected of a 75gxp or 60GXP model. I would not typically expect it from a 120GXP or newer.
SMART could probably tell you the power on hour time to give you an idea of how much the drive has been used
If the drive has been used a few years that would be expected of a 75gxp or 60GXP model. I would not typically expect it from a 120GXP or newer.
SMART could probably tell you the power on hour time to give you an idea of how much the drive has been used
time
Storage? I am Storage!
blakerwry said:
Strangely enough, the drives that I have found particularly irritating started 'whining' either immediately or within a few months. Apart from an IBM 60GXP which I still have on the shelf here (too noisy to sell), the ones I'm thinking of were WD ...
I'm not convinced that a drive that's been powered on for five years is necessarily louder than one that's put in two years hard labor. Of course, most drives now use fluid bearings and (I presume) are immune to the problem.
What are other people's experiences?
blakerwry
Storage? I am Storage!
WD drives are particularly bad about bearing noise in my experience. Usually the drive starts off quiet and deveolpes a majority of its whine within the 1st couple months. After that initial "break in" period the drive slowly gets louder, often gradually enough so that it is not noticible until you replace the drive.
It is also possible for seek noise to increase. I've noticed many of my older Quantum drives and even some reletively recent (120GXP IBM for example) drives started off with quiet seeks which got louder as the drive aged. I believe this identifier also follows the "break in" pattern.
However with the advent of FDB, nearly all my drives are quiet; even years after their purchase. I am happy with the noise qualities from any of my newer drives including Samsung P80, Maxtor DM+9, IBM 180GXP, and Seagate 7200.7 (all P-ATA)
It is also possible for seek noise to increase. I've noticed many of my older Quantum drives and even some reletively recent (120GXP IBM for example) drives started off with quiet seeks which got louder as the drive aged. I believe this identifier also follows the "break in" pattern.
However with the advent of FDB, nearly all my drives are quiet; even years after their purchase. I am happy with the noise qualities from any of my newer drives including Samsung P80, Maxtor DM+9, IBM 180GXP, and Seagate 7200.7 (all P-ATA)