Strange sound - Seagate ST9250827AS hdd

[JBJ]

Has anyone else heard a strange tapping sound from their ST9250827AS hdd? I
sounds like tap - tap - tap when downloading or running a programme that
read/writes very often to the hdd - like virus scan.

I made a recording of it and it can be downloaded from here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/153560634/strange_sound.wma

And in an edited and much smaller Mp3 file here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/155147290/strange_sound1.mp3

Running Seatools 207 only repports no errors with the hdd. But that does
not completely check for mechanical errors.

Seagate support claims that this is a normal sound, for which I doubt very
much that they listened all the way through the recording. I think they
stopped listening after 30sec. and only heard the normal clicking sound all
hdd's make and then concluded they didn't have to listen to more. The
tapping sounds comes later in the recording.

I'm interested in finding as many people as possible, who has this model
and has this sound. In my thoughts its a probleme with this specific model,
that Seagate needs to address.

For over 20 year I have done support and worked as a computer technician,
for among others Packard Bell Europe. And I have heard dozens of sounds
from hdd's but I never heard this tapping sound before, and I would never
classify it as normal.

 

[Mike Walsh]

I had a drive earlier this year that made a similar noise. It was an OEM drive, probably a Seagate. It made the noise for about a month before it died. I was able to access the drive normally right up to the time that it died. When it died the BIOS would not allow the PC to boot, even though the bad drive was not the boot drive.

 

[JBJ]

I had a drive earlier this year that made a similar noise. It was an OEM
drive, probably a Seagate. It made the noise for about a month before it
died. I was able to access the drive normally right up to the time that
it died. When it died the BIOS would not allow the PC to boot, even
though the bad drive was not the boot drive.

Hi Mike, so did you do and RMA and got it replaced? Is there any chance you
could find out if it was the same model?

 

[Mike Walsh]

Hi Mike, so did you do and RMA and got it replaced? Is there any chance you
could find out if it was the same model?

It was in a Dell Dimension 4100 with a 733 Mhz Pentium 3; long out of warranty.

 

[JBJ]

It was in a Dell Dimension 4100 with a 733 Mhz Pentium 3; long out of
warranty.

Then I'm pretty sure it was not the same model, since this one is a S-ATA
II hdd.

 

[JBJ]

Frankly, I would not have contacted Seagate's support, not
have given them the indication that the drive seems to work
but makes funny noises. So long as it works for the time
being they are not going to want to increase their RMA #s,
associated costs. Instead I would've simply requested an
RMA and returned it, and I still think that is what you
should try to do because those drives, any drive, can make
funny sounds but it is not normal and you shouldn't have to
risk this being a premature failure.

I'm going to return it to dealer, we have 14 days return policy by law in
Denmark.