IBM Hitachi 180GXP Whining sounds

[Mark Seeley]

Hi all,
Made the stupid mistake of buying an IBM drive for a machine I was
building.... got a 180GXP 80Gig. The problem is right from the beginning,
when the disk isn't in use, at exactly 10 minute intervals it makes an
annoying whining sound that lasts maybe 3 or 4 seconds. This sound occurs
if the HDD is merely powered up, with no IDE cable. I'm guessing that IBM's
firmware to extend the life of the drives is moving the heads at 10 minute
intervals, though I can't find this info anywhere.

My question: Is this definitely the cause of the sound, and it being fairly
loud (enough to bug me) is it likely to be damaging to the disk?

I could RMA it, but then I get a reconditioned one. I pulled my backup out
of my other machine (GXP60 - already been RMA'd once) and when running in
this other machine it makes the same sounds at the same intervals. I'm
assuming in my machine there's enough disk activity to prevent the drive
needing to move the heads.

So, am I way off base with the diagnosis? Anyone else having this same
problem?

Thanks.
Mark

PS the drive passes the DFT fine.

 

[Jim Taylor]

Hi all,
Made the stupid mistake of buying an IBM drive for a machine I was
building.... got a 180GXP 80Gig. The problem is right from the beginning,
when the disk isn't in use, at exactly 10 minute intervals it makes an
annoying whining sound that lasts maybe 3 or 4 seconds. This sound occurs
if the HDD is merely powered up, with no IDE cable. I'm guessing that IBM's
firmware to extend the life of the drives is moving the heads at 10 minute
intervals, though I can't find this info anywhere.

My question: Is this definitely the cause of the sound,
Yes.

and it being fairly
loud (enough to bug me) is it likely to be damaging to the disk?

I've had an 180GXP ever since they first came out. I don't care much
for the sound either and can't understand why moving the heads should
need to make so much noise for several sounds. You'd think a single
seek would be enough. I especially don't like it when it sometimes
makes a metallic clonk-clonk sound instead of the usual whining sound.
But it still works great and after a while you more less get used to
it. I wonder if the latest Hitachi 7K250 does this too?

 

[Rod Speed]

Made the stupid mistake of buying an IBM drive for a machine I was
building.... got a 180GXP 80Gig. The problem is right from the beginning,
when the disk isn't in use, at exactly 10 minute intervals it makes an
annoying whining sound that lasts maybe 3 or 4 seconds. This sound
occurs if the HDD is merely powered up, with no IDE cable. I'm guessing
that IBM's firmware to extend the life of the drives is moving the heads
at 10 minute intervals, though I can't find this info anywhere.

That is what Hitachi claims is happening.

Terminally stupid that IBM didnt do that silently.

My question: Is this definitely the cause of the sound, and it being
fairly loud (enough to bug me) is it likely to be damaging to the disk?

Nope, in fact its done to prevent damage to the disk by having
the heads over the same track for long times of inactivity.

I could RMA it, but then I get a reconditioned one. I pulled my backup
out of my other machine (GXP60 - already been RMA'd once) and when
running in this other machine it makes the same sounds at the same intervals.

Yeah, its designed in.

I'm assuming in my machine there's enough disk activity
to prevent the drive needing to move the heads.
Yep.

So, am I way off base with the diagnosis?
Nope.

Anyone else having this same problem?

Yep, and someone recently asked Hitachi and got that answer.

 

[Fabien LE LEZ]

Anyone else having this same problem?

I once bought a IBM SCSI hard drive with the same problem -- except
that the sound occured every minute. I'm really grateful to my dealer
that it took it back and gave me another brand instead
BTW, are IBM and Hitachi hard disks the only ones that have this "bug
by feature"? I don't want to take the risk to buy another whining hard
disk ;-/

 

[J.Clarke]

Hi all,
Made the stupid mistake of buying an IBM drive for a machine I was
building.... got a 180GXP 80Gig. The problem is right from the
beginning, when the disk isn't in use, at exactly 10 minute intervals
it makes an annoying whining sound that lasts maybe 3 or 4 seconds.
This sound occurs if the HDD is merely powered up, with no IDE cable.
I'm guessing that IBM's firmware to extend the life of the drives is
moving the heads at 10 minute intervals, though I can't find this info
anywhere.

My question: Is this definitely the cause of the sound, and it being
fairly loud (enough to bug me) is it likely to be damaging to the
disk?

I could RMA it, but then I get a reconditioned one. I pulled my
backup out of my other machine (GXP60 - already been RMA'd once) and
when running in this other machine it makes the same sounds at the
same intervals. I'm assuming in my machine there's enough disk
activity to prevent the drive needing to move the heads.

So, am I way off base with the diagnosis? Anyone else having this
same problem?

If your 60 makes the same sounds when moved into the same case, but
doesn't make them in a different case, it could be a mounting
issue--sometimes being mounted in a particular location in a particular
case will result in a case resonance being excited that amplifies the
sound. I encountered this recently with an Antec tower case, in which a
drive mounted in the lowest bay makes quite a lot of noise(audible three
rooms away) but when I move it to the bay just above or put a second
drive there the noise goes away.

Try moving the drive to different mounting locations and see if that's
the problem--if not, you haven't spent anything except a little time.

 

[Mark Seeley]

Thanks guys for the replies - nice to know that it's a known issue, a pain
to know it's not curable, but again nice to know it's not another dodgy disk
(unless the dictionary definition of a Deskstar is a dodgy disk!!).

I'll try relocating the disk and may add rubber washers to the disk mount to
reduce the noise a bit, but i guess will put up with it.

Thanks for the help )

Mark