WD800BB HD is emitting high pitched tone (driving me insane!)

[J.Clarke]

On 13 Oct 2003 08:39:09 -0700

I have no clue when this first started, but I just now noticed my
Western Digital 80 gig HD is emitting a very high pitched tone. I know
it is the HD and not any fans because I unplugged the HD and turned
the computer on and, no noise.

I have read around and noticed that almost all 7200rpm and up HD's
emit some sort of high pitched noise, but this one seems unusually
loud. The tone seems to rise and fall slightly as well.

Times are a bit tough at the moment, so can't really go buy a new HD
on a whim. What I would like to know, is if anyone knows if this is
just completely normal and I am overreacting. Or if it is a sign of
hard drive failure.

Do all high speed HD's make this sort of noise?

Most hard disks have a little wiper that rides on the end of the shaft
that bleeds off static electricity--that little wiper is just a flat
spring and if the shaft end gets just a tiny bit rough it can make the
wiper "sing"--that _could_ be what you're hearing, in which case it's
an annoyance, not a reliability problem, or it could be a bearing going
bad.

 

[Xagoth]

I have no clue when this first started, but I just now noticed my
Western Digital 80 gig HD is emitting a very high pitched tone. I know
it is the HD and not any fans because I unplugged the HD and turned
the computer on and, no noise.

I have read around and noticed that almost all 7200rpm and up HD's
emit some sort of high pitched noise, but this one seems unusually
loud. The tone seems to rise and fall slightly as well.

Times are a bit tough at the moment, so can't really go buy a new HD
on a whim. What I would like to know, is if anyone knows if this is
just completely normal and I am overreacting. Or if it is a sign of
hard drive failure.

Do all high speed HD's make this sort of noise?

 

[Bishoop]

Xagoth wrote:
| I have no clue when this first started, but I just now noticed my
| Western Digital 80 gig HD is emitting a very high pitched tone. I know
| it is the HD and not any fans because I unplugged the HD and turned
| the computer on and, no noise.
|
| I have read around and noticed that almost all 7200rpm and up HD's
| emit some sort of high pitched noise, but this one seems unusually
| loud. The tone seems to rise and fall slightly as well.
|
| Times are a bit tough at the moment, so can't really go buy a new HD
| on a whim. What I would like to know, is if anyone knows if this is
| just completely normal and I am overreacting. Or if it is a sign of
| hard drive failure.
|
| Do all high speed HD's make this sort of noise?

First and foremost, back up any data you'd hate to lose.

Bearings going bad?

Try contacting WD? Run WD's diagnostic software and see what it reports.

 

[Rod Speed]

I have no clue when this first started, but I just now noticed
my Western Digital 80 gig HD is emitting a very high pitched
tone. I know it is the HD and not any fans because I unplugged
the HD and turned the computer on and, no noise.

I have read around and noticed that almost all 7200rpm and up
HD's emit some sort of high pitched noise, but this one seems
unusually loud. The tone seems to rise and fall slightly as well.

Times are a bit tough at the moment, so can't really go
buy a new HD on a whim. What I would like to know, is
if anyone knows if this is just completely normal and I
am overreacting. Or if it is a sign of hard drive failure.

Do all high speed HD's make this sort of noise?

Thats the main reason the industry has been moving to fluid bearings, that
noise that develops. WD doesnt currently flog drives with fluid bearings.

The noise is normally cosmetic, irrelevant to the reliability of the data.

You should backup the data that you'll slash your
wrists if you lose anyway. Any drive can die.

 

[Markeau]

I have no clue when this first started, but I just now noticed my
Western Digital 80 gig HD is emitting a very high pitched tone. I know
it is the HD and not any fans because I unplugged the HD and turned
the computer on and, no noise.

Does it sound like a jet engine whining? If so then it's probably
bearing whine. I've sent at least 5 hd's back for warranty
replacement due to same, they should NOT whine.