What causes HD 'activity'?

[Terry Pinnell]

I've only had it a day, but am getting a bit irritated with the noise
from my new 'MAXTOR 200GB HARD DRIVE 7200RPM'. When just spinning,
it's fine. But for 90% of the time there's 'activity', a sort of deep
'throbbing' sound which gets rather wearing. I've unchecked 'Allow
Indexing', so that doesn't account for this apparently redundant
activity (seeking?). Why would it do this, even when I'm making no
access to the 20GB of files I've so far moved to this drive? Is there
anything I can do to calm it a little please?

FWIW, the HD is running as the primary drive on the extra PCI card I
installed, a 'HighPoint Rocket 133 2CH' (as I already have 2 60GB
Maxtor HDs and a CD-RW and a DVD drive, making up the 4 drives allowed
on my original IDE controller). The new HD actually appears in XP
Device Manager under the category 'SCSI & RAID Controller', as 'HPT302
UDMA/ATA133 Controller'.

The new HD came from here:
http://www.misco.co.uk/productinfor...or 200GB 7200RPM Internal Hard Disk Drive.htm

 

[Ron Martell]

I've only had it a day, but am getting a bit irritated with the noise
from my new 'MAXTOR 200GB HARD DRIVE 7200RPM'. When just spinning,
it's fine. But for 90% of the time there's 'activity', a sort of deep
'throbbing' sound which gets rather wearing. I've unchecked 'Allow
Indexing', so that doesn't account for this apparently redundant
activity (seeking?). Why would it do this, even when I'm making no
access to the 20GB of files I've so far moved to this drive? Is there
anything I can do to calm it a little please?

FWIW, the HD is running as the primary drive on the extra PCI card I
installed, a 'HighPoint Rocket 133 2CH' (as I already have 2 60GB
Maxtor HDs and a CD-RW and a DVD drive, making up the 4 drives allowed
on my original IDE controller). The new HD actually appears in XP
Device Manager under the category 'SCSI & RAID Controller', as 'HPT302
UDMA/ATA133 Controller'.

The new HD came from here:
http://www.misco.co.uk/productinfor...or 200GB 7200RPM Internal Hard Disk Drive.htm

Download Maxtor's diagnostic utility from their website and run it to
check out the drive. A drive that noisy may be having some problems.

Also, how big is the power supply in your computer? With that many
drives, and especially if you have other devices as well then you may
need to have a 450 watt or larger power supply for the machine. It
could be that your present power supply is not capable of handling the
peak load, resulting in reduced voltage and the Maxtor drive is
reacting to this.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Download Maxtor's diagnostic utility from their website and run it to
check out the drive. A drive that noisy may be having some problems.

Also, how big is the power supply in your computer? With that many
drives, and especially if you have other devices as well then you may
need to have a 450 watt or larger power supply for the machine. It
could be that your present power supply is not capable of handling the
peak load, resulting in reduced voltage and the Maxtor drive is
reacting to this.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

Thanks, Ron, but I was mistaken in my initial description. Now that
I've been more careful and also taken the cover off, I can clearly
see/hear that the 'throbbing' is coming from the fan mounted on top of
the Athlon CPU heat sink.

It's intermittent and it's not consistently the same sound. I can
alter it by touching the case.

I obviously muddied the water by my description, in particular the
distinction about spinning. I was confused partly because I hadn't
realised that activity on this new HD still caused the existing HD LED
to come on, despite being on a new PCI controller. And I had not found
anywhere to connect the little LED that came with the 5.25" mounting
tray, so I was guessing whether the HD was seeking! I now realise that
the existing LED *does* get activated. So I can now definitely state
that this noise is not arising from disk seeking. Which is a relief.
But sorry for causing confusion <g>.

OK, now how to cure the problem. After much googling, it's plainly a
common problem. Largely caused by OEMs fitting cheap fans. Here's a
photo:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/NoisyCPUFan.jpg
(Note how my digicam flash managed to freeze the spinning label BTW!
Didn't want to waste time re-booting, given the slowness of that
procedure at present on this system.)

Presumably the fan will come off completely after unscrewing the 4
corner screws? Can I then lubricate it with thin oil by peeling off
that label? And it clearly needs the dust removing. Is that a job best
done by buying a can of pressurized air?

For a better solution I suppose I should replace it. It seems to be
6cm square - a standard size? Is it worth buying a more expensive one
with ball bearings, or am I right that they are generally noisier?

 

[tjoy]

Thanks, Ron, but I was mistaken in my initial description. Now that
I've been more careful and also taken the cover off, I can clearly
see/hear that the 'throbbing' is coming from the fan mounted on top of
the Athlon CPU heat sink.

It's intermittent and it's not consistently the same sound. I can
alter it by touching the case.

I obviously muddied the water by my description, in particular the
distinction about spinning. I was confused partly because I hadn't
realised that activity on this new HD still caused the existing HD LED
to come on, despite being on a new PCI controller. And I had not found
anywhere to connect the little LED that came with the 5.25" mounting
tray, so I was guessing whether the HD was seeking! I now realise that
the existing LED *does* get activated. So I can now definitely state
that this noise is not arising from disk seeking. Which is a relief.
But sorry for causing confusion <g>.

OK, now how to cure the problem. After much googling, it's plainly a
common problem. Largely caused by OEMs fitting cheap fans. Here's a
photo:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/NoisyCPUFan.jpg
(Note how my digicam flash managed to freeze the spinning label BTW!
Didn't want to waste time re-booting, given the slowness of that
procedure at present on this system.)

Presumably the fan will come off completely after unscrewing the 4
corner screws? Can I then lubricate it with thin oil by peeling off
that label? And it clearly needs the dust removing. Is that a job best
done by buying a can of pressurized air?

For a better solution I suppose I should replace it. It seems to be
6cm square - a standard size? Is it worth buying a more expensive one
with ball bearings, or am I right that they are generally noisier?

How about you start with a can of compressed air and dust it off, LOL...
remove 4 screws and fan will come off.
6cm isn't common size but you should be able to find replacement. All fans
same size will also have same home location.