IDE Hard Drive Noise

[Solinari]

I recently contacted Seagate because i have this annoying low frequency buzzing coming from my hard drive, i wrote them a support ticket so i'll just paste some of it so i don't have to type it all out again....

I recently got a new SATA hard drive and took out my Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y080L0 IDE drive and repositioned it in the case. After i had reinstalled Windows on my SATA drive i started noticing a very annoying low frequency buzz or hum coming from the Maxtor IDE drive, it lasts for about 1 full second, stops for 2 seconds, and then starts again and so on, incessantly. It definitely wasn't there before. I have tried following the instructions in the FAQ's to identify where the noise is coming from and it is the Maxtor IDE drive. The hum or buzz coming from the drive can be described like a mobile phone vibrating in the next room, i say the next room because the sound isn't that loud, but going on the phone analogy it is like it's 'ringing'.

I have searched the web with Google and i have found a couple of other people describing the exact same thing, and they even said it happened after installing a new drive.

I would appreciate any help you can offer in this matter.

I had a part in there about AAM (Automatic Acoustic Management), but the support dude that responded confirmed this was not realted. Basically it was enabled before i installed the Western Digital SATAII drive, and now it's disabled, but it's not a read/writing noise, it's constant.

So they said.. "Since the drive is passes the diagnostic tests, there is no standard troubleshooting for this issue. Without the known source of the problem, we cannot fix the issue. The symptom can either be tolerated or the drive should be replaced through warranty....". The drive is 'out of warranty' and as for tolerating the noise, well i can't, it's so damn annoying, like Chinese Water Torture, or something.

The weird thing is, which i didn't mention to Seagate, is that with the IDE in, (as in, plugged in) Windows loads faster, well i should say the programs after the Windows Welcome Screen load faster with the EMPTY IDE drive in, Windows is on the SATA Drive. I have tried disabling the Primary and Secondary IDE channels through Device Manager to no avail, and i did check that the SATA was running at the correct speed and it is. This is the only reason i have the drive plugged in, the startup is noticeably faster by about a minute. I have managed to make the IDE drive sleep after 3 minutes, so there is no noise, but some programs wakes it up and the noise continues.

Thank you for reading my book I always end up typing more than i intend to.

[Apoptosis]

Could you use Windows Sound Recorder to record and post the sound it's making? I'm just curious what it sounds like... Heard a ton of bad drives in my day, but none that were like water torture ;)

Bummer how loud the drive is!

[Solinari]

I tried to record it with my old mic but there's nothing really to hear, the frequency must be too low for the mic to pick up. I even disconnected all my case fans, lowered my Zalman 9500 to the lowest RPM, so it was pretty quiet (for a change), but still you can't hear anything on the recording.

I can get it to be quieter at times by moving it in the drive bay, i have it in the floppy drive bay so i can just move in and out slightly, this seems to make me a bit quieter. It's actually not the nosiest thing in my case at all, but it's just a low frequency buzzing or vibration and it's really really annoying me. Sticking with the phone analogy i used before, it's like when you turn off your ring tone and leaving vibrate on, so no one can hear it but you can feel it when someone phones you. And if you were to touch it on a desk or something you could hear the vibrations, that's the best way i can describe it.

That was a good idea about using a mic too, but there really is nothing to hear. Hah you'll think i'm imagining it now