Chirping HDD?

[Teebs]

I've noticed that my hard drive in my recently built computer has been making a "chirping" like noise. Not the normal click click click when its running. I never noticed if it was doing it before, but it seems to do it more often when under heavy load, such as at startup. And once and awhile while idling or using light applications such as browsing the web it emits the quiet little chirp.

Is this normal? It's a Maxtor Diamond 21, 500GB, SATA running with the jumper set to 3gb/s. I'd say it almost sounds like my old pc which had a lose pin on the molex connector, and if the computer got moved or hit just right, the drive would chirp and you'd hear it spin back to speed. I'm not hearing this increase in speed on this pc. And there's nothing from the old pc in here, so its not an issue of old worn parts. This pc has been running for about 5 to 6 weeks now.

Further Specs:
-Windows XP Pro SP3
-Asus M2N-SLI MB
-AMD Athlon X2 5000+ Black (2.6Ghz) over clocked to 3.1Ghz
-PNY 512mb 9800-GTX
-Ultra LSP 550W PSU (Supper quiet :cool:)
-4GB Ram
-TV Tuner card
-4 Case fans
-etc...

[burton160w]

Could just be the HDD breaking itself in, or it just be breaking. I would definitely consider RMAing it to the company. Sounds like something rubbing inside it and I wouldn't take the risk especially with how sensitive HDDs are.

[NorCalCoug]

Could just be the HDD breaking itself in, or it just be breaking. I would definitely consider RMAing it to the company. Sounds like something rubbing inside it and I wouldn't take the risk especially with how sensitive HDDs are.

HD's don't make noises breaking in. If something is rubbing, it wouldn't operate correctly at all, because HD's are precision pieces of machinery.

Some HD's make chirpy noises in general. Some HD's are really loud compared to others. And for some, a chirpy noise means the end is nigh.

What brand/model HD?

[LostRacer]

Here you go mike It's a Maxtor Diamond 21, 500GB From the op.

[Teebs]

It could have been doing it straight from the day it booted up, I've never noticed it until recently. Should i set the jumpers to 1.5GB/s? Is there even a reason to have the jumpers at 3GB/s? Aren't harddrives still limited by their physical speed to like 150mb/s?

[Teebs]

Could it be the partitions I have running? The one hard drive has six partitions. One for apps, games, music, downloads, videos, and system. Each is ~90GB, and the system is ~25GB. I've never heard of partitions being an issue, but I've never ran more than 2. In this case, I'm hitting up 4 partitions at one given moment. When I run a Game, thats on a partition, if I have music playing thats on another partition, the media player is on another partition and system files are on another.

Could there be an issue there? Not likely right?

[Gorman]

i don't why your HD chirps..but if it goes down, hope you've got that lot backed up. Maybe you could run a raid array (pci-x or mainboard) ..it's quicker and safer... G.

[c0alition]

raid's aren't worth the time or hassle for a home user..

Does it chirp rapidly? Or is it just a single chirp? I know when some harddrive's fail, the SMART chip inside will cause it to chirp.. but it's a repeated chirp. I'd download a diagnostic tool and run a scan just to make sure everything is good.. (Hiren's is alright (http://soft.softoogle.com/ap/hiren-s-bootcd-download-6916.shtml)) for hirens, just go to hard drive tools i believe and I use SeaTools.. works great for any drive you have.

[JayZee]

my hard drive chirped right after i got it too, and it was only when i had my case closed. but since ive moved it around the house and to a friends a couple times, it doesnt do it any more. maybe it's resonating on the mounting brackets?

[deliveryguy]

HowStuffWorks "How Hard Disks Work" (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/hard-disk6.htm)

Usually chirping can be caused by bad sectors - the "seeking" mechanism on the drive might be befuddled and keeps trying to access something that it can't. Or there could be a mechanical error - if you hear the platters spinning or rubbing on eachother then I'm surprised the drive is usable. I would definitely suggest backing everything up.

[Teebs]

Whats everyone's opinions on Maxtor drives? Particularly the one I purchased? I've been running a Maxtor Diamond Plus 8 40GB for years in my old PC. But I've read that some people think Maxtor is absolute crap? Is it more opinion than anything? Like GM vs Ford vs etc...??

[c0alition]

I've always been a fan of Western Digital.. good RMA, and they make the raptor (beast). I have a Hitachi Deskstar that's been going for years no problem.. and it was cheap.

Never really liked Maxtor.. heard bad about them, and change wayyyy too many of them at my shop that are just completely dead, where when WD's go bad generally I can pull a little data off of them before they completely die.

[deliveryguy]

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-22-148-288-_-Homepage)

I like WD or Seagate - I've never had problems with either.

[20cougar01]

I dont have alot of experience with computer HDD but I have a seagate in my gaming pc I built last year. Its a Seagate 250gb hdd and its been flawless since day one. Definitely good HDD for a good price.

[SkorpioLT]

Maxtor is actually a very good company but they arent really showing any competition against its competitors, WD i trust the most.. Seagate and Hitachi I already had problems with, even though Seagate I still kinda trust... and I just invested in an ExcelStor HDD so we'll see how that goes... never heard of them but I read some great reviews. So far im not liking it btw lol for some reason I was having problems putting XP Pro on it so I had to settle with XP Home Edition..maybe its just the user hahah but anyway....

As far as your HDD goes yes it might be going bad, or it just might be that the HDD does it naturally, someone already mentioned that some HDDs are louder than the others and it just might be the way it works, do some research on it read some reviews and see what you come up with. Other than that if you have any data you really are afraid to lose, get an external HDD and dump everything you really need on there, so you dont have to get one with 500gb capacity and it wont cost u more than 100. If it does happen to go bad newegg.com is a good place to get HDDs theyre cheap and shipping is umbelievably fast, you just have to carefully read the description though or u might get a returned one that was "fixed" by the manufacturer... theyre usually a lot cheaper though so u know somethings up lol... good luck with your HDD hopefully it doesnt die on u :)

[burton160w]

Maxtor is actually a very good company but they arent really showing any competition against its competitors, WD i trust the most.. Seagate and Hitachi I already had problems with, even though Seagate I still kinda trust... and I just invested in an ExcelStor HDD so we'll see how that goes... never heard of them but I read some great reviews. So far im not liking it btw lol for some reason I was having problems putting XP Pro on it so I had to settle with XP Home Edition..maybe its just the user hahah but anyway....


You do realize that Maxtor is actually now owned by Seagate (since 2006) and just acts as a subsidiary. Back in the day I used to build PCs (before the whole gay modding thing exploded) and Maxtor was the only company I dealt with. I will say that I've owned one Seagate (which I would definitely go with now) but Maxtor made some reliable (if not loud) hard drives and backed it up with good customer service.

[Teebs]

I just realized they were the same company now, went to look at their support page and it sent me to the Seagate website. lol

Do they use the same technology now? Or do they still develop their own products? Cause if they do, then one isn't any more reliable than the other...

I'm at school right now but early I set the jumpers to 1.5GB/s and saw no change, I really wasnt expecting any thing to change, but i figured it was worth a shot... So I'll run Seagates diagnostics tool, see what it comes up with and if its shot, get it replaced.

Does Maxtor/Seagate still offer to send you a new HDD and then you send your old one back once you transfered everything while they hold onto your credit card number in the event you dont return the drive?

[SkorpioLT]

You do realize that Maxtor is actually now owned by Seagate (since 2006) and just acts as a subsidiary. Back in the day I used to build PCs (before the whole gay modding thing exploded) and Maxtor was the only company I dealt with. I will say that I've owned one Seagate (which I would definitely go with now) but Maxtor made some reliable (if not loud) hard drives and backed it up with good customer service.

nope sorry did not know this havent really dealt with maxtor or seagate ever since 2006 lol

[Teebs]

Just ran Seatools on the hard drive now available for windows! I hated Seatools for DOS. :P It failed the self test, and i'm on the phone currently on hold, setting up an advanced replacement. It's not the data I need off the drive, it's the downtime I cannot afford. So they are sending me a drive, I'll do my thing, and send them the old one. Therefore, assuming the drive lasts the 3-7 days for shipping, I should see no downtime. :)

How can I copy everything over? Last time I did that I used Norton Ghost? is there something better now?



Just finished setting everything up, Seagate/Maxtore is covering the shipping of both drives, and the new one should arrive on Monday. ;) And oddly enough, they didn't ask for any credit card number or anything. So what's to stop me from keeping both drives? I really have no use for a broken drive, but how do they know its broken until they get it?

So fingers crossed, that this one holds out till then. :) I can't afford downtime with this pc, it really is everything for me. It's my phone (voip), tv (tuner card), course notes are online, etc... It's a very important piece of equipment for me.