My hard drive is new, but making lots of noise

My hard drive is making noise, just like the old computers, which is strange, cause my pc is 3-4 months old. I got this one: https://www.google.com/shopping/product/7227007111886761763 Is there a way to fix that? What causes this?

blez

Posted 2011-07-22T14:08:36.073

Reputation: 209

Can you describe the noise? Is it a clicking? A whine? Something else? – Darth Android – 2011-07-22T14:11:25.633

Scratching noise, like when you run an old computer. It's not all the time. – blez – 2011-07-22T14:21:53.400

Stop shaking it then!! – Pricey – 2011-07-22T14:55:06.160

@blez If your new hard drive makes noises, and you know they are not normal noises, then return it, RMA it, or exchange it!!! Any person who knows what a computer is should know what is a normal noise and what isn't. – Breakthrough – 2011-07-22T15:46:07.410

Scratching noises are normal. Whining or clicking noises are not. – David Schwartz – 2013-01-07T07:51:40.890

Answers

I did a quick Google search with this query (without quotes): "WD Caviar noisy" and found lots of discussions about the noise produced by the hard drive. The 'Green' variant is silent though. So I think that's the way your drive works. See: 1

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/WD-Caviar-Black-is-a-loud-drive/td-p/6468
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249058-32-worry-noise-black-caviar-drive
According to Tech Report review of WD Caviar Black, it's the noisiest drive they ever tested: http://techreport.com/articles.x/15363/13

Larssend

Posted 2011-07-22T14:08:36.073

Reputation: 2 941

Check the SMART status. Could be a bad drive or a failing motor. If it fails SMART, you probably want to contact the mfg and see if you can get it replaced under warranty.

WD makes tools to check the SMART status of their drives. Here is the link: http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=613&sid=3&lang=en

sbtkd85

Posted 2011-07-22T14:08:36.073

Reputation: 531

It passes the SMART status with the tool on the link. – blez – 2011-07-22T14:21:08.873

Your sure its the drive and not a fan or something else in the system right? You may want to contact WD tech support and see if they have other suggestions. If it passes SMART most likely the drive is ok. – sbtkd85 – 2011-07-22T15:20:04.500

It's not fan and it's definitely not my SSD. I hope that it's ok. – blez – 2011-07-22T18:31:52.703

What kind of noise, specifically? Those drives aren't perfectly silent to begin with, but if there are loud repetitive clicks or grinding noises or even if just the standard operating noise is deafeningly loud then there may be something wrong with the drive (in which case you should get an RMA from the manufacturer ASAP.)

Shinrai

Posted 2011-07-22T14:08:36.073

Reputation: 18 051