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When I run Linux (Any distribution it seems, Fedora 15, 16, Ubuntu from 2009 to latest version...), the hard drive seem to sound significantly louder. It seems a LOT more active when it read/write files, and the clicks it makes are a lot louder. I can actually hear each and individual click. It goes back to normal when I go back to Windows 7.
In Windows, the sound is a light little click if the read/write is long enough, and if I listen for it.
In Linux, the sound is loud enough for me to hear every click, no matter how long the read/writes are (Well, if it's really short like a quick little flash of the hdd light, I won't hear it, but the read/writes are usually a lot longer than that). It also seems that there are a lot more hard drive activity too, such as loading Firefox a few seconds after I closed it, and loading pretty much any other program.
Why is my hard drive louder in Linux?
Specs
- Windows 7 Professional x64
- Fedora 16 x64
- 4GiB DDR2 800MHz RAM
- Intel P7450 2.13GHz
- Fujitsu MHZ2320BH G2 320GB, 8MB Cache, 5600RPM
Update: I installed a minimal installation of Arch with xfce, and so far, I haven't heard of the loud clicks from my hdd. Even when I installed the nvidia package, and the hdd light was on and flickering for a long time
1How often did you hear clicks? – kamae – 2012-03-01T03:27:33.790
Hard drives don't usually click, as no parts should be hitting each other. My hard drive started clicking a few months before it died. – Blender – 2012-03-01T03:47:05.387
What does
hdparm -M /dev/sda
return? – h0tw1r3 – 2012-03-01T03:56:02.380By click, I meant the sound you hear when your hard drive load something... I'm pretty sure there aren't that many hdds out there that are so quiet you can't hear ANYTHING. The hdd was quiet when an operation didn't involve hdd activities – Alex – 2012-03-02T02:22:32.713