Lacie D2 ext hard drive strange noises

camarao · Apr 24, 2005, 09:42 AM

I've just bought a Lacie D2 Extreme 250gb and I find it noisy or perhaps it's not in good conditions.
It is connected to the PC via USB 1( I will connect it to a powerbook next week ).
I can hear a kind of fan ( or maybe is the drive rotating. Is it suposed to be always rotating ? )which makes an high pitch noise .
And I can hear some strange noises like some metal thing is scratching the case. This happens sometimes (as an example,this happens when I select all the folders in the drive and then right-click in properties ) . Is this normal ? Everywhere I read it says this drive is silent but mine is not.

NATO · Apr 24, 2005, 12:07 PM

I wouldn't worry about it to be honest, I've had 2 Lacie d2 drives and although they dont produce fan noise, they're not that quiet, making clicky/clunky noises. Doesn't seem to affect the performance though..

simie · Apr 24, 2005, 12:22 PM

The noise you hear is the drive mechanism.

The strange noises like some metal thing is scratching the case, is the arm as it moves the heads overs the surface of the platters.

The other sound is the platters spinning, the drive normally spins at around 7,200 rpm, so expect some noise.

camarao · Apr 24, 2005, 05:15 PM

Thank you guys !

I still have 2 years warranty... I hope nothing happens.

aswitcher · Apr 24, 2005, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camarao

Thank you guys !

I still have 2 years warranty... I hope nothing happens.

Yeah mines really noisy. Thats the only thing I dont like about the drive.

camarao · Apr 24, 2005, 06:35 PM

I've just noticed that my Lacie D2 Extreme Triple Interface 250 gb external hard drive has a Maxtor drive inside. I've heard that Maxtor drives are noisier than other brands such as seagate. Do you think this is the problem ? Do Lacie D2 have all the same Maxtor drives inside ? Maybe it's better to return this drive and search for another model ... Any sugestions ? It has to be fanless, 7200 rpm and firewire 800.

DeathHD4Cutie · May 1, 2005, 01:43 PM

My LaCie d2 Extreme triple interface 250GB hard drive has stopped mounting (again). This time, it makes a loud beeping noise before the computer (PowerBook G4 Titanium, OSX 10.3.9) gives me the "drive contains no readable OSX volumes, do you want to initialize?" message. I typically hit "Ignore" or "Eject", not wanting to lose the 200GB or so I have on it. Most is backed up, but not all (yeah, my fault). I've tried Disk Warrior and Data Rescue X, neither of which see it. Disk Utility sees a FireWire drive, but identifies it as a Maxtor 2TB drive and doesn't let me repair, scan or anything but erase.

This happened two months ago, but without the awful noise and Disk Warrior was able to mount it.

Any thoughts before I call LaCie and start yelling again?

JDar · May 1, 2005, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camarao

I've just noticed that my Lacie D2 Extreme Triple Interface 250 gb external hard drive has a Maxtor drive inside. I've heard that Maxtor drives are noisier than other brands such as seagate. Do you think this is the problem ? Do Lacie D2 have all the same Maxtor drives inside ? Maybe it's better to return this drive and search for another model ... Any sugestions ? It has to be fanless, 7200 rpm and firewire 800.

I think LaCie uses different vendors for their drives, but certainly a lot of them are Maxtor. I've got three of these going in different places and they are a little scratchy sounding now and then but none are noisy. Sometimes the surface they are sitting on transmits the noise and a bit of padding under might help.

Apr 24, 2005, 09:42 AM	#1
camarao macrumors newbie Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Lisbon, Portugal	Lacie D2 ext hard drive strange noises I've just bought a Lacie D2 Extreme 250gb and I find it noisy or perhaps it's not in good conditions. It is connected to the PC via USB 1( I will connect it to a powerbook next week ). I can hear a kind of fan ( or maybe is the drive rotating. Is it suposed to be always rotating ? )which makes an high pitch noise . And I can hear some strange noises like some metal thing is scratching the case. This happens sometimes (as an example,this happens when I select all the folders in the drive and then right-click in properties ) . Is this normal ? Everywhere I read it says this drive is silent but mine is not.

Apr 24, 2005, 12:07 PM	#2
NATO macrumors 65816 Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Northern Ireland	I wouldn't worry about it to be honest, I've had 2 Lacie d2 drives and although they dont produce fan noise, they're not that quiet, making clicky/clunky noises. Doesn't seem to affect the performance though.. __________________ iMac 27" 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo 4GB RAM MacBook Pro 17" (Unibody) 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo 4GB RAM Mac Mini 1.66Ghz Core Duo iPhone 3G S 32GB

Apr 24, 2005, 12:22 PM	#3
simie macrumors 6502a Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Sitting	The noise you hear is the drive mechanism. The strange noises like some metal thing is scratching the case, is the arm as it moves the heads overs the surface of the platters. The other sound is the platters spinning, the drive normally spins at around 7,200 rpm, so expect some noise. __________________ Paul Rigby Illustrator and commercial artist ~ visit his website Http://www.paulrigby.co.uk

May 1, 2005, 01:43 PM	#7
DeathHD4Cutie macrumors newbie Join Date: May 2005	What about a loud beeping sound and then not mounting? My LaCie d2 Extreme triple interface 250GB hard drive has stopped mounting (again). This time, it makes a loud beeping noise before the computer (PowerBook G4 Titanium, OSX 10.3.9) gives me the "drive contains no readable OSX volumes, do you want to initialize?" message. I typically hit "Ignore" or "Eject", not wanting to lose the 200GB or so I have on it. Most is backed up, but not all (yeah, my fault). I've tried Disk Warrior and Data Rescue X, neither of which see it. Disk Utility sees a FireWire drive, but identifies it as a Maxtor 2TB drive and doesn't let me repair, scan or anything but erase. This happened two months ago, but without the awful noise and Disk Warrior was able to mount it. Any thoughts before I call LaCie and start yelling again?

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Apr 24, 2005, 05:15 PM	#4
camarao Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Lisbon, Portugal	Thank you guys ! I still have 2 years warranty... I hope nothing happens.

Apr 24, 2005, 06:35 PM	#6
camarao Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Lisbon, Portugal	I've just noticed that my Lacie D2 Extreme Triple Interface 250 gb external hard drive has a Maxtor drive inside. I've heard that Maxtor drives are noisier than other brands such as seagate. Do you think this is the problem ? Do Lacie D2 have all the same Maxtor drives inside ? Maybe it's better to return this drive and search for another model ... Any sugestions ? It has to be fanless, 7200 rpm and firewire 800.