Gah... Make the noise stop... Please!

[hcuar]

I just put together an external HD using the Rosewill FW800/FW400 and USB2.0 external HD enclosure. I put a 160GB Western Digital HD into the enclosure.

It has a nasty whine! There are no internal fans on the enclosure, so it's gotta be the hard drive.

So, my question is... Where do you people put your external HD? Do you leave them on all the time?

A totally unrelated question... Will Backup 3.0.1 powerup my PM from sleep mode to perform a backup to this HD?

 

[mrichmon]

I just put together an external HD using the Rosewill FW800/FW400 and USB2.0 external HD enclosure. I put a 160GB Western Digital HD into the enclosure.

It has a nasty whine! There are no internal fans on the enclosure, so it's gotta be the hard drive.

So, my question is... Where do you people put your external HD? Do you leave them on all the time?

A totally unrelated question... Will Backup 3.0.1 powerup my PM from sleep mode to perform a backup to this HD?

I personally leave my external drives on all the time and they are silent unless I have my ear about an inch from the drive.

A whine from an external enclosure that has no fan is likely to be caused either by vibration or by a failing drive mechanism (usually the drive bearing is failing). If the cause is vibration, then you should check that you have tightened the screws holding the drive in place and the screws closing the enclosure. You could try using silicon gaskets between the drive and the enclosure to limit any remaining vibrations.

Try opening the enclosure, removing the drive but leaving it plugged into the enclosure and placing the drive on a notepad or other soft surface and power up the drive. Does it still make the same noise? If so then you most likely have a failing drive.

 

[hcuar]

Well... I tore it completely down and held the drive in my hand... No vibration, but it still whines. I think it's just a noisy Western Digital HD. I wish I would have bought a Seagate back when I bought the drive.

 

[iGary]

Anything's quieter than a 1TB Lacie drive if it makes you feel any better.

 

[Laser47]

Id rather have a whine then then loud seeking noise that comes from the maxtor drive in my pc. Also you could try putting the HD in a shoebox to contain the noise, it might help.

 

[generik]

Try using a Seagate drive, those are virtually silent

 

[adk]

Id rather have a whine then then loud seeking noise that comes from the maxtor drive in my pc. Also you could try putting the HD in a shoebox to contain the noise, it might help.

The only problem is he spent a lot of extra money because the rosewill enclosure looks cool.

 

[hcuar]

The only problem is he spent a lot of extra money because the rosewill enclosure looks cool.

Yup... exactly... it looks like my PM.

I'm just going to shut it off when it's not in use. I'm using it as a backup drive for now... Kinda sucks... I hate Western Digital... I've bought Seagate for all my other drives since that one. My 250GB in my PM is a Seagate, and it's very quiet.

 

[Laser47]

The only problem is he spent a lot of extra money because the rosewill enclosure looks cool.

Those enclosures are really nice. I guess the only way to fix this problem is to get used to it

 

[generik]

What's so nice about the Rosewill cases?

I've seen one that matches the Powermac G5's aluminium cases.. those are truly cool!

 

[zakatov]

Well, I was actually thankful that my external HD made extra noise because it masked the constant beeping of my PM's power supply. I know this is not helping but it shows that there's some good in every bad situation, you just gotta look for it.

 

[generik]

Well, I was actually thankful that my external HD made extra noise because it masked the constant beeping of my PM's power supply. I know this is not helping but it shows that there's some good in every bad situation, you just gotta look for it.

Erm.. does the PM beep all the time?

That doesn't sound good, you make it sound like two wrongs make a right!

 

[zakatov]

Erm.. does the PM beep all the time?

That doesn't sound good, you make it sound like two wrongs make a right!

yes, at idle, the power supply beeps all the time. And it's one of the models that can't be "fixed" by swapping the power supply.

 

[hcuar]

Well... i can't take it anymore... I bought a new 200 GB Seagate HD to put in the enclosure... I'll sell the old one to a PC using coworker. They won't know the difference between the HD and their processor fans.

 

[adk]

Well... i can't take it anymore... I bought a new 200 GB Seagate HD to put in the enclosure... I'll sell the old one to a PC using coworker. They won't know the difference between the HD and their processor fans.

Ha I hear that... I used to share a bedroom with a dell leaf blower.

 

[devman]

Anything's quieter than a 1TB Lacie drive if it makes you feel any better.

A nascar revving is quiter than a LaCie 1TB drive...

 

[Daveway]

I have that same hard drive and its virtually silent 3ft away from me. You must've had a faulty drive.

 

[redAPPLE]

Anything's quieter than a 1TB Lacie drive if it makes you feel any better.

i second that. i heard about that.

 

[hcuar]

Silence... Just installed my new 200 GB Seagate HD into my Rosewill case. I can't hear the HD over the fans of the PM. I've got it sitting up against the side of the PM on the floor. I originally planned on sitting it on my desk, but the vibrations from the external enclosure cause some noise (very minor).

I managed to buy the Seagate for 92 bucks from Newegg.com and flip my old WD 160GB HD for 60 at work.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I have two Hitachi 250GB SATA drives and they are very quiet - much more quiet than the original 40GB drive from my G4 tower.

The 6GB Quantum hard drive in my CRT iMac is VERY loud, but the loudest drive I have is an old Seagate "Hawk" 2GB SCSI drive. It sounds like a table saw.

I always thought that external enclosures were good about muffling HD noise - maybe your 160GB drive was starting to go south?