The new hard drive is noisy. What sounds does a faulty hard drive make?

Quite recently, I already told you about the ways in which you can... In particular, the article talked about a program that can control coolers in your system unit. But coolers are half the problem. Most users experience a lot of noise coming from hard drive. Moreover, some hard drives are so loud that they become the main cause of computer noise.

But, in fact, there is nothing wrong with this. After all hard drive, also called a hard drive, is a mechanical device in which there are several rotating disks, which actually make noise. Internal drives are similar to regular CDs, but they operate on a completely different principle.

Thanks to the magnetic heads inside the hard drive, information is read. During this process, the discs move and create noise. For some users, hard drives rattle, for others they crackle and even creak, then you should. The noise produced depends on the hard drive model and the stability of the computer case. If the body system unit cheap, and its walls are thin, then the noise from the hard drive will be transmitted throughout the entire case. Poorly secured parts will vibrate, creating even more noise.

To reduce the crackling noise, you can do the following:

• Replace the old noisy hard drive with a new one, having first learned about its noise level.
• Use the AAM settings to change the acoustic noise level.
• Check the sound insulation of the housing. Perhaps this is the problem and after replacing it with a new one, the computer will run quieter.
• Install the hard drive on special soundproofing pads or use a soundproofing case for the drive.
• Defragment your hard drive. But it is not a fact that this procedure will help you. And if after this the hard drive starts to work quieter, then soon the noise will return again.

Reducing hard drive crackling using AAM

Any hard drive has such a function as controlling its noise level using internal settings AAM. (Automatic Acoustic Management). The principle of this setting is very simple: the speed of movement of the heads is reduced, which allows the hard drive to operate much quieter. But this setting reduces not only the noise level, but also the speed of the hard drive as a whole.

Here you need to choose what is more important for you - the speed of the hard drive or the noise from it. Perhaps, after setting up, you will not notice how the speed of the hard drive has dropped, but there will be no more crackling noise during operation.

In order for you to be able to start adjusting the volume of your hard drive, you need to download the “WinAAM” program. This program is completely free and it is better to download it from the official website.

The program has a Russian interface and to work, you do not need to install it. You launch it directly from the archive and configure it. Once you open the program, you will see a window with options for choosing how the program works.

You need to click the “continue” button. We don’t go into the security settings at all, since they cannot in any way affect the noisy operation of the hard drive.

When you run the program, you will see that the first line will say "in at the moment Noise control is not active.” You will need to select "Quiet/Standard (128)" to set the "quiet" AAM value. Despite the fact that the program has a range of values ​​from 0 to 255, you need to select the “Quiet/Loud” value, since intermediate options are not displayed on the operation and noise reduction of the hard drive. It is for this reason that the program contains only one that you need button so as not to rack your brains with choosing a value for efficient work programs.

Once the value is set, the program will close automatically. You need to run it again and click the “continue” button, and then “check”.

After the program runs, you will see a window that will contain all the information about the chaotic movement of the hard drive's read head, and you will hear how your hard drive will sound in a new way. I'm sure the hard drive will start working much quieter. For comparison, you can press the “Loud (254)” button and hear how noisy the hard drive was working with before all the settings.

By clicking on the same button, you will return everything standard settings and the hard drive will continue to operate at the same speed.

If this program will not detect your hard drive, then I recommend using “HD Tune.” The essence is the same.

Actually, that's all. Now you can independently control the noise level of your hard drive. If the operation of the hard drive is accompanied by crackling noises and various kinds of clicks, then I definitely recommend using any of the programs to make the hard drive work more quietly if the noise bothers you. Thank you for being with us!

If it didn’t make noise before, but now it makes noise, this is not normal. A properly functioning disk can emit a slight, uniform noise/whistle and frequent, not too loud clicks during reading/writing (this is a slight uneven rattling, this is the magnetic heads moving).

If the disk rattles or vibrates, this is very bad. Most likely, he won't last long. Theoretically, the reason could be that it is poorly secured (and then it rattles along with your drive bay, the walls of which (the bay) are not strong enough to hold the drive while it is running). I've seen this reference. But it’s hard for me to imagine how fragile, “cardboard” the walls of the fastenings must be for this to happen. Except for the case when you manually installed a 3-inch hard drive into a 5-inch bay (for this you must use a special adapter mount, such a 3-inch bay inserted inside a 5-inch one). In this case, rattling is likely.

If the problem is not in the fastening, then (discarding all the super-exotic options that happen once in a million) the disk is faulty. If it's under warranty, replace it. If it is clearly rattling (not humming evenly, but rattling), this is a malfunction, so it must be replaced. If a disc is without warranty, then you can no longer count on it. Do backup copy all important data and prepare for the fact that he could die at any moment. When my hard drive started making suspicious noise, I immediately bought a new one and copied all important information, A old disk put it in the closet (in case I forgot to copy down some important information).

You can also check the status (“health”) of the disk (this information is collected by the disk itself during operation, the technology is called S.M.A.R.T. or SMART). It contains information about the number of different errors during the operation of the disk (a small number of errors is completely normal). To display this information you will most likely need special program. Convenient program I can’t tell you (if you know English, you can search for hdd health check). However, caution should be exercised. If the disk is not in order, prolonged active operation of the disk during an in-depth test (not just displaying statistics collected by SMART, but testing the disk’s operation) may be the straw that will lead to a sharp deterioration in the condition of the disk.

If the disk is just slightly noisy, then this is noise from the drive (motor) (or perhaps bearings). Considering that the disc rotates at a speed of under 10,000 rpm, it is quite expected that it is slightly noisy.

I have an old computer at work. Today I heard some kind of vibration several times. That is, something was rattling in the system unit. Since the system one was open, I looked there, listened, there was indeed something buzzing, it sounded like vibration, it buzzed a couple of times and then it continued to work. I can’t figure out what this buzzing is, but I have Word turned on and during its operation the cooler buzzes very loudly, the sound is like a ringing. And in the morning, after turning on and loading the computer, for some reason we rebooted it ourselves. Moreover, I didn’t turn anything on it. I would like to know what this could be. I save everything I type on the computer in Word to a flash drive. But this is after the end of the working day. But now I’ll probably save everything on a flash drive after the hard drive vibrates. Since my work computer will most likely break down soon.

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Why is the hard drive cracking?

When operating a computer (PC), users often complain about the presence extraneous noise or cod. The noise in most cases is caused by the operation of fans (coolers), but the cracking noise is most likely caused by the hard drive. Then the question arises: why is the hard drive cracking? There may be several reasons, such as a malfunction of the hard drive itself, or poor fastening, fixing the hard drive inside the computer case, due to which extraneous vibrations are created and the hard drive begins to rattle. True, for the sake of fairness, it should be noted that the hard drive actually constantly makes a characteristic noise, and this is quite justified, since the principle of operation of the hard drive is precisely that the magnetic heads begin to rotate while reading information. This is especially true for older HDDs.

If the noise becomes annoying or was not there before, but appears after a while, then this may also be a sign that the hard drive may soon fail. Also, the fact that the hard drive may be faulty may be indicated by the fact that with the appearance of noise, the computer began to work worse and slower, periodically freezes, produces various errors, or does not want to boot at all. Therefore, here you need to seriously think about checking the disk for errors.

Below we will discuss the main reasons why a hard drive is noisy.

The main reasons why a hard drive cracks

The first reason is poor fixation of the hard drive system unit in the case. There is only one way out - simply disassemble the system unit and securely fasten the hard drive. But often this is impossible to do due to the cheap case. In this case, one of the most common options among users is to hang the hard drive on pieces of twisted pair cable. Simply pull out the slide that holds the hard drive.

The second reason why the hard drive on a laptop and PC is noisy is the specifics of its operation. specific model drive. This is normal operating mode for it. True, if such noise is very disturbing, then you can resort to a method of reducing it by reducing the rotation speed of the hard drive heads.
Hard drives have such a function as automatic control noise - Automatic Acoustic Management (abbreviated AAM). Its essence lies in the fact that you can reduce the rotation speed of the magnetic heads and, thus, reduce the noise level. But in this case, the hard drive will read data slower. Therefore, here each user decides specifically for himself what is more important for him - the absence of noise or high performance.

This method is implemented in various software. There are many such programs on the Internet, so finding them will not be difficult. You can also simply enter the query: hard drive is cracking, what to do and immediately search engine will display a lot of information and articles that mention specific names programs through which the AAM mechanism can be implemented. The main point of it all software is that there are two numbers 128 and 254. The first is when the hard drive will work quietly, but slower, and the second is fast, but will make a lot of noise. You can try to find the optimal value for yourself experimentally.
The next most dangerous reason is a malfunction of the hard drive or evidence that it will soon need to be replaced or repaired.

What to do when the hard drive is noisy due to a malfunction?

When excessive noise from a drive is associated with its malfunction, it is necessary to check for errors. We tell you how to do this in Russian below.

Before checking, it is recommended to make a backup copy of all data. It is better to purchase for such purposes external hard a disk that connects to a PC or laptop via USB. The check can be performed using standard means operating system(OS) Windows XP/7/8/10, and other software:
1. Check using standard operating system tools.
The Windows OS family provides the ability to check the hard drive for errors and automatically correct them. It’s enough just to highlight required disk by using right button mouse and context menu select Properties. Next, select Service and click the Check button. Be sure to check the box next to the items: “Automatically correct errors” and “Check and repair” bad sectors" It is advisable that no processes or applications are running on the PC at this time, otherwise the system may display an error stating that it is impossible to perform the check, since this disk is currently in use by other applications and processes. If errors are detected at the end of the check, it is advisable to carry out additional diagnostics using proprietary utilities from the HDD manufacturer.
2. Checking with software from the manufacturer allows for more advanced diagnostics and has a number of additional tests. Such programs can also be found on the Internet or downloaded from the hard drive manufacturer’s website. If, as a result of such a test, problems are also found, then we can conclude that the cause of the excessive noise of the hard drive is its malfunction.

It is definitely determined that the hard drive is faulty. Options

So, as a result of the tests, it was determined that the hard drive is noisy due to the presence of errors, what to do in this situation? There are two options here:
— if the warranty period has not expired, then submit it to a service center for warranty repairs;
- if the warranty has expired, also take it to a specialized computer service, but you will have to pay money for repairs.

The worst case scenario may be when the hard drive is completely out of order and cannot be repaired. In this case, it is necessary to raise money for new hard disk. That is why it is useful to always have a backup copy of important data, because no one is immune from such situations.

A hard drive is a key component of a computer on which information is stored. IN lately More and more users are abandoning HDDs in favor of more fast SSD, but their cost still does not allow many to place them on solid state drives all the necessary information.

Why are hard drives noisy?

It is generally accepted that the noisiest component desktop computer and the laptop is a cooler. However, if the cooling system is well designed, the operation of the coolers can be almost inaudible.

The next element of the system unit in terms of noise emission is the hard drive. During operation, mechanical heads move inside the device, which read information from magnetic disks, which leads to noise. Sometimes the hard drive begins to crack and make noise so much that it causes discomfort when working at the computer.

The noise level of a hard drive depends on many factors: its speed, age and condition, case materials and build quality, as well as some others. Accordingly, we can distinguish software and hardware methods for reducing the noise level of a hard drive during operation.

How to use hardware to reduce hard drive noise during operation

Typically, the older the hard drive, the louder it becomes. This is due to the wear of its elements, and a strong crackling sound from the drive indicates its imminent failure. However, if there are no plans to replace the hard drive yet, you can vibration-proof it in the computer case. There are two options on how to do this:

Another option for solving the problem of noisy computer components is to replace the case with one that has good sound insulation.

How to programmatically reduce hard drive noise during operation

If the hard drive cracks, buzzes loudly or knocks during operation, you can try to fix it using software. As was said above, when work hard The disk has mechanical heads moving inside it that search for information on the magnetic disks. Accordingly, there are two ways to reduce the noise from their movement:

Important: Please note that reducing the noise level of a hard drive involves reducing the speed of head movement, and accordingly reducing the speed of the drive. However, in ordinary user tasks such a decrease is almost unnoticeable.

The hard drive remains one of the noisiest components in a computer. Moreover, it is necessary to distinguish between noise due to active work hard drive during reading/writing and motor noise that comes from the disk almost constantly. Naturally, we should not forget about vibration noise, which is greatly amplified by the computer case. For example, often disks rigidly mounted in the metal case of the system unit transmit their low-frequency vibration (100-120 Hz) to it, and as a result, a noticeable unpleasant hum appears, which completely disappears with a non-rigid mounting.

Silent mount

The main source of noise in passive mode is the spindle bearing assembly. Being rigidly fixed in the computer case, the hard drive, with its low-frequency vibrations of small amplitude, causes the elements of the case to vibrate. The large surface of the computer case becomes a kind of amplifier for the noise produced by hard drive. Note that three-inch bays for installing hard drives in modern cases are often made in the form of a loosely fixed basket, which is a good oscillating system. In this case, it is better to completely remove the basket from the case and install the drive in a 5.25-inch bay in a container or using a mounting slide. Several mounting methods are offered to reduce the noise of a hard drive.

To prevent resonances, you can use elastic washers for the bolts securing the disk to the computer case, vibration isolators, or an elastic suspension. An interesting idea was proposed on the Internet by enthusiasts from Spode’s Adobe website (http://www.spodesabode.com/) a rather original and very cheap way to reduce noise associated with disk vibration. All you need to implement it are two pencils and a few rubber rings, with which you can secure a three-inch hard drive in a five-inch bay using guy wires (by the way, this will in a good way for quickly mounting a hard drive in a computer if all three-inch slots are occupied).

This is perhaps one of the cheapest modifications, but it will force you to look inside your computer from time to time and change the rubber bands, since over time they become unusable. However, you can use wider and more reliable harnesses. However, do not forget that an insecurely fixed hard drive can reduce system performance or even fail.

In addition, some hard drives get very hot during operation, so good thermal contact with the computer case is an indispensable condition for their reliable operation, and suspension or insulation from the case disrupts heat transfer. So, although in the most modern models energy consumption is significantly reduced, the danger of overheating due to difficult heat dissipation still remains.

For such hard drives, you can use devices like Mobile Rack (http://www.mobile-rack.ru/), which is a plastic container into which a hard drive is inserted on a slide. The container will also act as a vibration isolator and dampen some of the vibrations of the hard drive. Some cases are equipped with built-in fans for better heat dissipation.

A more radical method of reducing hard drive noise is to use special soundproofing containers such as Silent Drive (http://www.quietps.com/) with a heat-dissipating circuit.

How to make a hard drive quieter using software

Many manufacturers provide their products with the ability to programmatically reduce the head positioning speed. The owner of a hard drive can reduce the noise level by using special utilities, which should be looked for on the website of a specific manufacturer. Naturally, the speed of data access after reducing noise may decrease somewhat, but the level of comfort when working with a personal computer will increase.

The fact is that many modern hard drives have a noise control function (Automatic Acoustic Management, AAM, which in Russian means noise level management), and therefore some hard drive manufacturers have developed utilities for managing various disk parameters, including AMM. Almost any modern hard drive that complies with the ATA/ATAPI-6 standard or higher supports this function. The only exceptions are thin, cheaper Maxtor drives and many modern Seagate drives, which have AAM support, but cannot be adjusted.

How does a hard drive regulate the noise it makes? Some believe that reducing the noise level is achieved by reducing the disk rotation speed, but this is incorrect, since the spindle rotation speed is a constant value and for a particular model is maintained with an accuracy of a fraction of a percent. But the speed of movement of the magnetic head unit (MMG) drive can be controlled. If you were to disassemble a modern hard drive, you would see that the BMG is driven by a coil located in the field of action of a strong permanent magnet. When a current of one direction is passed through the coil, the block begins to move in one direction, and when the sign of the current changes in the other. This whole design strongly resembles the design of a conventional acoustic speaker, which is why this coil is called an acoustic coil. The greater the amplitude of the current pulse passed through the coil and the steeper its front, the greater the acceleration imparted to the block of magnetic heads, and accordingly louder noise, produced by the BMG design, because it acts as a diffuser in this “dynamics”. The essence of the noise reduction method in this case comes down to smoothing the edges of the current pulse supplied to the coil, which, in addition to reducing noise, leads to a decrease in the acceleration of the head unit. This means that the search operation for a specific location on the disk will be slower.

According to the ATA/ATAPI specification, regulation can be carried out at 126 discrete levels (values ​​in hex 0x80-0xFE), but in practice only two adjustment levels are often supported AAM ON (noise reduction enabled hex values ​​0x80-0xA0) and AAM OFF (respectively maximum performance hex values ​​0xA1-0xFE). The operating principle of utilities that control the noise level of hard drives is to change the contents of a special Acoustic Management register.

As a rule, this function does not provide a smooth reduction in speed, but only switches between “fast” and “quiet” modes, but expansion of its capabilities is planned in future implementations. Moreover, the noise level of the disk can be changed at any time without losing the integrity of the disk, that is, without destroying the information on it.

On hard drives different manufacturers factory setting may vary and vary from batch to batch. For example, some Samsung models are produced either with the AAM mode enabled or with it disabled (that is, in maximum performance mode).

In order to adjust the noise level on your hard drive, you need, as we already mentioned, to use special utility from the disk manufacturer. If you don’t find such a program on the manufacturer’s website, you can use one of many free utilities for disk management. For example, there is a special program AAMTOOL by Mikhail Mavritsin and a universal MHDD by Dmitry Postrigan. The programs can be taken from our CD. The capabilities of MHDD can be found on the website (http://mhddsoftware.com/index.ru.php). AAM is easy to adjust run MHDD from a floppy disk and command line programs dial AAM. The hard drive will begin to crackle its heads, and the program will offer you a choice of several options: M (minimum noise level), L (medium), P (maximum), and the D key turns off Automatic Acoustic Management, thereby switching the hard drive to maximum performance mode.

Switching the hard drive to low-noise mode, although it leads to a decrease in performance by an average of 5-10% (in some search tasks the decrease can be up to 30%), but the hard drive in this mode is practically inaudible even when copying large quantity small files.

However, in household devices speed characteristics drive is less important than the noise it produces, when modern technologies The performance of hard drives is more than enough and the acoustic background created by the drive in the system is of particular importance to the user. Recognizing this, many hard drive companies are investing heavily in the research and development of quieter drives and in improving system designs to minimize their specific noise levels.

However, we should not forget that even such simple universal methods, like regular disk defragmentation, timely archiving, garbage removal and keeping your data in order, also reduce the noise level of the hard drive when searching for information.

And one more thing: buy devices for your computers uninterruptible power supply and cases with high-quality power supplies unstable voltage (not to mention the overvoltage of cheap power supplies) can also lead to malfunctions of the drives and not only increase their noise, but also damage them.

Modern drives are becoming less and less noisy

Drive manufacturers do not stand still and, when designing new models, they are using more and more new noise reduction technologies, including the use of shock-absorbing materials inside and outside the drive.

In principle, now for most hard drives a noise level of about 30-35 dB is considered acceptable (noise increases with active movement of the hard drive heads).

The rotation speed of a package of disks on a modern hard drive is 5400, 7200, 10,000 or 15,000 rpm. And the higher the disk rotation speed, the greater the access speed to information recorded on the hard drive. True, the most common hard drives nowadays have a speed of 5400-7200 rpm, since it is cheaper, simpler and more reliable. This is due to the fact that inside the hard drive case there is air at atmospheric pressure, so when too high speed rotation of the disks causes significant heating of the rotating parts, and this leads to problems with the reliability of structural elements. In addition, high-speed hard drives create a significant level of noise during operation, which does not contribute to comfortable work with the computer. For example, the noise level when reading data arranged in a random order can be so high that the operation of a hard drive sometimes resembles the roar of a tractor. For slower hard drives, the noise level can be significantly lower, but now that household appliances (digital audio and video recorders, satellite receivers, Internet set-top boxes, etc.), the requirements for their noise level are becoming noticeably stricter.

Indeed, in the consumer electronics industry there are virtually no devices containing fans, and the only source Hard drives become noisy. Moreover, the requirements for the quiet operation of household devices are much more stringent than for desktop computers, and low noise levels are often associated with high quality product.

Therefore, hard drive manufacturers today strive to bring their products to a noise level of 15-20 dB (at the background level of a quiet room at night) in passive mode and 2-3 dB higher in read/write mode. Of course, this level would satisfy even the most demanding user, but today there are practically no such disks, and noise reduction from existing disks must be achieved by additional means.

The simplest solution to get rid of motor noise is to take a hard drive with a speed of 5400 rpm. Such a disk drive, when idling, has a noise level of 28-30 dB and will not be heard during the day (at this time, the background noise of a quiet room is at the level of 30 dB), especially if it is enclosed in a well-insulated system housing, which also muffles sounds . However, in the data search mode, the noise increases by 4-6 dB or more, which cannot remain unnoticeable to the user. But for consumer electronics (for example, digital video recorders), such a noise level is generally unacceptable.

Therefore, the noise level of hard drives is steadily decreasing. Now the spindle good disc It is practically silent, and makes a characteristic sound only when starting or stopping. In addition, a characteristic crackling noise is produced by the head positioning mechanism, which is especially noticeable when copying many small files scattered across the disk (to reduce noise when positioning the heads, regular disk defragmentation can be recommended). However, for some models, the head positioning time is deliberately increased by the developers in order to reduce the noise level when reading/writing small or highly fragmented files.

Thus, the use of the latest generation of disks provides a more radical reduction in noise than all the methods described above, including during intensive operation of the positioning mechanism.

Modern drives use noise-insulating gaskets, SeaShield protective covers, Fluid Dynamics Bearings (FDB), and also use ties between the body and the engine; special materials and designs are selected that allow achieving 20 dB at idle and up to 28 dB when silently searching for data.

Thus, acoustics (that is, the noise that the drive produces during operation) becomes one of the most important parameters of modern hard drives.