Faint Rumbling Coming from HDD

[k3nobi]

I've noticed a very faint rumbling that emanates from my PC when I'm booting up/loading a game/etc. From the outside, it's not very loud and does not persist for long. I opened up my machine and I believe I have pinpointed the source of the sound. It appears to becoming from my hard drive. Like I said, it never lasts for long and its not very loud. What could this mean? Should I be worried?

 

[CaptainCretin]

HDDs do make noise; however i would not describe it as a rumble.

Check the screws holding it are tight; also check the fragmentation of the drive; it could be the files it is accessing are in tiny bits all over the place.

Windows built in defrag tool is pretty poor,so try Defraggler, by piriform. https://www.ccleaner.com/defraggler


If the drive isnt badly fragmented, monitor the sound; if it gets louder, or more frequent, it probably means something mechanical is wearing, and the drive needs replacing.

 

[k3nobi]

Maybe I described it poorly. The most descriptive I can get is that it sounds kind of like faint stomach growling. How would you describe a typical sound for it to make?

 

[CaptainCretin]

Maybe I described it poorly. The most descriptive I can get is that it sounds kind of like faint stomach growling. How would you describe a typical sound for it to make?

Yes, that could be the seek heads moving back and forth quickly to read a large, fragmented file.

Check to see how fragments the drive is, and Defraggle.

 

[k3nobi]

Maybe I described it poorly. The most descriptive I can get is that it sounds kind of like faint stomach growling. How would you describe a typical sound for it to make?

Yes, that could be the seek heads moving back and forth quickly to read a large, fragmented file.

Check to see how fragments the drive is, and Defraggle.

What will Defragmenting do, out of curiosity? It says my HDD is 21% fragmented

 

[CaptainCretin]

Maybe I described it poorly. The most descriptive I can get is that it sounds kind of like faint stomach growling. How would you describe a typical sound for it to make?

Yes, that could be the seek heads moving back and forth quickly to read a large, fragmented file.

Check to see how fragments the drive is, and Defraggle.

What will Defragmenting do, out of curiosity? It says my HDD is 21% fragmented

21% means it needs defragging.

Fragmentation is when a file isnt placed in continuous sectors on the disk, but a bit here and a bit there, and another bit over there.
Defragging will rearrange the files so that all the pieces are together; this speeds up file loading, as the heads are not flying all over the disk to get all the pieces, and reduces wear on the heads as well.

Download and install the program I linked to earlier and use it, dont use the Windows built in defrag program, it is VERY slow and not very good.

You should check the fragmentation on a HDD every month or two, and defrag when it gets above ~10%.

NEVER try to defrag a SSD, they store files differently, and defragging can damage them.

 

[k3nobi]

Maybe I described it poorly. The most descriptive I can get is that it sounds kind of like faint stomach growling. How would you describe a typical sound for it to make?

Yes, that could be the seek heads moving back and forth quickly to read a large, fragmented file.

Check to see how fragments the drive is, and Defraggle.

What will Defragmenting do, out of curiosity? It says my HDD is 21% fragmented

21% means it needs defragging.

Fragmentation is when a file isnt placed in continuous sectors on the disk, but a bit here and a bit there, and another bit over there.
Defragging will rearrange the files so that all the pieces are together; this speeds up file loading, as the heads are not flying all over the disk to get all the pieces, and reduces wear on the heads as well.

Download and install the program I linked to earlier and use it, dont use the Windows built in defrag program, it is VERY slow and not very good.

You should check the fragmentation on a HDD every month or two, and defrag when it gets above ~10%.

NEVER try to defrag a SSD, they store files differently, and defragging can damage them.

Defragged, and went from 21% to 6%. The noise appears to now be quieter and a bit less frequent, but I still hear it a bit when loading up games

 

[CaptainCretin]

Maybe I described it poorly. The most descriptive I can get is that it sounds kind of like faint stomach growling. How would you describe a typical sound for it to make?

Yes, that could be the seek heads moving back and forth quickly to read a large, fragmented file.

Check to see how fragments the drive is, and Defraggle.

What will Defragmenting do, out of curiosity? It says my HDD is 21% fragmented

21% means it needs defragging.

Fragmentation is when a file isnt placed in continuous sectors on the disk, but a bit here and a bit there, and another bit over there.
Defragging will rearrange the files so that all the pieces are together; this speeds up file loading, as the heads are not flying all over the disk to get all the pieces, and reduces wear on the heads as well.

Download and install the program I linked to earlier and use it, dont use the Windows built in defrag program, it is VERY slow and not very good.

You should check the fragmentation on a HDD every month or two, and defrag when it gets above ~10%.

NEVER try to defrag a SSD, they store files differently, and defragging can damage them.

Defragged, and went from 21% to 6%. The noise appears to now be quieter and a bit less frequent, but I still hear it a bit when loading up games

A little noise when the heads are moving is normal, especially if the case isnt well sound proofed, or you are sitting very close to it.

To get fragmentation lower still, you would have to do a few more thing, the pagefile cannot be defragged while active, and is the main cause of fragmentation.

Go into the control panel - Device Manager and disabled page file; you will be prompted to reboot; reboot into "Safe Mode" (to minimise system load), and perform another defrag.

Once this is finished, go back to the pagefile option. Now, depending on how much RAM your system has, you may be able to leave it switched off on all drives (16GB or more for all but the most RAM hungry games); alternatively, set a FIXED size of 1.5 times the size of your RAM, preferably on the fastest drive OTHER than the drive the OS or games are on.

You will then be prompted to reboot again.

 

[k3nobi]

Maybe I described it poorly. The most descriptive I can get is that it sounds kind of like faint stomach growling. How would you describe a typical sound for it to make?

Yes, that could be the seek heads moving back and forth quickly to read a large, fragmented file.

Check to see how fragments the drive is, and Defraggle.

What will Defragmenting do, out of curiosity? It says my HDD is 21% fragmented

21% means it needs defragging.

Fragmentation is when a file isnt placed in continuous sectors on the disk, but a bit here and a bit there, and another bit over there.
Defragging will rearrange the files so that all the pieces are together; this speeds up file loading, as the heads are not flying all over the disk to get all the pieces, and reduces wear on the heads as well.

Download and install the program I linked to earlier and use it, dont use the Windows built in defrag program, it is VERY slow and not very good.

You should check the fragmentation on a HDD every month or two, and defrag when it gets above ~10%.

NEVER try to defrag a SSD, they store files differently, and defragging can damage them.

Defragged, and went from 21% to 6%. The noise appears to now be quieter and a bit less frequent, but I still hear it a bit when loading up games

A little noise when the heads are moving is normal, especially if the case isnt well sound proofed, or you are sitting very close to it.

To get fragmentation lower still, you would have to do a few more thing, the pagefile cannot be defragged while active, and is the main cause of fragmentation.

Go into the control panel - Device Manager and disabled page file; you will be prompted to reboot; reboot into "Safe Mode" (to minimise system load), and perform another defrag.

Once this is finished, go back to the pagefile option. Now, depending on how much RAM your system has, you may be able to leave it switched off on all drives (16GB or more for all but the most RAM hungry games); alternatively, set a FIXED size of 1.5 times the size of your RAM, preferably on the fastest drive OTHER than the drive the OS or games are on.

You will then be prompted to reboot again.

I'll try that sometime.

Opening up my case to get a closer look again, the noise is definitely coming from my HDD's vibrations in the case. I don't think there's any way for me to tighten anything however, since my HDD slips into a small frame and then slides into the case.