HDDs making grinding noise, even new ones

[kunnome]

Hello!

I'm looking for some expert opinion on the noise that my HDD is making.

In case its relevant, I recently upgraded my computer by replacing my

CPU to (Ryzen 5 1600)
mobo to (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157762)
RAM to (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232298)
and PSU to (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139147)


Then everything was working great until I heard a sound that sounded like a cord hitting one of the fans. After checking everywhere and moving cords around, I was able to confirm that it was actually my HDD making the noise. I rebooted my system with the HDD power unplugged to check, and it was definitely the HDD making the noise. I mean... this HDD I was using was from 2008, so it was past its time.


So, I went ahead to a local computer hardware store and bought a Samsung 1 TB HDD. (I'm not too sure on the model number, if needed, I can open up my case and take a look.)

I installed it, went through (diskmgmt.msc) and got it working as a storage. Installed a new game onto it, and it turns out the HDD still makes the grinding noises. I went back to the store, and exchanged it for a new one (same model). Still makes the same noise.

I'm at a loss. Any expert opinion is very much appreciated!


**Some notes that may be relevant***
1) The HDD is quiet when its not running anything. When I load my game on it, it makes grinding noises whenever the game is actively in loading screen.
2) One thing to note that's different from my system before upgrading = The SATA ports on this new MoBo are strangely parallel to the board, rather than perpendicular to it. It's in a strange position, so I had to curve my SATA cables a bit more than usual. Still, I made sure to make the cables "go in straight" on both ends, so there's least amount of pressure on the connection.

 

[cryoburner]

If the cables are pressed against some part of your case, it might just be that the natural vibrations of the hard drive are being transferred to the case and reverberating through it. Or perhaps they're vibrating a loose screw somewhere. You might try looking for another way to rearrange the cables, or maybe put something like a bit of foam on a point where the cable touches the case. To test where the noise is coming from, you might try running some software to make the sound with the case open and touch the cable to see whether the noise stops.

 

[kunnome]

@cyroburner

Thank you for your tip!
Although it doesn't sound like a cord vibrating sound, I will try it nonetheless!