How to quiet a noisy hard drive?

[1405]

My 2TB Hitachi hard drive is driving me nuts. When it is reading/writing, it makes a constant clatter sound. Not a click like the dreaded click of death. But a sound somewhat like you hear when a bag of popcorn is popping at its peak... so fast you can't distinguish individual pops. It does this all the time. It may stop momentarily when it is not active, but it is active more than not.

Is there any fix for this, or do I need to get a new drive?

I ran several drive tests and they all came back good. And yes, I've done a disk image in case it is dying. Plus most of my important data is on my network hard drive.

 

[Snipergod87]

Some drives allow you to set an AAM (acoustic something management) value to make the drives quieter but other than that or surrounding the drive in a sound proof box you might need to look for another drive. If this is not your OS drive try looking at something in the 5400 RPM range.

 

[ss202sl]

5400 RPM.... quieter, but slower. If you want speed and quiet, get a ssd

 

[mdd1963]

You are going to hear the spinners, especially 7200 rpm, and, especially if your fans are quiet.... (Although my HGST 4 TB is a 7200 rpm in a 5.25" front docking bay, and I can't hear it really...; maybe Seagates are louder than most?)

Get an SSD?

 

[1405]

Thanks everyone. Yes, this 7200 RPM drive wasn't always this noisy. New, it was so quiet I couldn't hear a sound. But now it sounds like an empty kid's tin wagon rolling over a gravel road. Constant clatter. I'd be willing to break the seal and open it if it were fixable. But then there's the problem of not being in a clean-room.
And yes, I already have SSDs.

 

[Solandri]

Thanks everyone. Yes, this 7200 RPM drive wasn't always this noisy. New, it was so quiet I couldn't hear a sound. But now it sounds like an empty kid's tin wagon rolling over a gravel road.

Try defragmenting it. The noise comes from the read/write heads moving around. When the drive was new, all the space was empty so the heads didn't have to move much to read/write stuff. If it's become badly fragmented, then any read/write operation will have to move the heads a lot, causing more noise.

 

[1405]

Good idea. I'll try the defrag thing.
Btw, I put the drive in the lowest slot in the drive bay; closest to the bottom of the case. The noise is considerably less noticeable for some reason.

 

[Snipergod87]

Good idea. I'll try the defrag thing.
Btw, I put the drive in the lowest slot in the drive bay; closest to the bottom of the case. The noise is considerably less noticeable for some reason.

It could be that the vibrations have loosened some other components that are rattling, this has happened to me. I ended up wedging a folded up piece in there and the vibrations stopped

 

[1405]

Good idea. I'll try the defrag thing.
Btw, I put the drive in the lowest slot in the drive bay; closest to the bottom of the case. The noise is considerably less noticeable for some reason.

It could be that the vibrations have loosened some other components that are rattling, this has happened to me. I ended up wedging a folded up piece in there and the vibrations stopped

In this case, I don't think so. The clatter is only when the disk is reading or writing; i.e. when the heads are moving. Makes me think it is head noise. I ran Seatools and it said the drive passed 100%. But I don't know if that tests for the issue I'm having.
Since I moved the drive to the lowest slot in the cage, the noise is at least tolerable now.