Noisy External HD

My drive quieted down a LOT after an Apple issued update for just that issue.

Almarg: Thank you for that input - I was not aware of any of that. The noise is not a fluctuating seek noise but rather a steady loud whirring noise that diminishes with time (maybe 15-20 minutes). It reminds me of an automobile starting in cold weather - it takes a few moments for it to settle out if you get my analogy. I will look into your other suggestions nonetheless.

If what you are hearing is fluctuating seek noise, as opposed to a constant whine, you can probably reduce the noise significantly by changing the drives from the "performance seek mode," which they are probably set to by default, to the "quiet seek mode."

Western Digital Caviar Black (and other) drives provide both of those modes. Remarkably, however, as far as I know WD does not provide a means of changing which mode the drive is set to. In order to change it you have to use a third party software utility. WinAAM is one such utility, which you can find linked to and discussed here. You can probably find other such utilities by Googling "hard drive acoustic management utility."

For this kind of utility to be able to "see" the hard drives, you might have to temporarily remove each of them from the RAID enclosure and install it in a computer as an additional internal hard drive. I would not do that, of course, without first backing up any important files they may contain.

Disclaimer: I have no personal experience with WinAAM or any other such utility.

Regards,
-- Al

Magfan: What software update did you use?

Please write the manufacturer.
Software solutions may exist to some of the clicky/ clack noises HDs can make.

Since a software update, my MAC's HD is very quiet.
It is a 1tb SATA drive.......

I appreciate the suggestions. Since I just spent almost $200 on two new WD (Caviar Black) HDs for the Cavalry unit I want to figure out a solution other than buying new ones again. It may come to that nonetheless!

And 2.5 inch external drives now have very large capacity.... as much as 1.5TB.... See for example the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5TB available from NewEgg.com:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148616

Get the 2,5" external drive. Ther are much more quiet.

Seagate FreeAgent Go is almst inaudible.

See the review on Silent PC:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Seagate_FreeAgent_Go

The rubber washer idea is worth a try. It does get quieter after about 20 minutes by itself but still not enough to satisfy me. There is no fan so it must be the HD's themselves in which case rubber mounts could be a solution. Thanks for the idea.

Does your external HD have a fan? If so, the fan might be dirty or unbalanced, which can contribute to the noise.

If the noise is coming from the HDD's themselves, then you might be able to put rubber washers between the HD's and the mounts (take out the small screws holding the HD's in, then reinstall them with a thin rubber washer over the screw before you screw the HD's in).

Michael

Their MAY be hope.
My MAC's hard drive was pretty noisy.
Apple issued some kind of update...or maybe it was going to 10.6, but the darn thing is now very quiet.
Can you ship off a note to the manufacturer about this issue?