The new hard drive is loud. The hard drive is noisy: what is the reason and what to do

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A hard drive is a magnetic storage device for our computer. Some experienced users copy important information to other media. If you hear suspicious extraneous sounds from your computer, it’s the hard drive making noise. This noise is different from all the extraneous noise of the computer, you will recognize it immediately, it resembles a crackling noise.

It is necessary to take into account that some models of hard drives are noisy, so to speak, “from birth”.

If you bought the HDD with a bang initially, and you know for sure that it is working, then you have nothing to worry about.

This article will most likely be useful to those users whose screw has always worked silently, but then suddenly began to crackle. Typically, the noise gets worse in games and when working with energy-consuming applications.

Do not forget that any magnetic drive makes a little noise, since the hard drive consists of many elements that over time can become loose, damaged and fail.

So, if your hard drive is cracking, then you need to know that this is a very alarming symptom. If you do not take immediate measures, the HDD will soon collapse.

How to check that it is the hard drive that is making noise?

The fact is that most users, when extraneous noise occurs, blame the processor or video card. Few people think that a magnetic storage device can crack a lot.

1. Turn off your computer for safety reasons.
2. Unscrew and remove the cover of the system unit.
3. Now turn on the computer and watch its insides, listen to how the magnetic disks on the drive rotate, and you will hear the source of the crackling sound.

Why is the hard drive noisy?

There are only two reasons for this phenomenon:

• Magnetic disks rotate loudly.
• The block with heads hits the travel stop.

What can you do on your own when your hard drive is cracking?

In principle, you can look for another place in the computer case to place the HDD, the main thing is that it is reliable and well ventilated. The main purpose of this method is to prevent contact between the system unit case and the hard drive. If you were able to figure out the places of contact, you can attach insulating tape to the body in these places.

The main thing is that the drive is mounted in a suspended state as securely as possible, and you will know for sure that it will not fall.

The disadvantage of this type of fastening is that it is better not to move the system unit after this, so as not to cause mechanical damage to the disk. This option is suitable for small, cheap system units made of thin material.

If your hard drive is noisy, you can try reducing the speed of the magnetic heads. True, the speed of the propeller itself will also decrease, but the unpleasant noise will not bother you. They reduce the speed of the heads using special utilities that automatically control hard drive noise (AAM). The AAM program automatically detects the drive model, suggests the head rotation speed, and makes settings for the slow operation mode.

Download the utility from the official website, open it and use the menu to set the recommended head speed.

However, not all drive models support this program.

Using another Victoria utility, you can test the hard drive. The program marks problematic blocks in order to block their operation.

Hello, friends! What to do, if hard drive is noisy (crackling)? If there was no cod before, but now it has appeared, then it is better to immediately save important data, since this is not a good sign. Then, diagnose the HDD with a special program from the manufacturer. I tell and show how to do this. If the crackling or noise was there before, you just didn’t pay attention to it, then it’s normal. For example, when I quieted down my computer, at first I couldn’t hear the hard drive. But, over time, as there were 2 fans left in the system (in the power supply and in the standard processor cooling system), these sounds became more distinct and began to irritate. We'll look at how to reduce them in this article.

As we already said in the article - What is a hard drive, there are two sources of noise from HDDs:

• From rotation of magnetic disks
• From the impact of the block with heads on the travel stop

We can't do anything about the noise from disk rotation. Maybe just buy an SSD. But the impacts of the head block, as the source of the main noise, can and should be combated. Vibrations also arise from the impact, and if they are not dampened, the situation will worsen.

There are several options for solving our problem.

1. Secure your hard drive firmly into the case
2. Make vibration-damping HDD mounts in the case

The first option is perfect for those who have high-quality cases made of good, thick steel. The second option should suit everyone. In my case, with a cheap case, hanging the hard drive on 4 pieces of twisted pair cable worked great. It was necessary to remove the slide in which the HDD was mounted in the basket and free up space for hanging. Who doesn't have a place, i.e. The hard drive is attached to the case with bolts, you can try placing it vertically and hanging it in the same way. Some people hang the hard drive underneath the optical disc drive. There is more space there and it is more convenient to hang it, but there is not much cooling there. Therefore, I recommend hanging it directly in the hard drive cage.

Those. The main task is to prevent vibrations from the hard drive from reaching the case. If you chose the first option (rigidly screw the HDD to the case), then it would be appropriate to calculate the places where the resonance occurs and use electrical tape to glue them. I didn’t get to this point myself, but I read a lot and it didn’t seem to turn out bad. These are usually where the side covers are attached.

The third option, which we will consider in detail, is the use of AAM

Using Automatic Acoustic Management to reduce HDD noise

Automatic Acoustic Management—automatic drive noise control.

In addition to this function, hard drive manufacturers use special shock-absorbing pads that effectively suppress cracking. This is not always enough for everyone. And if there is not enough, you need to use AAM. This function controls the speed of positioning of the head block. You can set a numerical value from 128 to 254. The larger the number, the higher the speed and, accordingly, more vibration and, as a result, noise.

There are a lot of programs for managing AAM. Of the simplest ones, I can recommend WinAAM. There you can set only two positions: 128 or 254. That is, either quietly and slowly, or loudly and quickly.

We will use the HDDScan program, which allows you to set any value from 128 to 254, and thus you can flexibly adjust the noise level from your hard drive.

You can download the program from the official website

Run HDDScan.exe

The main program window looks like this:

The button in the center opens the main menu of the program. Select Features > IDE Features (if you have a hard drive with a SCSI interface - SCSI Features)

In the window that opens, we are interested in the Automatic Acoustic Management section. Here you see the current value Current - 128 and recommended - Recommended - 254. That is. It is recommended to set it to maximum performance.

You can set the desired value by entering a number in the Current field or setting it using the slider. For the settings to take effect, click Set.

All. Now you can select any value for the optimal ratio of speed and silence.

Automatic Acoustic Management is not supported on some hard drives

There is also an Advanced Power Management function that allows you to save energy by reducing the engine speed or stopping completely when the computer is idle. It turns out that you can still control the speed of movement of the magnetic plates, at least when idle. But this is not verified information. If anyone has used it, please post the results. Everyone will be interested.

Conclusion

To reduce noise and crackling noise from a hard drive, manufacturers use special shock-absorbing pads. They certainly help, but I want more. Therefore there are two ways:

1. Prevent vibrations from the hard drive from jumping onto the computer case (and if they get there anyway, don’t let them resonate)
2. Use Automatic Acoustic Management

I feel like the effectiveness of the first method is colossal. It feels like the hard drive is working in a pillow and the crackling noise from it can only be heard if you listen very hard. Naturally, the greatest effect can be achieved using both methods. In my case, I will gladly sacrifice performance for the sake of silence.

The hard drive remains one of the noisiest components in a computer. Moreover, one should distinguish between the noise due to the active operation of the hard drive during reading/writing and the noise of the motor, which 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 the 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 several rubber rings, with which you can secure a three-inch hard drive in a five-inch bay using extensions (by the way, this will be a good way to quickly mount a hard drive in a computer if all three-inch mountings seats 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 using special utilities that should be searched 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 control 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, the stronger the noise emitted 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 from different manufacturers, the factory setting may be different and vary from batch to batch. For example, some Samsung models are produced either with AAM mode enabled or disabled (that is, in maximum performance mode).

In order to adjust the noise level on your hard drive, you need, as we have already mentioned, to use a special utility from the disk manufacturer. If you don’t find such a program on the manufacturer’s website, you can use one of the many free disk management utilities. 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 type AAM in the program command line. 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 a large number of small files.

However, in household devices, the speed characteristics of the drive are less important than the noise it produces; with modern technologies, the performance of hard drives is more than sufficient 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 such simple universal methods as regularly defragmenting the disk, timely archiving, removing garbage and keeping your data in order also reduce the noise level of the hard drive when searching for information.

And one more thing: purchase uninterruptible power supply devices and cases with high-quality power supplies for your computers unstable voltage (not to mention the overvoltage of cheap power supplies) can also lead to malfunctions of the disks 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, therefore, when the disk rotation speed is too high, the rotating parts become significantly heated, 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.) are equipped with hard drives, the requirements for their noise level are becoming noticeably more stringent.

Indeed, in the consumer electronics industry there are practically no devices containing fans, and the only source of noise in them is hard drives. Moreover, the requirements for the quiet operation of household devices are much more stringent than for desktop computers, and a low noise level is often associated with a 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 of a good disk is almost 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 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.

Why does the hard drive crunch? Is there something wrong with my hard drive? Similar questions are asked on the Internet by most novice users who do not yet have such modern computers as Preon. Don’t rush to panic and immediately run to a service center: excessive noise from the drive can be caused by several reasons:

• intensive work of HDD, features of its design;
• poor computer assembly;
• high degree of file fragmentation;
• the presence of breakdowns that sooner or later will lead to complete inoperability of the hard drive.

Let's start with the very last reason. The hard drive is the mechanical part of the computer, and therefore the most vulnerable. Sooner or later, any equipment wears out, and HDDs are no exception. We recommend that you make backup copies of your data and contact our service.

We'll select the best hard drive for your computer or laptop, so you can work or play with your digital assistant again.

A hard drive can also crackle or crackle due to the nature of its operation. Inside the HDD, disks spin and magnetic heads move, constantly reading some information. You can reduce the operating speed of mechanical parts - the noise will correspondingly decrease. To do this, we recommend using the AAM program. The application is easy to use. You just need to press one “Quiet/Standard (128)” button to enjoy the quiet operation of the hard drive. Having done this, close the program and launch it again. Click “Continue” – “Check”.

Has it become quieter? Congratulations! You can compare how it was before by pressing the “Loud (254)” key.

The crunch may be associated with a high percentage of file fragmentation. Simply put, fragmentation is a situation where “pieces” of the same file are scattered in different places on the HDD. The Winchester has to “strain” more to read the information and therefore noise occurs.

The standard Windows defragmenter will help you cope with the problem. Finding it is easy: go to “My Computer”, right-click on the logical drive icon, and select “properties” in the context menu that appears. Then “Service” – “Optimize”.

And finally, crunching, crackling and other extraneous noises in the operation of the disk may be associated with poor PC build quality. In this case, several measures will help you: installing the HDD on soundproofing pads, placing the disk in a soundproofing case and (or) replacing the PC case.

We hope our article was useful to you. Now, you know what your hard drive is crunching about and what you can do about it.

Sometimes every PC user may encounter the problem of extraneous noise during hard drive operation. The hard drive is a mechanical structure containing rotating disks. Reading information from a hard drive is carried out using magnetic heads, which, when moving, create some noise. The type of extraneous sounds depends on the model of the hard drive and the case of the system unit. If the computer case is made of inexpensive materials and the inside is poorly assembled, then unpleasant sounds will be emitted throughout the system unit.

The hard drive stores all the information on the computer. Therefore, you need to take measures to save data as soon as you hear noise during the operation of the device. Because this is the first “bell” that it may soon break.

However, sometimes the simple operating condition may be accompanied by noise. Here you need to figure out why the hard drive is cracking.

1. Replace the hard drive.
2. Modify the acoustic level using the AAM option.
3. Take measures to soundproof the case or buy a better one.
4. Secure the hard drive with soundproofing pads.
5. Defragment the disk.

Apparently, the second option for solving the problem raises the most questions. Let's look at what it is.

Reducing noise from a hard drive using AAM

Any HDD has the function of regulating the level of noise it creates using the built-in Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM) option. Its task is to reduce the noise of the device by reducing the speed of movement of the heads. But there is one negative factor here: using this option will automatically reduce the speed of the hard drive.

Which of these two options (speed or noise) will create more inconvenience, in which favor to give your preference is up to you to decide. You may not feel a reduction in the speed of your hard drive, but the annoying noise volume will noticeably decrease. If you still decide to fix the noise problem using AAM, then you need to download the WinAAM application. It is available for download and is completely free. It has a Russian-language interface and works without mandatory installation. You can get this program by following the link: http://www.withopf.com/tools/aam/winaam-292.zip.

On the window that appears, click “Continue”. Correcting security settings is completely useless in getting rid of hard drive noise, so it is better not to touch it.

In the first line you can read that at this point in time the noise level control is not activated. Click on the “Silent/Standard (128)” option to adjust the silent AAM level. Its value can range from 0 to 255. It is noted that influential abilities are possessed exclusively by extreme levels, that is, “quiet” or “loud.” Most hard drives don't pay attention to the intermediate levels. This is most likely the reason that the WinAAM application allows you to solve the noise problem with a click on one option.

After adjusting the noise level, the application will close. Re-open it, select “Continue”, then “Check”.

A window will open showing the random movement of the read head.

At this moment, you will have the opportunity to hear the operation of the hard drive with the updated AAM option. The difference is huge. In order to compare with the previous state of the hard drive, click the “Loud (254)” parameter. This action will speed up the hard drive and return the previous noise volume.

Mechanical methods for getting rid of HDD noise

When the application fails to get rid of the noise, you need to solve the problem manually.

1. First, check the quality of the hard drive fixation. The hard drive must be firmly fixed and held securely in the grooves, all bolts must be sufficiently tightened.
2. Consider which parts of the HDD mechanically touch the computer case. At the joints it is necessary to install special gaskets with an insulating function. You can move the hard drive mounting basket a little so that the part does not come into contact with the computer case. Doing this can help reduce noise.
3. If it is possible to change the location of the hard drive, do so. It is necessary to ensure that the vibration of the hard drive does not transfer to the case.

If this fails to reduce the noise, contact technical support.