IBM drive sometimes making noises.

Fluke · 10-09-02, 11:31 AM

Anyone experience weird sounds from the IBM Deskstar series? I got 2 of em in my system. A 30gig and 60gig... and sometimes it almost sounds like the drive mechanism is resetting or something. I have SMART loaded and the utility by the clock but it says everything is fine. I don't know, this only started happening recently. I'd return the drive but to be honest, I don't know which one is having the problem.

It doesn't seem to affect loading of anything, drives are still fast as ever, just the sound is baffling.

I thought perhaps it was something in the latest VIA drivers but not sure..

krocodile · 10-09-02, 02:34 PM

You may want to consider contacting the manufacture about this "noise". There was an issue IBM had with their Deskstar model drivers that required a firmware upgrade. I'm not sure what series / models are affected. Without the firware upgrade though, the claim by an HP respresentative that deals with IBM Deskstar drives is that the drive heads will start to scrape against the platters causing damage to the hard drive. I don't know if this may be the sound you are hearing, but it's definitely something to look into. I found this info out from an HP representative when one of my HP Vectra computer's Hard Drive crashed on me. The HD of course was an IBM Deskstar.

Good luck!

Fluke · 10-09-02, 02:38 PM

Thanks on phone now!!

10-09-02, 09:13 PM

I would backup your data now.
I had a deskstar drive fail on me. I think the drive head broke off

Plus, my recent experience with two travelstar drives that were 30gigs. They both died. One I was able to do a backup when I could hear the drive head clicking. On the other I only had symptons every blue moon. Then one morning I woke up and it was just going click click click. I didn't have a chance to save anything

.

So needless to say of the three IBM drives I have had three fail. I am on number four thanks to Dell's warrenty. But I backup my data twice a week. Not all of it just the .PSTs and other weekly work.

So best of luck.

Chris

Fluke · 10-10-02, 07:14 AM

Hmmm, IBM basically said they don't care until the drive itself falls apart or crashes. They too told me to back it up but if I am to return it they would power it up, not see the problem and they would ship it out again. I said, "Are you serious??". Yep they were. Of course they asked me if I used their utilities which I said yes and they didn't find a problem and they told me that it could be fragmented. So seeing how it is running NTFS and NTFS is supposed to be good for fragmentation I took a look. Not a problem.

But thanks everyone and definitely I'm going to back this drive up. I suspect a month or two it will go belly up.

Fluke · 10-15-02, 07:13 AM

As an update, IBM said it was strange but told me to put on 'SMART Doctor' which I did. Hilarious is the fact "one of" the drives still makes the noise and the utility doesn't see anything wrong. Even after extensive testing it sees nothing wrong. Hard to return a drive when I'm not even sure which is making the noise... my 30gig or 60gig IBM? Guess I must wait till failure time....

10-09-02, 11:31 AM	#1
Fluke Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 112	IBM drive sometimes making noises. Anyone experience weird sounds from the IBM Deskstar series? I got 2 of em in my system. A 30gig and 60gig... and sometimes it almost sounds like the drive mechanism is resetting or something. I have SMART loaded and the utility by the clock but it says everything is fine. I don't know, this only started happening recently. I'd return the drive but to be honest, I don't know which one is having the problem. It doesn't seem to affect loading of anything, drives are still fast as ever, just the sound is baffling. I thought perhaps it was something in the latest VIA drivers but not sure..

10-09-02, 02:34 PM	#2
krocodile Krazy Kroc Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Arizona Posts: 78	You may want to consider contacting the manufacture about this "noise". There was an issue IBM had with their Deskstar model drivers that required a firmware upgrade. I'm not sure what series / models are affected. Without the firware upgrade though, the claim by an HP respresentative that deals with IBM Deskstar drives is that the drive heads will start to scrape against the platters causing damage to the hard drive. I don't know if this may be the sound you are hearing, but it's definitely something to look into. I found this info out from an HP representative when one of my HP Vectra computer's Hard Drive crashed on me. The HD of course was an IBM Deskstar. Good luck! __________________ Intel Core2 Quad 9650 (@ 3.0Ghz) eVGA 780i SLI Zalman CPS9500 LED 4GB 2048 X2 OCZ PC2-8500 (5-5-5-15) Dual Channel @ 2.1v) Thermaltake VI VG4000BWS PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W eVGA GTX285 (1GB) 2 x 300GB WD VelociRaptor (SATA II) PCI SB X-FI Fatal1ty Windows XP Professional & Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit)

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Test Drive Shows New Kepler GPUs Offer Instant Performance Boost to Research	News	Latest Tech And Game Headlines	0	12-14-12 05:10 AM
Video: IBM Showcases Blue Gene/Q at ISC'12	News	Latest Tech And Game Headlines	0	07-01-12 06:10 PM
US Leads TOP500 Once Again with 16 Petaflop Sequoia from IBM	News	Latest Tech And Game Headlines	0	06-18-12 04:40 AM
Did anyone get a IBM 180GXP series HD yet? i know they are in stock in some areas.	imtim83	General Hardware	3	10-11-02 08:51 AM
New Western Digital drive performance	Nemesis	General Hardware	6	08-15-02 07:29 AM

10-09-02, 02:38 PM	#3
Fluke Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 112	Thanks on phone now!!

10-09-02, 09:13 PM	#4
Chris.Bensken Guest Posts: n/a	I would backup your data now. I had a deskstar drive fail on me. I think the drive head broke off Plus, my recent experience with two travelstar drives that were 30gigs. They both died. One I was able to do a backup when I could hear the drive head clicking. On the other I only had symptons every blue moon. Then one morning I woke up and it was just going click click click. I didn't have a chance to save anything . So needless to say of the three IBM drives I have had three fail. I am on number four thanks to Dell's warrenty. But I backup my data twice a week. Not all of it just the .PSTs and other weekly work. So best of luck. Chris

10-10-02, 07:14 AM	#5
Fluke Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 112	Hmmm, IBM basically said they don't care until the drive itself falls apart or crashes. They too told me to back it up but if I am to return it they would power it up, not see the problem and they would ship it out again. I said, "Are you serious??". Yep they were. Of course they asked me if I used their utilities which I said yes and they didn't find a problem and they told me that it could be fragmented. So seeing how it is running NTFS and NTFS is supposed to be good for fragmentation I took a look. Not a problem. But thanks everyone and definitely I'm going to back this drive up. I suspect a month or two it will go belly up.

10-15-02, 07:13 AM	#6
Fluke Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 112	As an update, IBM said it was strange but told me to put on 'SMART Doctor' which I did. Hilarious is the fact "one of" the drives still makes the noise and the utility doesn't see anything wrong. Even after extensive testing it sees nothing wrong. Hard to return a drive when I'm not even sure which is making the noise... my 30gig or 60gig IBM? Guess I must wait till failure time....