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Maxtor HD - LOUD!

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Maxtor HD - LOUD!

Postby dodecahedron on Tue Sep 06, 2005 1:50 am

i bought a Maxtor drive (quite a while back - a year and a half ago maybe) and just installed it.
it's a DiamondMAX Plus 9, one of the better models at the time if i'm not mistaken.
Parallel ATA, 160MB, 8MB buffer, Fluid Dynamics Bearing motor - which should make it QUIET.
well, i just installed it to replace a rather old Western Digital Caviar WD 200BB drive (mfg Nov 2002).

well, it's quite a bit more noisy :evil: :x :(
i guess it's what people call "seek noises". a mechanical chattering sound when the drive activity goes up - like a big copy operation or a defrag.

darn.

and i was thinking that once i get my IBM DeathStar out of the system i'll have a quiet system (the IBM's whining spining sound is getting to me). i guess the Maxtor killed those plans.
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Postby dodecahedron on Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:35 am

and now i'm gettign windows hanging when i use this drive :x
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Postby TheWizard on Wed Sep 07, 2005 5:00 am

How loud is loud? You are going to hear most hard drives "chattering" when they seek data, but does your Maxtor sound at least somewhat normal when it's seeking? If the chattering turns into grinding, then you need to replace the drive. This happened to me once with a Maxtor HDD, and they (Maxtor Customer Service) replaced it very promptly.
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Postby dodecahedron on Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:31 am

no, i guess it sounds like normal seek noises.

the thing is that the seek noises are much more pronounced than on my aging IBM DeathStar drive, or the old Wester Digital Caviar this drive replaced.
as soon as there's major drive usage - a big move operation (move or copy a files a few hunderd megs or a few gigs), or a big compare, or a defrag, you hear these seek noises, i never heard anything like this from the other drives.

anyway as i recal the drive had one year warranty and that's over for quite a while.
besides i ran the PowerMAX utility and it says the drive is OK.

i'm not really sure what you mean by 'grinding' noises, i hope what i got isn't that. the more i think about it the more i'm concerned that these are not normal seek noises.
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Postby Darth on Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:59 am

Try using WinAAM to lower seek noise. Set to quiet.

Or suspend your drive with elastic instead of hard mounting using screws.

What I did w/ my Samsung SP1614N
LG GSA-H42N DVD-RAM (RJ11, auroreset RPC2)
BenQ DW1655 DVD-RW (BCIB, RPC1)

Noise Control w/ Nero DriveSpeed 3.06
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Postby dodecahedron on Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:58 am

i see you're one of those silence freaks.
is that a Sonata BTW?

the maxtor is in the same drive cage, in the exact same placement the WD used to be actually. so it's definitely the drive, not the mounting.
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Postby TheWizard on Thu Sep 08, 2005 2:01 am

dodecahedron wrote:i'm not really sure what you mean by 'grinding' noises, i hope what i got isn't that. the more i think about it the more i'm concerned that these are not normal seek noises.


Trust me, when you hear grinding noises, you'll recognize it. :wink:

Is Windows still hanging when using this hard drive?
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Postby dolphinius_rex on Thu Sep 08, 2005 2:43 am

I don't trust Maxtor drives much anymore. I've had about 3 die on me in as many years, and they weren't that old (maybe 3-5 years each?). I'm using Seagate now, and so far I'm VERY happy. I'll never use the IBM Deathstar series either, after being severly burned by them! I would happily use Western Digital again though.... those drives were good and reliable (but more expensive).
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Postby dodecahedron on Thu Sep 08, 2005 9:31 am

TheWizard wrote:Trust me, when you hear grinding noises, you'll recognize it. :wink:

LOL
in that case what i'm hearing is probably loud "chattering" seek noises.

i took the drive out of the system in the meantime
but it happened a few (5-6) time over 2-3 days.

it's funny, my main system HD is an IBM DeskStar (DeathStar) GXP60 drive. it's over 4 years old now and still going strong!
except for making clicking sounds every now and then and an annoying high-pitched whine when it spins, it's fine.
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Postby ironD on Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:58 pm

I had the same problem you had a little while back....I couldn't believe how loud this thing was. Then I found about something called AMSET...I think I spelled that right. I thought I still had a copy of it, but I can't seem to find it. It has three settings, Fast,Quiet, and Off. I tried fast and was amazed at the difference. I really believe it might be worth your time to try it out.

D

PS: I did find the link to the download
http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxt ... setacm.exe
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Postby dodecahedron on Sat Sep 10, 2005 3:29 pm

i think you're talking about Acoustic Management
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Postby ironD on Sat Sep 10, 2005 5:43 pm

Yep that's it...I guess you have heard of it then. Really worked for me.

D
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Postby code65536 on Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:24 pm

Yea, that about fits my personal experience, too with Maxtor. I have a Seagate 80 GB HDD (7200 RPM, 8 MB cache; fairly new) and an even newer Maxtor 80 GB HDD (also 7200 RPM, 8 MB cache), and while I can barely hear the Seagate, the Maxtor is quite audible. Seagate advertises on their box that they're the quietest, so I guess that might have some truth to it (but since I haven't tried more drives, I don't want to start plugging for Seagate just yet).
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Postby dodecahedron on Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:25 pm

Seagate are indeed among the quietest drives.
Samsung (at least some of their models) are quieter. but also lower performance if i recall correctly.

it's quite ironic that Seagate (at least some of their drives - including the Barracudas) don't have Acoustic Management! (some patent lawsuits and stuff..). in some drives it's turned off permanently, in some drives it's turned on permanently.

BTW i have a new Seagate Barracuda 7200 80GB SATA. no Acoustic Managment! and it's definitely quiet
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie
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