:cry: Upgraded HD in T42 -- hd chatter

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nckid · #1 Post by **nckid** » Wed May 30, 2007 11:38 am

Just upgraded the hd in a T42 to a Seagate ST9160821A (160GB) Hard drive.

Since the upgrade, I have noticed that my hd seems to be making a noise.

Every 30 to 60 seconds the hard drive sounds like it's falling off of cylinder. The system seems to be running just fine --- with the exception of this annoying noise, and I have tried this hard drive in multiple T42 chasis' and had the same symptom.

Does anyone know what could be going on? and is there anything I can do to correct this --- without giving up my 160gb hard drive.....

One other thing, I installed Ubuntu on the T42 on this 160GB drive as well and had the same symptom. I found some info about power management being the issue and at a terminal prompt I ran the command:
hdparm -B 254 /dev/hda
and this cleared up my problem.

Unfortunately, I have some windows based programs that I need to run---and wine is not an option---or I would just stay with Ubuntu.

This laptop is running:
Bios Version: 3.21 (1RETDPWW)
Bios Date: 2006-06-02
Embedded Controller version: 3.04
Machine type-model: 2374Y38

w0qj · #2 Post by **w0qj** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:41 pm

Perhaps you should wait until your HDD "breaks in" and hopefully it will not be as noisy...

Others on this forum using Hitachi HDD's have said similar things... also noise when first use HDD

#3 Post by **jdhurst** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:56 pm

With respect, and having used Hitachi drives and having taken one apart, I can see nothing in them to "break in". The basic motors (one rotational and one servo) are very high precision devices, and if they don't work correctly from the get-go, they aren't likely to.

That is just my own perspective based on some experience (but not oodles of it). ... JDH

agarza · #4 Post by **agarza** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:55 pm

w0qj wrote:Perhaps you should wait until your HDD "breaks in" and hopefully it will not be as noisy...

Others on this forum using Hitachi HDD's have said similar things... also noise when first use HDD

After I installed my new 7K100 on my T42p I noticed several clicks, but as days went by, and I loaded a bunch of software that annoying noise has gone away.

nckid · #5 Post by **nckid** » Wed May 30, 2007 9:52 pm

I apprecicate the replies.
I have given this hard drive plenty of "break in" time. This drive has been installed for about a month. I've tried different things to try to resolve this noise issue. Reinstalling the OS, installing linux, etc.

I was hoping someone had expericenced this symptom before.

Keep the suggestions coming.

#6 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed May 30, 2007 10:23 pm

The SeaTools for DOS (not Windows) has an acoustic test you can try. Seagate SeaTools

The linux command: hdparm -B 254 /dev/hda appears to stop the parking of the hard drive heads. I am not aware of a Windows setting to do this. You could try changing the Active Protection Settings to see if that has any effect.

There is a tool available for Accoustic Management on Hitachi drives. I do not believe it will work with other brands of HDDs however.

coreman · #7 Post by **coreman** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 2:51 am

I would suggest the following:

1. Contact Seagate and see if the noise is normal for this model.

Did a little online checking and there doesn't seem to be any complaints of head noise for this drive model so you may have a lemon...

In some models, there can be a lot of noise. As example, the drive on my T30 has real noisy heads and I can easily hear them seeking and parking contstantly...but my T41 is as quiet as a church mouse.

2. Don't disable the Head Park function. Really bad idea, Head Parking is a safety feature to prevent accidental damage to the platter surface.

3. Increase your RAM and decrease the amount of overall HDD activity.

nckid · #8 Post by **nckid** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:31 pm

thanks again for the suggestions....

I have 1gig of ram and this noise didn't start until I changed out my 40 gig hard drive to the Seagate model. I did notice the noise right away, and contacted CDW, the exchanged the drive no questions asked....same problem....

What's really puzzling me is the fact I have moved this hard drive into other T42 chasis' with the same chatter....
so either I've got a defective drive on my hands or some other kind of compatibility issue.

If I were going to change this drive out to something else---what would you guys recommend....what has the best success in the T42 Thinkpad?

I'm out of town right now, but I will also try the most recent suggestions...thanks again for all the input...

fefrie · #9 Post by **fefrie** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 1:47 am

Well not to comment on your situation, but to add my 2c.

HD or Fan noise has always been one of my biggest pet peeves on laptops or desktop systems.

I've always found hitachi's or travelstars to be quite noisy drives. One time I lucked out on craigslist and got a toshiba drive. And I found that toshiba drive to be very quiet. Unfortunately, that used toshiba had errors on the drive which made it really difficult to install an OS onto.

I got another new toshiba drive from ebay and it is dead silent. Well not totally silent. I have to put my ear to it to really hear the 'frequency' squeal. It's not a loud noise. If I were to open the window, the sound of outside will easily drown out the noise.

The only downside is that it's a 40GB drive, but if toshiba makes bigger drives, they may be just as quiet.

:cry: Upgraded HD in T42 -- hd chatter

:cry: Upgraded HD in T42 -- hd chatter

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