Scorpio Black HDD speed (rpm) fluctuation?

[vinuneuro]

Just installed a WD Scorpio Black 320gb today. I can hear what sounds like an rpm fluctuation. The drive itself is very quiet, the whoosh can barely be heard; but when the whoosh tone fluctuates I can definitely notice it and it's rather annoying. Just wondering if this is normal?

[SkiBunny]

How often are you noticing this while it's running. I've heard that frequent spin-down and up can prematurely age the drive.

[vinuneuro]

Pretty much mirrors hard drive activity. Constant bursts of speed up/down.

[sktn77a]

If you can hear it enough for it to be annoying then it's probably not good. Can you return it?

[vinuneuro]

Ok, I found this which suggests the spin up/down is normal with these hdd's. I could get a jumper and put that in to stop it, but that'd also reduce the performance. The real question is whether my ears are too sensitive and/or I'm being anal. The drive itself is pretty quiet; I probably wouldn't hear anything if it maintained somewhat steady speed. I know plenty others here are picky too, and having gone through pretty much all the hdd threads in the T60 forum, I don't recall anyone else encountering this issue..which leads me to believe that my drive may be louder than it should.

http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2579-001116.pdf

[georgelam]

One thing you can perhaps try to do is to install Notebook Hardware Control. It allows you to adjust your hard drive to 'Maximum Performance', which means it will be spinning at top speed the whole time. This should get rid of the fluctuation problem, but I am not totally sure if this will work though because of the built in speed variation thing in the Scorpio Black.

[yak]

I have the same drive in my T60 for couple of months now. I can hear the whoosh in a quiet environment but haven't noticed any fluctuations, nor heard about them. How big is the difference between slow and fast spin? Are you sure it isn't your CPU fan?

Before I bought this drive I did an extensive forum search too and was a bit afraid it will be too loud. After installing besides the whoosh (which is pretty quiet) I noticed that I can hear the heads moving only if I literally put my ear to the palmrest. Like I said, I noticed no fluctuations.

[vinuneuro]

It's a pretty big difference. The whoosh is constantly changing pitch, matching hard drive activity. I just got the drive from newegg on Tuesday, will rma this one for another of the same model.

[EAkamai]

Aloha
Can't detect anything like this with 2 of these - 1 as main drive and 2nd in ultrabay. they do spin down when not in use but spinning up is very quiet. I believe the Blue version we have *may* be a bit quieter but could be my imagination. All these are 5400 RPM. Hopefully new drive will be better for you.

Please repost if possible and let me know if new drive is different. Thanks

[vinuneuro]

Just want to post an update on the situation. After less than a week of use, the hard drive seems to be failing. It's starting to randomly lock up and turn off.

The replacement is another 320gb Scorpio Black, so hopefully I'll have better success with that one.

[yak]

Yes, it seems you got a lemon. Please let us know how the replacement turns out. And don't worry, it is a good drive and your experience must be a rare exception.

[vinuneuro]

I just noticed that pretty much all the HDD's from newegg and most of the Scorpio drives sold online are OEM. Until today I thought these are brand new hdd's, but looks like they're refurbished drives sent from WD to newegg and other retailers. Still..most people overwhelmingly seem to have success on newegg, so I'm hoping the next one is good.

[vinuneuro]

Update #2: just got the replacement from newegg. High amount of vibration. This is going back too. Should I keep doing this? The only reason I've been sticking with it is all the other positive reviews. And frankly, this is supposed to be the best performing drive in ever way. Wish I could get a properly functioning unit.

What are the other options? Fujitsu and Seagate 7200.3 are the only other ones with good reviews on newegg.