Seagate 7200.1 always spinning & HDD indicator light on

[GoyoNeuff]

Hello all,
I just recieved a new Seagate 7200.1 7200rpm 100gb HDD and installed all the factory Windows XP + IBM utilities with the recovery CD's. As my signature shows, I am upgrading from the original Hitachi 40GB 5400rpm HDD that shipped with the laptop.
After the installation, I can tell this Seagate is very fast, and I like that; but unfortunately I found that it is always making a noise that I consider as it is spinning all the time. Also, I check the HDD light indicator below the LCD, and it is always in green (e.i., on). I haven't installed anything new yet. In other words, the laptop is still with the fresh factory install. I tried to tweak the Power Options and set a profile where the HDD will go off after 3 minutes, but still, after I left the laptop alone doing nothing, the HDD noise is still there, so I assume that it is spinning all the time. I check the forum for answers, but not luck.
I was planning to do a firmware update to IBM's firmware following the instructions posted here in the forum, but after reading, I do not see any benefits on doing this (I also started a post some months ago asking about the benefits of upgrading the firmware to IBM's, and the answers were "non benefits").
I checked that the HDD protection system was running, and apparently it is. If I move the laptop, the system tray icon displays a "pause" symbol, like it will normally does with the original 40GB HDD, but the new Seagate drive keeps on running, or at least that's what I hear.
I never had a 7200rpm HDD drive in a laptop, so I assume it will make a little bit more noise that the 5400rpm counterparts because of the rotational speed itself, but I don't know or I can't find a reason why this new Seagate HDD does all this continous noise that never stops, and that never leaves the HDD green indicator light off.
Many thanks for all you suggestions/answers,
K.

[SHoTTa35]

oddly enough i have a Seagate 120GB 5400RPM one and sometimes i look at the laptop and the light is always on also. I have a T42 also so i'd be interested in finding out what's going on there. Using Vista i load up the Resource Monitor and i don't see any program using the drive so i don't know why the light is always on. I am using that Samsung SSD drive i got for my OS now but with only 16GB i'd love to have more storage space for sure! Vista sucks it all up.

[pianowizard]

I have the same Seagate 7200.1 7200rpm 100gb HDD in my T42 (see my sig), and this T42 has all the factory-installed software including Win XP Pro. I don't have the problems the OP described.

[GoyoNeuff]

Pianowizard, can you please post how you did you set up your system? In other words, did you do a clean install with the Recovery CD's, or did you do a clone installation from a previous HDD?
Do your system stops and goes depending of any movement thanks to the HDD shock protection system utility? I mean, do you hear your HDD spinning and stoppping?

Any other comments/suggestions on how to investigate on this?

Cheers to all!

K.

[pianowizard]

GoyoNeuff, I need to take my words back. After my last post, I have been paying closer attention to the HDD LED on my T42. It's not constantly on, but it's on ~50% of the time. So, there's indeed something unusual about this drive, or at least the 7200.1 + T42 combination.

I clean installed with the recovery discs. The Active Protection System works.

[GACrabill]

I also have a Seagate 7200rpm drive in my T40. This has indeed caused the activity light to remain on almost constantly. When causing real disk activity to occur (ie. defrag), the light blinks more normally and then returns to almost constantly on when the task ends. I searched for this effect with Google as soon as I immediately noticed it upon upgrading to this drive. I found that others had also noticed this weirdness but that most simply learned to ignore it. I do not notice any additional disk noise. My guess (I could be totally wrong) is that the drive always maintains 'ready to send' (best terminology that comes to mind) so that maximum performance can be achieved even from an idle state, maybe this 'trick' then causes the activity light to remain on since the IBM hardware 'thinks' that real activity is taking place. I never use my laptop on battery so I have no idea if the drive may be causing more battery drain than a Hitachi 7200rpm drive would.

[Johan]

I have a T42p (2373-Q1U) with a 100 GB Seagate 7200.1 (PATA) HDD, running Windows XP SP2 (I have 2 GB RAM, so that's not causing more-than-necessary swapping on the disk). I created the HDD from the IBM Rescue and Recovery CD-media, with subsequent updates via the ThinkVantage System Update and Windows Update etc. I run the free (and very good!) AVG Free antivirus. Normally, e.g. now, I only have a few programs running: Firefox, an editor, Word and a few other programs, and in this situation the HDD access will "mainly" begin when I "do something"; reading or saving from the disk; except from that, the HDD-light will only light up very briefly (NB: The task ati2evxx is one of the most active processes in terms of disk read/write... could be very interesting to try disabling it!).

In my power management profile, I have set the harddisk to turn off after 3 minutes (of inactivity), but I don't recall it has ever done that. I run Notebook Hardware Control ver. 2, with the CPU undervolted and GPU underclocked.

If you want to see what your HDD is doing (reading/writing what?), then check this thread, and see the post by tomh009 of Sun Aug 19, 2007 5:03 pm:

Assuming you are running Windows XP here, start up Task Manager, maximize it to full screen and then add columns for disk reads and disk writes. Sort on one of those two columns. Now, wait and watch: whatever process is accessing your disk will show increasing figures in (most likely the read) column.

Alternatively (better, in my opinion!) get the free and very usable program Process Explorer for Windows (it may give a much more detailled overview and is also more easily understood than Windows' "Task Manager"). See what processes/programs run, and select columns "I/O Read Bytes" and "I/O Write Bytes" - and now click at the column itself (at the top, grey), which will sort the processes after minimum or maximm HDD access. If you have some programs with much HDD activity, programs which have started automatically, but which you don't need, then try disable or remove such unnecessary programs - use another very good, free tool for this: AutoRuns for Windows.

Could be interesting to hear if you get your HDD to get some rest!

Best regards,

Johan

[GoyoNeuff]

Thank you all!
Here is how I compare the two drives:
At the moment I have installed the original Hitachi 40GB 5400rpm. When working with this HDD, the green light barely shows up. There is a constant "whoosh" even tough the green light is not on. If I move the laptop a little bit, the Active Protection System (APS) kicks in, and the "whoosh" sound disappears for a second or so, then the "whooshing" is on again. I guess this is when the APS stops the drive to prevent damage.
When I have installed the Seagate 100GB 7200rpm, the same "whooshing" noise is on, but this time louder. As I posted before, it is my first time with a 7200rpm HDD, so I can only guess that this louder "whooshing" sound is normal considering the higher rotational speed. When moving the laptop, the "whooshing" never stops, although the system tray indicator shows the "pause" symbol, indicating, I think, that the HDD has indeed stopped. It last a second or so, and in a almost always repetitive way every time I do this, the green light stops and goes as the "pause" symbol disappears.
So here, one main question I also have is why with the Seagate the "whooshing" never stops?
Is there any one in the community that have had 5400rpm and 7200rpm HDD's that can comment on this "whooshing" sound and if it is normal to have this noise louder in the 7200rpm than with the 5400rpm?
As I am installing all the necessary software in the 7200rpm gradually, I will be posting results.
Cheers all!
K.

[SHoTTa35]

well i guess it definitely seems to be a Seagate problem. I now have that 120GB drive in a USB 2.0 enclosure and even then the light is solid RED.

Even when coping a full 3.2GB ISO (Vista) from the drive to the local one the HD light isn't full solid RED. It's normal color is blue (like bluetooth - bright as hell!) so with the red flashing on and off it's normally purplish. I'm sitting here staring at the drive and it's SOLID red, no flickering or anything.

[GoyoNeuff]

Thanks SHoTTa35.
I would not call it a problem until we can figure out why this is happening.

I know there are a lot of users of Seagates here in the community, so please post your comments about this issue!

As I posted before, one main question I also have is why with the Seagate the "whooshing" never stops?

Can people with both 5400rpm and 7200rpm HDD's comment on this "whooshing" sound and if it is normal to have this noise louder in the 7200rpm than with the 5400rpm?

Also noticed that when the system has installed the Seagate 7200rpm HDD, the right palm rest is sligthly hotter than when it has the Hitachi 5400rpm HDD.

Cheers to all,
K.

[SHoTTa35]

well as for the whooshing sound. I have 2 5400RPM and don't here any of that with them.

The heat is expected since a 7200RPM spins faster and uses more power so therefore more heat will be generated. On the other hand, my 5400RPM drives in the USB 2.0 case barely gets warm. There's no fans or anything like that in there and it's nice and cool except when it's run for long periods of time (4-9hrs non-stop)

[GoyoNeuff]

Thanks SHoTTa35 for your comments.
Any one else can comment on this issue please? I know there are many users here that have Seagate HDD in your systems since I researched a lot the forum before making the decision of buying the Seagate HDD instead of the Hitachi, so please post here!!!
Cheers,
K.

[Johan]

I really don't believe that this is a "Hitachi versus Seagate" issue, but that it is by far owing to one drive being 5400 rpm while the other is 7200 rpm!

Check this thread and see my post of Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:39 pm (especially the link to the Silent PC Review site; see the Storage section there) and the post of Tue Jul 03, 2007 4:20 pm in the same thread, or this thread and the post of Sat Feb 10, 2007 6:45 pm.

Best regards,

Johan