X60S - where is the noise coming from?

[boffo]

I love my X60S but I think it's too noisy and I want to make it quieter.

The noise is a constant low breathy whirr. You can hear it anywhere in the room. It's not actually LOUD loud, but enough to be distracting while listening to music.

This is different from the fan that kicks in when the machine is under load. The fan comes and goes, but this noise is unvarying.

My working hypothesis is that this sound is coming from the hard disk, so it could be silenced by replacing it with a quieter disk, or maybe even an SSD.

But how can I be sure?

boffo

[Harryc]

Remove the hard drive and power the machine on.

[boffo]

Thank you for the suggestion. I will give it a try.

[boffo]

For the record, I tried this and it's definitely the hard disk. The machine is completely silent when the hard drive is removed (though of course it doesn't do anything beyond trying to network boot).

Thanks again for the suggestion. Now to find a quiet replacement!