[wera]

Originally Posted by najevi

grungebob's explanation may have required a little imagination to interpret but what I got out of it was that

when the arm that carries the read/write heads is not moving (stuck) the stepper motor driving that arm attempts to oscillate the arm in an effort to free it up. (just as when your car tyre is stuck in mud or sand you try a "reverse then forward" motion to see if you can create enough momentum to get your tyre out of the hole it's stuck in.)
This so called "buzz routine" causes the arm and possibly other mechanical parts to vibrate (oscillate) and that is where the polyphonic sound comes from. (much like the melody that arises from the vibration of different length tuning forks or the metallic comb that you find inside one of those wind up music boxes.)
You will recall that the melody is heard 3 times after power on. These would be the three times this "buzz routine" is used in an attempt to dislodge the stuck arm carrying the read/write heads.

BTW a Maxtor/Seagate support representative that I was corresponding with via email did visit this forum to listen to the mp3 soundbyte and to read grungebob's explanation. He confirmed that it was an accurate description and said he'd refer the FAQ Q&A matter to the webmaster in charge of Maxtor's FAQ web page.

Thanks !