Is the hard drive suppose to make noise?

[SpiffGQ]

I just got a new Seagate 7200 200GB ST3200822AS hard drive. It seems to be working just fine, but occasionally (like twice a day for the past few days since I got it), it makes this brief high-pitched scratching noise. It doesn't sound like it is normal, but otherwise the drive seems to be working just fine. Should I be concerned? Should I return it? Thanks for your help.

[proffit]

i have never had any of my3 seagates make a sound like that. possibly it is a fault or possibly it is just trying to get a large amount of data of the disk at one time. what are you doing at the time when it makes these sounds?

[HeadBand]

yeah i would return it, nothing to loose

[MDS]

I would contact seagate and see what they say. Doesn't sound good though.

[SpiffGQ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by proffit

i have never had any of my3 seagates make a sound like that. possibly it is a fault or possibly it is just trying to get a large amount of data of the disk at one time. what are you doing at the time when it makes these sounds?

It's hard to say. It's usually when I start downloading something, though not always. I'll start keeping track of what I'm doing.

[SpiffGQ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDS

I would contact seagate and see what they say. Doesn't sound good though.

Good idea. This is so frustrating, though. I've just spent the past few days migrating my stuff from my old hard drive.

[proffit]

still it sounds a little fishy id call them up and question them about this. if you can find out when it happens it will help your case a bit like if it happens when you are idleing then it shouldnt be but if it is during gameing it might just be that you are putting the drive under a very heavy load.
good luck.

[SpiffGQ]

I emailed Seagate tech support. Here is the response I got:

Quote:

Hello:

Thank you for your inquiry. The latest generation of our high-capacity drives have been programmed to perform regular OFF-LINE SCANS to test the drive?s reliability and detect any possible malfunctions. The OFF-LINE Scanning takes place when the drive is idle. This feature cannot be disabled, but does not affect the performance of the disc drive.

This feature helps to maintain the reliability of the drive by moving the heads within the "high-flight zone" in a pre-programmed pattern. The "high flight zone" is toward the outside of the platters where the most air flows under the heads during times of inactivity.

If you feel that there is a problem with the drive, you can run our SeaTools Desktop Edition http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/ to check the physical integrity of the drive.

If you are disturbed by the amount of noise produced, you can return the drive for an exchange, by contacting either your original place of purchase or our warranty department http://www.seagate.com/contact/warranty/for further assistance.

Regards,

Alan M.
Seagate Technical Support

I guess what Alan M is trying to tell me is to run the diagnostic program (seatools). I guess that means I'm going to have to install windows.

[brunobliss]

when i firstly bought my seagate it had the same problem, a very sharp noise like nails scratching a black board. sometimes the hard drive disapeared, my bios wouldnt recognize it and i had to install windows again, and again, i went to the store they detected no problem, i complain and they gave me a new one, never had that noise or any problem again

[SoloCamo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brunobliss

when i firstly bought my seagate it had the same problem, a very sharp noise like nails scratching a black board. sometimes the hard drive disapeared, my bios wouldnt recognize it and i had to install windows again, and again, i went to the store they detected no problem, i complain and they gave me a new one, never had that noise or any problem again

ummm, how to raise from the dead...