While working at the computer, many users have noticed noise. It can be created by both a cooler, a video card, and a hard drive. However, the noise from the hard drive is different from other sounds that come from the system unit or the bottom of the laptop. The noise of the hard drive is more like crackling. It appears when you copy large files or play a game. If your PC was previously stable and extraneous noise was not observed, and now the hard disk is cracking, it is worth copying the entire important information and check.
Get rid of hard drive crash
If your hard drive is cracking, fix this problem can be done in two ways:
- Reduced head positioning speed (since they crack);
- Reliable fixation of the hard drive inside the system unit.
Each hard drive has an option such as Automatic Acoustic Management. It is responsible for the speed of rotation of the magnetic heads of the hard drive. It is impossible to change its parameters and reduce the data reading speed with the usual settings. Requires a special program. You can find many of these on the Internet. QuietHDD software is popular. However, it is worth warning that by reducing the speed of rotation of the heads, the speed of reading information decreases. The disk starts to slow down. This is a negative factor. Here you have to choose: speed or working hard drive.
We remove the crackle of the hard drive using quietHDD in the following way. Download and run the utility as Administrator.
Open the "AAM Settings" tab. We move the sliders to the minimum position, reduce from 256 to 128 revolutions. Then click "Accept" and "OK".
So that each time before using programs and applications do not run this utility, you should add it to the system startup.
If you are the owner of a PC, not a laptop, the hard drive must be securely fixed in the system unit. You can do this in three ways:
- Bolt fastening. Often, the hard drive is attached with just two bolts, although there are more connectors. In the "sled" the disk "feels" freely and because of this creates a crackle and noise. It is worth stretching the device and securely fasten the hard drive to all the bolts.
- Use of pads. Soft rubberized pads dampen noise and vibration. You can buy them or cut them yourself and install them at the point of contact between the disk and the system unit. However, the material should not be too large so as not to interfere with the ventilation of the disc.
- Mounting with twisted pair. Usually, 3-4 small pieces of wire are used for this purpose and fastened as if the disk were located in the sled. However, in this case, it will be difficult to move the body. There is a risk of damaging the device.
Using the above methods, you can fix the hard drive so that it does not make noise or crack.
A hard drive is a storage device that is used in most modern computers and laptops as an information storage device. However, users prefer to copy valuable data to other media or duplicate it in the cloud in case HDD will fail. One of the first signs of a breakdown is that the hard drive is cracking. What to do if this happened? The following describes the causes of vibrations and how to eliminate them.
What is noise level?
Noise level is a phenomenon that can be described as the sound emitted by a mechanical structure during operation. This vibration includes two components: spindle (aerodynamic) noise and positioning noise. In the aggregate, the level of reproducible hard drive sound should be twenty-six decibels. If the noise of the component is not blocked by the work of coolers and is clearly audible, this is a reason to think whether everything is in order with the device.
How to set the source of cod?
The hard drive does not always crack when it signals its deplorable state. A certain level of noise may well be the operating mode of the device, but if the situation with annoying sound becomes problematic, then it is still worth disassembling system unit. To get to the insides, it is necessary to unscrew the mounting bolts and remove the housing cover.
During the repair work, you need to take care of your safety. Better be careful with electrical wires. It is not superfluous during disassembly of the computer to completely turn off the device and ground it.
What are the causes of excessive noise?
To determine the nature of the problem, you need to start the processor and listen for sounds. Perhaps the reason for the excessive noise level is not at all that the hard drive is cracking. It all depends on the features of the assembly of the computer and the quality of its components. The source of the reproduced sound can be a powerful video card fan or a cooler that is simply dirty. If this was precisely the trouble, then it is worth cleaning the fan from dust.
The likelihood of unwanted vibrations also depends on the type of housing. If the system unit has sufficiently thick walls, then it will not miss any extraneous sounds and will provide proper comfort, a thin-walled case, on the contrary, will resonate the emitted noises. But what to do if the hard drive in the computer still cracks, and not other components?
Why does the hard drive make an excessive sound?
The essence of the problem lies in the very fact that it is the special magnetic components that produce noise during rotation. In a sense, this is a completely normal workflow. But why does the hard drive crack if there were no unusual noises before? It is an uncharacteristic sound that may indicate violations in the operation of the hard drive.
In addition, any device has its own service life. With prolonged use of the part, the hard drive wears out, which is accompanied by a characteristic crack. In such a case, it is necessary to the shortest time copy all the data from the computer and change the broken part. However, there are also less drastic measures.
How to test a hard drive?
One of the ways of first aid to broken sectors hard drive is their blocking with the help of special programs. If the hard drive is cracking, then, firstly, you can try using two types of complexes:
- Acronis. The most common of this kind of program, which has a number of necessary functions. Chief among them is the creation backup from damaged media.
- Victoria. With the help of the program, you can check the hard drive. If problem areas are found during testing, Victoria will remember them and automatically block them.
How to reduce the noise level with the help of programs?
You can try software methods to reduce the noise level of the hard drive. In this case, AAM or HDDscan programs come in handy.
The first program, the essence of which is to control the speed work hard disk, will automatically necessary settings. It is quite possible that if the hard drive is cracking, then you should just slow down its speed mode, because the faster the magnetic elements rotate, the louder the device works. A noticeable disadvantage of this program is that it may not recognize the storage medium.
The second program - HDDscan - is free from this shortcoming. The principle of operation of HDDscan is absolutely the same as that of AAM, but an additional advantage is the ability to test the hard drive and select SMART parameters.
How to reduce the noise level manually?
Mechanical noise reduction is only useful for desktop computer, with laptops, only the software method should be used.
There are quite a few options for manually fixing the problem. Often a hard drive cracks during operation, not only because of its malfunction, but the reason may be that its case is not attached well. You should make sure that all elements of the fastening structure are in the grooves, and the bolts are not untwisted. For additional sealing of the connections between the parts of the hard drive and the computer, insulating gaskets are used, that is, the joints can simply be glued with insulating tape, which will help ensure that the hard drive mounting basket does not have direct contact. This method quite effective in combating excessive crackling.
Another way to deal with intrusive sound is to change the location of structural elements or the hard drive itself. This can only be done if this movement allows the volume of the hull. The main goal in this case is to achieve the smallest contact between the hard drive and the case. So, you should ensure the most reliable static position of the hard drive.
There are craftsmen who achieve the location of the hard drive even for which strong and thick wires or wires are used. With the help of such materials at hand, you can achieve total absence transmission of vibration to metal parts.
Design and technological methods for reducing vibrations include the use of noise-absorbing devices that help eliminate the consequences, but not the cause. hard cod disk. In any case, these measures are only temporary. If the problem is really critical, it is better to secure the information and make a complete replacement of the hard drive.
Read in the article examples of sounds faulty hard drive and how to identify them. Clicking or rustling sounds, vibration or whistling that were not there before. A working hard drive is a fairly quiet device that can only be reminded of itself by a soft click while accessing it or turning on / off the computer. But if over time, clicking or rustling sounds come from the hard drive, as well as vibration or whistle that was not heard before, then such a hard drive may have failed.
western digital
Muffled sound of faulty hard disk heads.
Failed disk heads slowly click several times, after which the rotation of the disk slows down.
Slowdown of the rotation of the hard disk platters after the production of several clicking sounds by the failed heads.
A hard drive with a stuck spindle cannot spin up.
Clicking sounds from a hard drive with a failed preamp chip.
A disc with unstable heads that stops after a few clicks.
A laptop hard drive with a stuck spindle that is trying to spin up, making a siren-like sound.
A computer hard drive cannot spin up due to bad bearings.
Seagate
Rustling and clicking sounds that a disk with inoperable heads makes.
Sounds that a disk with damaged heads makes during startup (platform spin-up).
Clicking faulty laptop hard drive heads.
A disc with a stuck spindle is trying to spin up.
The boring sound of broken disk heads.
Maxtor
A computer hard drive with a non-working or broken head unit.
Clicks of inoperable heads.
The sound that a disc with a jammed spindle makes.
Samsung
A fast clicking sound indicates the failure of the hard drive heads.
The same as with the previous disc.
The sound of damaged hard disk heads.
A worn out computer disk that makes a scratching sound when accessing bad sectors.
Hitachi/IBM
The hard drive of a laptop with damaged heads clicks on startup, after which it beeps.
A worn out computer disk that makes a scratching sound when accessing an area with bad sectors.
A disc with worn platters and a head unit makes wheezing and howling sounds.
The whirring sound of a laptop drive with a stuck spindle trying to spin up.
Toshiba
The sound of failed laptop hard drive bearings.
The sound of worn laptop hard drive bearings.
The sound of wedged bearings on a laptop hard drive.
Fujitsu
Worn laptop hard drive heads.
Faulty laptop hard drive heads.
The sound of worn out plates of a computer hard drive.
Quantum
Faulty head unit.
What to do if the hard drive starts making extraneous sounds
- First of all, make sure that the hard drive is the source of the emitted sound.
- After you make sure that it is the hard drive that is making the sounds that bother you, run a diagnostic hard disk. You can use both those supplied by manufacturers with the device, and from third-party manufacturers. Just keep in mind that at best, the diagnostic utility will detect and limit the use of broken hard disk, which may cause the disk to malfunction or become unstable. If there are mechanical damage or wear of the hard drive - it is impossible to fix them programmatically.
- If nothing has changed in the operation of the disk after using the diagnostic software, it is recommended to immediately create a copy of the data of such a hard disk or its image for further restoration.
How to create an image of a failed or damaged disk using Hetman Partition Recovery. - If, as a result of using a diagnostic or repair software the sounds of the hard drive have partially or completely disappeared, it is possible that there are bad sectors. In this case, it is still recommended to create a backup of all data on the hard disk and think about replacing it, since bad sectors may continue to appear on the disk and this will eventually lead to data loss or failure.
Other Sounds Your Computer Can Make
The hard drive is not the only device in the computer that is capable of making sound. It can also be a power supply, cooler, CD / DVD drive, or other devices connected to it. SSD drives don't make any sound because they don't have moving parts. Therefore, before taking any action, it is important to correctly identify the source of the sound.
If the computer performs any difficult tasks or a resource-intensive game is running, it will be normal if the computer starts to work louder - the computer coolers will spin faster to cool it down. Sometimes, a dirty or broken cooler makes more noise than other devices.
It is also normal for the CD/DVD drive to make noise while reading or copying data from it.
Hello, friends! What to do, if noisy (cracking) hard drive? If there was no cod before, but now it has appeared, then it is better to immediately save important data, since this is not a good sign. Then, run HDD diagnostics special program from the manufacturer. How to do this I tell and show. If there was crackling or noise before, you just didn’t pay attention to it, then it’s normal. For example, when calming down, at the beginning, I could not hear the hard drive. But, over time, as there are 2 fans left in the system (in and in regular system cooling), these sounds became more distinct and began to irritate. How to reduce them, we will consider in this article.
As we said in the article - there are two sources of noise from the HDD:
- From the rotation of magnetic disks
- From hitting a block with heads on the stroke limiter
There is nothing we can do about disk rotation noise. Is it just to buy. But with the blows of the head block, as with the source of the main noise, you can and should fight. Vibrations also arise from the impact, and if they are not dampened, the situation will worsen.
There are several options for solving our problem.
- Secure your hard drive firmly in
- Make vibration-damping HDD mounts in the case
The first option is perfect for those who have high-quality cases made of good, thick steel. The second option should suit everyone. In my case, with a cheap case, hanging the hard drive on 4 pieces worked great. It was necessary to remove the sled in which the HDD was attached to the basket and freed up space for hanging. Who has no place, i.e. the hard drive is bolted to the case, you can try to put it vertically and hang it in the same way. Some people hang the hard drive under the optical drive. There are more places and it is more convenient to hang, but there is not much cooling there. Therefore, I recommend hanging directly in the basket for hard drives.
Those. the main task is to prevent vibrations from the hard drive from getting to. If you chose the first option (hardly screw the HDD to the case), then it would be appropriate to calculate the places where the resonance occurs and glue them with electrical tape. I myself did not reach this, but I read a lot and it seemed to work out not badly. Usually these are the places where the side covers are attached.
The third option, which we will consider in detail, is the use of AAM
Using Automatic Acoustic Management to Reduce HDD Noise
Automatic Acoustic Management - automatic control storage noise.
In addition to this function, hard drive manufacturers use special shock-absorbing pads that effectively suppress cracking. This is not always enough and not for everyone. And if not enough, you need to use AAM. This function controls the positioning speed of the head block. You can set a numerical value from 128 to 254. The larger the number, the higher the speed and, accordingly, more vibration and, as a result, noise.
There are many programs for managing AAM. Of the simplest, I can recommend WinAAM. There you can set only two positions 128 or 254. That is, either quietly and slowly, or loudly and quickly.
We will use the HDDScan program, which allows you to set any value from 128 to 254, and thus you can flexibly adjust the noise level from your .
You can download the program from the official website
Run HDDScan.exe
The main program window looks like this
The button in the center opens the main menu of the program. Select Features > IDE Features (if you have a hard drive with a SCSI interface - SCSI Features)
In the window that opens, we are interested in the Automatic Acoustic Management section. Here you see the current value of Current - 128 and the recommended value - Recommended - 254. I.e. recommend setting it to maximum performance.
You can set the desired value by entering a number in the Current field or by setting it using the slider. For the settings to take effect, press Set.
All. Now you can select any value for the optimal ratio of speed and silence.
Some hard drives do not support Automatic Acoustic Management
There is also an Advanced Power Management function that allows you to save energy by reducing the engine speed or completely stopping at the time of inactivity. It turns out that you can still control the speed of the magnetic plates, at least at the time of downtime. But this is not verified information. If anyone has used it, please post the results. Everyone will be interested.
Conclusion
To reduce noise and cod from the hard drive, manufacturers use special shock-absorbing pads. They certainly help, but I want more. Therefore, there are two ways:
- Do not let the vibrations from the hard drive jump to, (and if they get there by any means, do not let them resonate)
- Use Automatic Acoustic Management
According to the sensations from the first method, the effectiveness is colossal. It seems that the hard drive is working in a pillow and the crackling from it is only audible if you listen hard. Naturally, the greatest effect can be achieved using both methods. In my case, for the sake of silence, I will gladly sacrifice performance.
sample question
Hello.
I recently bought a laptop and only after some time I noticed that when I download a file, turn on the laptop, or copy information from disk to disk, the disk starts to crack. The sound is not strong, but extremely unpleasant.
The store said that everything was in order with the disk, as it should be, but doubts remained in my soul ...
If I knew that this model is so noisy, I would have chosen another one ... Tell me, what can be done to reduce noise when the disk is loaded?
Hello.
Crack cod strife. In general, a hard disk drive (HDD) is mechanical device, and during operation, any HDD makes noise. True, on one disc it is barely perceptible and almost inaudible, while on the other it can be somewhat annoying. In addition, in addition to the "working" noise (which should be), an outsider (indicating a problem) may appear: knocking, strong rattle, clicks, etc.
Particular attention to the noise from the disk should be paid in cases where:
- if it starts making noise old disk , which used to work without noise (this is an alarming symptom - first of all, immediately make all important files from disk);
- noise appeared in the form of: knocking, strong clicks, rattle, etc. (this all also indicates a problem with the mechanics);
- if, when a cod appears, the computer starts to freeze, Windows does not respond to your clicks;
- you periodically do not open and read files, the disk is noisy at the same time.
All of the above symptoms indicate possible hardware problems with the drive (in most cases), and without replacing it with new disk, the noise cannot be eliminated. Therefore, I recommend after backup, look SMART readings, check the disk for bad blocks, etc. About checking the disk, I have one small instruction on my blog, the link is below.
How to check your hard drive for errors and bad sectors (bad blocks). How to work with the Victoria program in DOS and Windows -
If your new drive is noisy - then most likely everything is fine with him, and this is his working noise (although no one excludes marriage or failure of a new disk either). Most often, the problem is that when a user bought a disk (laptop, computer) - then in a store (where there is a lot of extraneous noise, music plays, etc.), he simply did not pay attention to the noise of the disk (and in the store, the disk, like As a rule, do not load much). And in the house, in the silence of the night, he appreciated all the characteristics of his device.
But since a computer is a technically complex product, it is easy to change it in a store for another one (as can be done with other goods). In many cases, you may be denied (there must be a more compelling reason, such as a malfunction). Further in the article I will give recommendations on how to eliminate such "working" noise.
Addition!
When buying a new HDD: Please note that the specifications of the device usually always indicate the noise level of the disk. This parameter is measured in dB.
Of course, the lower it is, the quieter the disc. Comparative plate (to find out how and what) with the noise level cited below.
To help!
How to choose a hard disk drive (HDD): 6 points to pay attention to -
1) Swap your old HDD for an SSD (or another HDD)
The first advice is associated with material costs. Ideally, to completely eliminate noise - you need to change the disk. Now SSD drives are gaining popularity - they do not have mechanics, as in HDDs, and therefore, during operation, they are a priori silent (completely silent!).
In addition, they have several other advantages:
- several times higher speed of work (this is the main advantage!), Thanks to this, your applications, games, Windows will load an order of magnitude faster;
- consume less energy (for example, a laptop will work 10-15% longer without recharging);
- not so much afraid of shaking and vibration (again, a plus for laptops);
- they don't get hot like HDDs.
True, these discs have one drawback: a higher cost. But it pays off with a vengeance! You can find out the difference in speed between SSD and HDD from one of my articles, the link to it is below.
How to check disk speed: HDD, SSD. Test, determining the difference in speed between SSD and HDD, is it worth switching to a solid state drive -
2) Check if there is an application that loads the disk up to 100%!
If the disk does not always annoy you with noise, but only at times of heavy loading (this may be indicated, for example, by the hard disk activity LED), then try to find out which application is loading it, and then turn it off.
Very often, the disk can be loaded with applications that you do not need. For example, when Windows boot downloading uTorrent with several hundred torrents: it may take 5-10 minutes before they are all checked! And all this time the disk will be heavily loaded.
The simplest and fast way to find out about applications that load the disk is to open the task manager (for Windows 8, 10), and open the resource monitor (this is for Windows 7). If you recognize an application that is actively working with the disk, try closing it.
To call the task manager- press the key combination Ctrl+Shift+Esc .
In Windows 8, 10 - open a tab "Performance" and see if the disc is loaded. If loaded, then in the tab "Processes" you can find the program (that loads it) and close it.
Windows 8-10 - performance (disk usage 0%)
In Windows 7, in the task manager, you need to open the tab "Performance" , then click on the button "Resource Monitor" .
In the resource monitor, open the tab "Disk": pay attention to sections "Processes with disk activity" and "Disk Operation" .
3) Reduce the positioning speed of the block with heads (Automatic Acoustic Management)
Hard drives have certain options that are usually not mentioned anywhere (we are now talking about Automatic Acoustic Management, often abbreviated AAM). This option allows you to reduce the speed of moving the heads, and this, in turn, has a positive effect on the noise level (although, besides this, the speed of the disk is somewhat reduced, but "by eye" imperceptibly).
You can change this setting in special utilities, I recommend the following: quietHDD, HDDScan. I will consider the work in both utilities.
quietHDD
A very small utility designed to reduce AAM acoustic noise and APM hard disk power consumption mode. Working with it is simple and fast, an example is below:
Multifunctional program for working with SSD and HDD drives. It will allow you to view SMART, check the disk for bad sectors, find out the temperature of the media, manage acoustic noise, energy, etc.
In our case, you need to run the program, then select the hard drive (if you have more than one in the system), and open the "Features / IDE Features" option.
HDDScan - IDE Features
Further in the section Automatic Acoustic Management- set the value between 128 and 254 (by the way, the program recommends 254, but it is not always optimal). In general, for the minimum noise level - set the value to 128 and press the button SET(install). Thus, you can adjust and find your best option.
Note: Please note that not all drives support this option. In some cases, HDDScan will not allow you to change the values in Automatic Acoustic Management.
Automatic Acoustic Management
4) Securely fix the disk in the block, eliminate vibrations, put soft pads
This advice applies to a regular PC, but if you have a laptop, then almost certainly your hard drive is securely and tightly fixed in the case by the manufacturer (and you can not read this advice).
5) Check for errors and defragment
Well, the last thing I wanted to advise is to check for errors and defragment the disk. Crack - this, of course, will not directly reduce it, but it will make your disk more responsive, the speed will increase (which will positively, albeit not much, affect the noise level).
To check the disk for errors and defragment, open "My computer" ("This computer", "Computer" - depending on the Windows versions ) . Then select desired disk and open it properties(see screenshot below).
By the way, defragmenting and cleaning the disk from garbage can be done in auto mode, for this there is special utilities. Link to the utilities recommended by me - see below.
To help!
The best programs for Windows optimizations -