Windows 7 - Western Digital WD20EARS Question

I plugged my new-ish hard drive in to back up my computer and realized that it was making this noise. WD20EARS - YouTube

I know it is not writing/reading because I connected only the power to test just that. It does this when it is sitting there and I was wondering if it is anything to be worried about. Like I said, this is new and is meant for backups. It would be ironic if the backup drive were to fail first (especially after little use).

That drive is toast, I have seen this problem with a lot of these 2GB drives which is why I will not buy one, if it is under warranty then you are in luck and WD will replace it, hopefully you did not have any data on it.

Hi,

Run the drive through this tool and lets see what it reports:

CrystalDiskInfo - Software - Crystal Dew World

Regards,
Golden

I wasn't sure if you wanted me to run a test or not with this program as I am not familiar with it. I do see however that it says the health status of the drive is "good".

When you said that you plugged drive into the back of the computer, I assume that means that the drive is in an external case. If so, check that the cooling fan is not the source of the noise. It doesn't sound like a fan, but it would be best to rule it out.

Initially I plugged the hard drive in the back, but to do the test and to record the sound, I took it out and connected it up directly to the motherboard.

Then you have definitely determined that the sound comes from the drive itself. In that case...were it me, it would not matter how any test program rated it, because it is on it's last leg, and I would copy any data on it elsewhere and RMA the drive if possible. I have a WDC drive of that model myself, and I'm happy to say that it is as silent as any drive that I've had...knock on wood. I have found WDC to be easy to deal with in the past, so I wouldn't hesitate to apply for the RMA.

Thanks for a speedy response. I think that is probably my best bet, even if it is OK, it isn't worth the risk. One last question, why does it seem like hard drives die a lot quicker than they did in the 90s? I have an old 250mb Quantum drive and a 100mb Seagate that are both from 1994 and work fine and have no bad sectors.