Swirl and Clicking sounds

unifex · 30 Mar 2011

TVeblen said:

unifex said:

There are two things with moving parts - hard drives and fans. Nothing else creates such noise.

Don't forget: CD/DVD drive.

It would be great to get a better description of "whirring noise".

If I knew how to define sounds with words I would suggest it

.

I got the impression from the first post of the OP that the sounds appear without a CD or DVD in, based on his statement that he gets these sounds "even while watching the DVD". Naturally, if there is some disk in the DVD drive all the time, then it would produce all kinds of sounds and may also lead to short-term freezing (it always amazes me how programs such as Nero freeze when a disk is inserted into a DVD drive). Although clicking sounds are usually unique to failing hard drives. To be more precise, failing hard drives often produce very distinct clicking sounds. Whether these are the sounds that the OP is hearing, I can not tell.

cyberbuzz · 30 Mar 2011

Thanks all for your help :) I wish I could upload the sound it make cause this would really help! Does anyone know how I can upload a mp3 file to this forum?

Thanks again

fafhrd · 30 Mar 2011

You could zip the file and attach it, just like any other attachment, just use the advanced reply options

cyberbuzz · 30 Mar 2011

Good thinking fafhrd here it is. These sounds happen also when the computer is sitting idle. Like I said when I took it in for this problem I told them the sounds that my pc makes and they tell me it was fixed, but I know that they were not doing there job.

Mike Connor · 30 Mar 2011

The "whirring" is a disc drive accelerating up to operating speed, and the "clicking" is disc head movements. ( The stepper motor moves the heads from park positions to the desired tracks). This is more pronounced on some drives than on others. Some Seagate drives were very loud indeed.

If you change your power plan the disc wont go to sleep and you wont hear the sounds anymore.

Otherwise, take the cocktail stick out of your glass before you swirl it! :)

Regards....Mike Connor

cyberbuzz · 30 Mar 2011

Thanks Mike I will try this out and reply back.

Thanks again

Mike Connor · 30 Mar 2011

cyberbuzz said:

Thanks Mike I will try this out and reply back.

Thanks again

My pleasure.

This is perfectly normal by the way, and no cause for concern. Although as I wrote, some drives are much louder than others. A lot depends on drive construction.

Regards....Mike Connor

TVeblen · 30 Mar 2011

Has a lot to do with your computer case too. "Quiet" cases have hard drive mounts with rubber bushings or plastic spacers that deaden the vibrations from the drives and reduce the sound they make.

Some cases amplify the sounds like an echo chamber!

cyberbuzz · 31 Mar 2011

Well Mike it sound like that fixed the problem "Cross Fingers" Hasn't made that noise yet since I set never put hard drive to sleep.

Mike Connor · 31 Mar 2011

cyberbuzz said:

Well Mike it sound like that fixed the problem "Cross Fingers" Hasn't made that noise yet since I set never put hard drive to sleep.

Of course that means that you use a little more power to keep the disc running, and there theoretically is more disc spindle/bearing wear, but this can usually be ignored. Doesn't seem to make a lot of difference to the MTBF ( Mean Time Between Failures) of newer discs. Indeed, I think the powering down itself causes more problems than leaving them running.

Also, if you start to get a lot of clicking noises, defragment the disc. The clicking noise is a result of head movement, and on a fragmented disc you tend to get excessive head movement as the heads have to move all over the place to find sectors.

Regards....Mike Connor