Hi,
recently I've bought two Samsung F1 320 GB (HE322HJ, "Raid Class"). The general noise level is very low, vibration noise is audible due to the fact that I mounted them in the standard hdd cages, but I can live with that.
Two weeks after the purchase one of the drives started producing a soft, but very irritating high pitched tonal noise during idle. The frequency is about 2950 HZ, and it is one of those noises that is highly directional, i.e. if you move your head a couple of inches it disappears.
Suspending the drive will not help, since the whine is also audible when isn't mounted in the hdd cage.
I've two questions:
1. Has anyone successfully rma'd a drive with a soft but irritating tonal noise? I can imagine that the technicians who test the drive work in a noisy place with > 50 dB ambient noise, so chances are high that they'll return it as faultless.
2. Does anyone else have an F1 with his problem?
Samsung F1 Raid Class 320 GB (HE322HJ) : High pitched whine
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
1. I have returned HDD's in the past because they were too noisy for my tastes. I've never RMA'ed them though, as the HDD's never failed any of the diagnostics tests. I'd recommend using Samsung's ESTOOL diagnostic software and see if playing with the AAM settings does anything. Also run the full diagnostic to see if the drive is operating properly.
2. I have used numerous Samsung F1 HD322HJs (the non-raid version of your drives), and have not had your noise problem.
2. I have used numerous Samsung F1 HD322HJs (the non-raid version of your drives), and have not had your noise problem.
Both drives pass the EStools tests and the AAM settings do not change anything. I guess they only have an effect on the seeks.
I've searched a bit for whistling/whining F1 drives and found some - but not many - people describing the same problem. This leads me to believe that my drive is an exception, so I'll probably go for an RMA.
I've searched a bit for whistling/whining F1 drives and found some - but not many - people describing the same problem. This leads me to believe that my drive is an exception, so I'll probably go for an RMA.
"I'd recommend using Samsung's ESTOOL diagnostic software and see if playing with the AAM settings does anything. Also run the full diagnostic to see if the drive is operating properly."
I don't get why so often playing with AAM is suggested for whining electronics, loud turbulent noise, vibration or screaming bearings. These all occur at idle, and AAM is only about controlling seeks. If the drive made a self-diagnostic buzzing once in a while, AAM might have an effect by slowing down seeks.
Running diagnostics to determine condition of HDD isn't a bad thing to do, especially as drives tend to have higher chance of starting deterioration during first few weeks of use. I would probably test it from within Windows, though. HDDScan can do all the tests ESTOOL does: short SMART test and long SMART test. It can also do some extra tests: SMART offline data collection routine, verify scan, read scan and write scan.
If HDDScan detects a fault, then run ESTOOL to get confirmation and the TRC (Technical Resource Code) or whatever they call it, which is needed to make RMA for the faulty disk. But I don't think you'll find the HDD to be in error condition. SMART can monitor physical wear by measuring things like spin-up time, seek time, read errors, etc. but it cannot predict failure of electronical components. Whining on modern HDDs is typically caused by electronics as bearings no longer make high-pitched noises.
Most drives whine if you listen to them closely. Usually it's masked by wooshing, rumbling (vibration), buzzing and other noises caused by the HDD and rest of the system. Both of my Hitachis whine, mostly noticaeble in low-rpm mode when wooshing noise is lowered in volume. My Maxtors whine and one of them whines loudly. One of my Samsungs (PL40) whine so loudly I can easily hear it across the room. I think my P80 and F1 might have a very faint trace of whine. Samsung laptop drive definitely whines. WD makes odd hissing that's almost so high pitch that it could be considered a whine.
Majority of HDDs whine slightly if you listen to them closely, pressing your ear to the PCB. I wouldn't try RMA'ing faintly whining HDD... the support would consider that your hearing is broken, not the HDD. And I kind of agree with them.
Yeah, whining is annoying but we need to cope with it by tolerating it or insulating it. Decoupling helps with low-frequency noise but high-frequency whine needs enclosing to get rid of it.
I don't get why so often playing with AAM is suggested for whining electronics, loud turbulent noise, vibration or screaming bearings. These all occur at idle, and AAM is only about controlling seeks. If the drive made a self-diagnostic buzzing once in a while, AAM might have an effect by slowing down seeks.
Running diagnostics to determine condition of HDD isn't a bad thing to do, especially as drives tend to have higher chance of starting deterioration during first few weeks of use. I would probably test it from within Windows, though. HDDScan can do all the tests ESTOOL does: short SMART test and long SMART test. It can also do some extra tests: SMART offline data collection routine, verify scan, read scan and write scan.
If HDDScan detects a fault, then run ESTOOL to get confirmation and the TRC (Technical Resource Code) or whatever they call it, which is needed to make RMA for the faulty disk. But I don't think you'll find the HDD to be in error condition. SMART can monitor physical wear by measuring things like spin-up time, seek time, read errors, etc. but it cannot predict failure of electronical components. Whining on modern HDDs is typically caused by electronics as bearings no longer make high-pitched noises.
Most drives whine if you listen to them closely. Usually it's masked by wooshing, rumbling (vibration), buzzing and other noises caused by the HDD and rest of the system. Both of my Hitachis whine, mostly noticaeble in low-rpm mode when wooshing noise is lowered in volume. My Maxtors whine and one of them whines loudly. One of my Samsungs (PL40) whine so loudly I can easily hear it across the room. I think my P80 and F1 might have a very faint trace of whine. Samsung laptop drive definitely whines. WD makes odd hissing that's almost so high pitch that it could be considered a whine.
Majority of HDDs whine slightly if you listen to them closely, pressing your ear to the PCB. I wouldn't try RMA'ing faintly whining HDD... the support would consider that your hearing is broken, not the HDD. And I kind of agree with them.
Yeah, whining is annoying but we need to cope with it by tolerating it or insulating it. Decoupling helps with low-frequency noise but high-frequency whine needs enclosing to get rid of it.
whiic,
perhaps the term "whine" is a bit vague and we are talking about different things; I also said "tonal noise", but the term isn't strong enough:
In fact the noise _is_ a tone (~2950HZ) that sounds like a pure sine wave. It is soft but piercing and travels very far. It can easily be heard across the room. I'm not so sure that the tone is caused by electronics. When the drives spin up, both of them have a hint of that frequency. With the drive I'm complaining about that frequency gets more and more pronounced, whereas in the other drive the frequency drops off completely.
As for RMAing the drive: I want to be very clear that hearing this tone is not a matter of "pressing the ear against the PCB". In a _silent_ room it can still be heard across the room with the drive resting on a soft surface outside the case. If mounted rigidly inside the case, the tone is louder, since the case seems to amplify it. I'll try suspending, but I'm not expecting much.
As I said above, we might not be talking about the same thing, but the hard drives I had so far (old school Seagate Barracudas) did not produce pure sine tones. The other poster in this thread said that his F1s didn't have the problem. If this noise had appeared within the return period (only seven days here), I certainly would have returned the drive. So, I disagree that we have to cope with noises like that.
perhaps the term "whine" is a bit vague and we are talking about different things; I also said "tonal noise", but the term isn't strong enough:
In fact the noise _is_ a tone (~2950HZ) that sounds like a pure sine wave. It is soft but piercing and travels very far. It can easily be heard across the room. I'm not so sure that the tone is caused by electronics. When the drives spin up, both of them have a hint of that frequency. With the drive I'm complaining about that frequency gets more and more pronounced, whereas in the other drive the frequency drops off completely.
As for RMAing the drive: I want to be very clear that hearing this tone is not a matter of "pressing the ear against the PCB". In a _silent_ room it can still be heard across the room with the drive resting on a soft surface outside the case. If mounted rigidly inside the case, the tone is louder, since the case seems to amplify it. I'll try suspending, but I'm not expecting much.
As I said above, we might not be talking about the same thing, but the hard drives I had so far (old school Seagate Barracudas) did not produce pure sine tones. The other poster in this thread said that his F1s didn't have the problem. If this noise had appeared within the return period (only seven days here), I certainly would have returned the drive. So, I disagree that we have to cope with noises like that.
High pitched noise
Hey i have 2 samsung spinpoint f1 320gb and i have the same problem as you have, the sound is so irritating. I have connected my harddrive directly to an external powersource outside of the computer and they still makes that noise. I know this thread is old but i just want to know if you managed to get rid of the problem?
Re: High pitched noise
Have you suspended both elastically and without change? Always suspend first and make sure that there is no contact what-so-ever between the drive and the cage. If ordinary suspension isn't enough, suspend a enclosure.amo13 wrote:Hey i have 2 samsung spinpoint f1 320gb and i have the same problem as you have, the sound is so irritating. I have connected my harddrive directly to an external powersource outside of the computer and they still makes that noise. I know this thread is old but i just want to know if you managed to get rid of the problem?