Samsung F3 1TB whine?

[likwidsh0k]

Hi,

I recently bought a Samsung F3 1 TB drive - HD103SJ - and when installed and intermittently it gets this whining sound. A faint but audible and continuous cycling hum/whine that goes for about 1.5 seconds with a brief pause. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.

The rest of my PC is silent so in my quiet room it is very noticeable.

I am now in the process of seeing if I can get a replacement and wonder if this is a fault with the drive? Had read somewhere about acoustic management, but not sure if that would fix it.

Also a bit of history - I had previously bought 2 160g Samsung drives years ago and after about 18 months one of developed the same hum. I never got it checked because soon after replace them with much bigger drives.

As a result I had sworn off Samsung back then and only bought this because needed a new sys drive asap and were out of WD. But every other drive I own is WD and reading these are brilliant drives and that the similar WD is a bot noisy, and this when not humming is very quiet.

Thanks

Cheers,
Lik

[Vicotnik]

Have you ruled out vibrations that gets amplified by the case?

[likwidsh0k]

Have you ruled out vibrations that gets amplified by the case?

I've had the case for about 10 years and all brands and different sizes of drives over the years and only this one and one of the old 160g made this noise? And the noise is identical. Also it is a very good case with removal HDD cages that lock into place.

I have had the case opened and used a wooden ruler against the drive and to my ear and it sounds like the drive. Also is intermittent in that nothing changes and can come back to the computer and it is whining again for a few hours.

I installed it 2 weeks ago and made the sound at first then was fine for about 10 days, then out of the blue started making the noises. And has been off and on again for the last couple of days.

Tough thing is Samsung in Australia have no support for HDDs so just gave me the replacement webpage, and no forum either to post to see if anyone at Samsung is aware or willing to admit or can explain it.. if it is indeed a fault.

[themaster1]

1TB that's something consequent. My sumsung is 200 gb, no whining (i have another 250gb no whining). On the contrary i have 2 x 500gb Seagate they do whine a little.
You might try to disable the option "allow indexing" on this drive (right click + properties)

[Vicotnik]

I've had the case for about 10 years and all brands and different sizes of drives over the years and only this one and one of the old 160g made this noise?

Well Samsung drives have vibrated more than other brands in my experience. But that is the only negative thing I have to say about them really. If the HDD is hard mounted and not suspended in any way that can cause "wave-humming" or what you want to call it. More than one HDD can together cause it too, even if they don't do it individually.
I don't know what case you have but modern cases often has better HDD mounting than older ones. Try to isolate the HDD from the case and see if the problem disappears. Put it on a foam brick in the bottom of the case for a few days or something.

[likwidsh0k]

I've had the case for about 10 years and all brands and different sizes of drives over the years and only this one and one of the old 160g made this noise?

Well Samsung drives have vibrated more than other brands in my experience. But that is the only negative thing I have to say about them really. If the HDD is hard mounted and not suspended in any way that can cause "wave-humming" or what you want to call it. More than one HDD can together cause it too, even if they don't do it individually.
I don't know what case you have but modern cases often has better HDD mounting than older ones. Try to isolate the HDD from the case and see if the problem disappears. Put it on a foam brick in the bottom of the case for a few days or something.

Thanks for the ideas

This morning had to restart so removed the drive and rechecked/tightened the screws. Rebooted and is there again.

I will try removing it from the case and see. Tough when it is intermittent or was but not as much now and need to figure this out because 2 weeks later the retailer with a 7 day DOA has offered to still replace it for me.

Cheers,
Lik

Update: Ok after starting the PC twice this morning and both times have the whining, just now I removed the HDD from the case and connected it up and restarted and no whine. Not conclusive but does seem to be the case?? So old drive was ok too :embarrassmnet:

The drive is like any and is a tight fit in the cage.. is there any kind of washer or whatever I can put between the drive and cage? Or whats the best option?

Update2: Scratch that whine/hum is still there, but now it is very faint. Maybe was being amplified a bit by the case.
Yep sitting here now the hum/whine is definitely still there

Thanks alot for you help.

[likwidsh0k]

Latest update isolated the drive from the case sitting on foam and noise is there.. clearly when the drive powers down to sleep there is silence.

Also discovered when moving the drive towards the case and the sata cable touched the case it would rattle slightly to the vibration. Then found touching the sata cable I could feel the cyclical humms vibration.

Getting it replaced today.

[likwidsh0k]

Interesting reply I got in another forum..

"I warned people about this problem with the Samsungs many many times before, in previous posts about hard drives. It is a common problem, but many people don't post about it because many people aren't anal about noise (I'm on the other hand very particular about noise). A warranty manager of a large computer store even told me specifically to avoid the Samsungs.

The problem is the drive itself. Replacing it probably won't fix the problem, you'll just get another hard drive with the same problem. Samsung refuses to admit that this is a problem with their hard drives. Let me save you time – the case isn't causing the noise, and neither do harmonics cause it (suspending the hard drives won't help too). Do what I did, return the drive, get a refund, and get another drive.

It could be that the noise is due to some kind of incompatibility between the Samsung and other hard drives plugged into your computer, because mine didn't hum when they were on their own. But who uses just Samsung drives exclusively?

..

Well the moment you mix in any other brand hard drive (especially Western Digital), expect to hear some strange whining noises from the Samsungs."

All my other drives are WD

[Cryoburner]

I have a 160GB Samsung and a 640GB WD in my current desktop, and I'm not experiencing any perceptible 'whine' from the drives. I find them to be rather quiet, actually. Mine are mounted using the soft rubber grommets built into the drive bays of an Antec Sonata case though, so hard mounting might produce different results.

My guess is that if there were any effect, especially a pulsing whine like you describe, it would probably be due to the harmonic interaction between the vibration of the two drives, or maybe even with case fans. Since you mention hearing it when the sata cable touches the case, perhaps that's vibrating against some surface, amplifying the sound. There are other things it could be too, though I suppose it's possible the drive could in fact be having issues. If it were a common problem though, I think others here would have probably noticed it at some point.

[likwidsh0k]

Yeah I think some soft rubber grommets inbetween the drive and case might make a difference, I think having metal on metal combined with this all WD drives might be a problem. But even when sitting on the foam outside the case it was making an audible whine.

Yeah I am too a bit surprised more people here haven't made any comment of similar issues as this is the one place I would expect if any issues to be voiced here.

[rotor]

I recently bought a Samsung F3 1 TB drive - HD103SJ - and when installed and intermittently it gets this whining sound. A faint but audible and continuous cycling hum/whine that goes for about 1.5 seconds with a brief pause. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.

I just got a 1TB F3 and have exactly the same problem. VERY annoying! I only bought the Samsung because of recommendations on this board, so maybe it only affects some drives and not others? Hopefully I can send it back and get a WD.

[likwidsh0k]

I recently bought a Samsung F3 1 TB drive - HD103SJ - and when installed and intermittently it gets this whining sound. A faint but audible and continuous cycling hum/whine that goes for about 1.5 seconds with a brief pause. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.

I just got a 1TB F3 and have exactly the same problem. VERY annoying! I only bought the Samsung because of recommendations on this board, so maybe it only affects some drives and not others? Hopefully I can send it back and get a WD.

Couldn't agree more, VERY annoying! Worst thing is the intermittent, it can be perfectly silent for a week then out of the blue.. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm

Since it seems as though my only other option now is the WD1002FAEX which may be louder, and I use an old case with a metal cage and screws to secure the drive.. what would be my best option to isolate or reduce the noise of this drive? EDIT: Sorry guys just saw the stickies. EDIT2; Scratch that just felt the sata cable and no vibrations so, whine/hum isn't just case combo thing but actual intermittent vibrations within the drive which to me does indicate a faulty drive and do want it replaced. This is a nightmare!

Thanks

[Das_Saunamies]

If you can't get a drive replaced, there's always the internal enclosures you can put it in to isolate the noise. Just be sure to check the temperature for a few days.

Personally I don't trust Samsung. Every drive of theirs I have had or have heard has hummed. It's not as bad when they're solo, but in conjunction with other drives in a case with poor isolation/dampening it gets mad. To a silence enthusiast it's like living next to your very own power generator.

The WDs I made the switch to made more head noise, but I could live with that since it's intermittent and lets me know the drive is working. None have ever hummed; I don't know if the motors are better or the casing more sturdy, but that's how it's been. The constant noise from the Samsungs drove me crazy, and I don't really feel like buying an HDD from the same people who made my microwave.

Edit 1: fixed an indefinite article.

[Modo]

I have two older Samsung drives (250 GB and 500 GB), and both behave the same. No high-pitched noises, but strong vibrations even when idle. Soft-mounting the larger one vertically helped a lot, but its buzz is still the loudest noise in my PC (audible late at night only, but you know). Maybe a soft-mounted SQD would be better, but that's a lot of space and hassle.

[misterd]

I have 2x 2TB Samsung F3 and 1x 1TB Samsung F1 in a machine with a few 1TB WD Black and don't notice any unusual noises.