Which hard drive is the least noisy. Why is the hard drive making noise? Reducing Hard Drive Cracking with AAM

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. At all, HDD(HDD) is a mechanical device, and any HDD will make noise when operating. 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:

1. if the old disk began to make noise, which used to work without noise (this is an alarming symptom - first of all, immediately make all important files from disk);
2. noise appeared in the form of: knocking, strong clicks, rattle, etc. (this all also indicates a problem with the mechanics);
3. if, when a cod appears, the computer starts to freeze, Windows does not respond to your clicks;
4. you periodically do not open and read files, the disk is noisy at the same time.

All of the above symptoms point to possible hardware problems with the drive (in most cases), and without replacing it with a new drive, the noise cannot be eliminated. Therefore, I recommend that after the backup, look at the 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:

1. 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;
2. consume less energy (for example, a laptop will work 10-15% longer without recharging);
3. not so much afraid of shaking and vibration (again, a plus for laptops);
4. 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 load (this may be indicated, for example, by the operation indicator LED hard drive) - then try to find out which application loads it, and then turn it off.

Very often, the disk can be loaded with applications that you do not need. For example, when Windows boots up, uTorrent is loaded with several hundred torrents: it may take 5-10 minutes for all of them to be checked! And all this time the disk will be heavily loaded.

The easiest and fastest way to find out about the applications that are loading 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 as 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 drive 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 the desired drive and open it properties(see screenshot below).

By the way, defragmenting and cleaning the disk from garbage can be done in auto mode, there are special utilities for this. Link to the utilities recommended by me - see below.

To help!

The best programs for Windows optimizations -

If it was not noisy before, but now it is noisy - this is not normal. A properly working disk may emit a slight uniform noise / whistle and frequent, not too loud clicks during reading / writing (such a slight uneven rattling, these are magnetic heads moving).

If the disk rattles, vibrates - this is very bad. He most likely won't last long. Theoretically, the reason could be that it is loose (and then it rattles along with your drive bay, the walls of which (bay) are not strong enough to hold the drive during its operation). I have seen such mention. But it's hard for me to imagine how fragile, "cardboard" the walls of the mounts must be for this to happen. Except for the case when you installed a 3-inch hard drive in a 5-inch bay in a makeshift way (for this, a special adapter mount must be used, such a 3-inch bay inserted inside a 5-inch one). In this case, rattling is just likely.

If it's not the mount, then (aside from all the super-exotic once-in-a-million options) the drive is faulty. If it's under warranty, change it. If it is clearly rattling (not humming evenly, but rattling), this is a malfunction, so they must be changed. If the disc is out of warranty, then you can no longer count on it. Do backup all important data and get ready for the fact that he could die at any moment. When my hard drive started to make suspicious noise, I immediately bought a new one, copied all the important information to it, and put the old drive in the cabinet (in case I forgot to rewrite some important information).

You can also check the status ("health") of the disk (this information is collected by the disk itself during operation, the technology is called S.M.A.R.T. or SMART). It collects information about the number of different errors during the operation of the disk (a small number of errors is perfectly normal). To display this information, most likely, you will need a special program. I can’t suggest a convenient program (if you know English, you can search for hdd health check). However, caution should be exercised. If the disk is out of order, prolonged active disk operation during an in-depth check (not just showing the statistics collected by SMART, but testing the disk operation) can be the drop that will lead to a sharp deterioration in the disk's condition.

If the disc is just making a little noise, then it's noise from the drive (motor) (or maybe the bearings). Given that the disc is spinning at under 10,000 rpm, it's to be expected that it's a bit noisy.

I have an old computer at work. Today I heard some kind of vibration several times. Toist something rattled in the system unit. Since the system is open, I looked in there, listened, it really buzzed something, it looks like a vibration, it buzzes a couple of times and then it works. I can’t figure out what it is buzzing, but I have Word turned on and during its operation the cooler buzzes very strongly, the sound is as if it sounds like a ringing. And in the morning, after turning on the computer and loading it, for some reason we rebooted it ourselves. Moreover, I did not include anything on it. What could it be, I would like to know. Everything that I type on the computer in Word I save to a USB flash drive. But this is after the end of the working day. But now I'll probably save everything on a flash drive after the hard drive vibrates. Since my work computer is likely to break soon.

To answer

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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 system block 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 earlier your PC worked stably and there were no extraneous noises, and now the hard drive is cracking, you should copy all the important information from it and check it.

Get rid of hard drive crash

If your hard drive is cracking, there are two ways to fix this problem:

• 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".

In order not to run this utility every time before starting to use programs and applications, it is worth adding 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:

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

According to statistics, after about 6 years, every second HDD stops working, but practice shows that after 2-3 years, malfunctions may appear in the operation of the hard disk. One of the common problems is the situation when the drive cracks or even beeps. Even if this was noticed only once, certain measures should be taken to protect against possible data loss.

A working hard drive should not have any extraneous sounds during operation. It makes some noise, resembling a buzz, when information is being written or read. For example, when downloading files, running programs in the background, updating, launching games, applications, etc. There should be no knocks, clicks, squeaks and cod.

If the user observes sounds unusual for the hard drive, it is very important to find out the cause of their occurrence.

Checking the status of the hard drive

Often, a user who runs the HDD health diagnostic utility can hear clicks that the device makes. This is not dangerous, because in this way the drive can simply mark the so-called bad sectors.

If the rest of the time there are no clicks or other sounds, operating system works stably and the speed of the HDD itself has not fallen, then there is no reason to worry.

Switching to power saving mode

If you have turned on the power saving mode, and when the system goes into it, you hear the clicks of the hard drive, then this is normal. If you turn off the corresponding settings, clicks will no longer appear.

Power outages

Power surges can also cause the hard drive to click, and if there is no problem the rest of the time, then everything is in order with the drive. Notebook users may also experience various unusual HDD sounds when running on battery power. If the clicks disappear when the laptop is connected to the network, then the battery may be defective and should be replaced with a new one.

Overheat

For various reasons, the hard drive may overheat, and a sign of this condition will be various non-standard sounds that it makes. How to understand that the disk is overheating? This usually happens under load, for example, during games or long-term recording on the HDD.

In this case, it is necessary to measure the temperature of the drive. This can be done using the HWMonitor or AIDA64 programs.

Other signs of overheating are freezing of programs or the entire OS, a sudden reboot, or a complete shutdown of the PC.

Consider the main causes of high HDD temperature and how to eliminate it:

Servo marking damage

At the production stage, servo marks are recorded on the HDD, which are necessary for synchronizing the rotation of the disks and the correct positioning of the heads. Servo marks are rays that start from the center of the disk itself and are located at the same distance from each other. Each of these labels stores its number, its place in the synchronization chain and other information. This is necessary for the stable rotation of the disk and the accurate determination of its areas.

A servo label is a collection of servo labels, and when it is damaged, some area of ​​the HDD cannot be read. The device will then try to read the information, and this process will be accompanied not only by long delays in the system, but also by a loud knock. In this case, the disk head knocks, which tries to access the damaged servo.

This is a very complex and serious breakdown in which the HDD can work, but not 100%. You can fix the damage only with the help of a servowriter, that is, low-level formatting. Unfortunately, there are no programs for this that offer a real “low level format”. Any such utility can only create the appearance of low-level formatting. The thing is that the formatting itself at a low level is carried out by a special device (servowriter), which applies servo markup. As already clear, no program can perform the same function.

Cable deformation or defective connector

In some cases, the cause of the clicks may be the cable through which the drive is connected. Check its physical integrity - whether it is interrupted, whether both plugs are tightly held. If possible, replace the cable with a new one and check the quality of work.

Also inspect the connectors for dust and debris. If possible, connect the hard drive cable to a different connector on the motherboard.

Wrong position of the hard drive

Sometimes the snag lies just in the wrong installation of the disk. It must be bolted very tightly and must be located exclusively horizontally. If you put the device at an angle or do not fix it, then the head during operation can cling and make sounds like clicks.

By the way, if there are several disks, it is best to mount them at a distance from each other. This will help them to cool better and eliminate the possible appearance of sounds.

physical breakdown

A hard drive is a very fragile device, and it is afraid of any impacts such as falls, shocks, strong shocks, vibrations. This is especially true for laptop owners - mobile computers, due to the negligence of users, more often than stationary ones fall, hit, withstand heavy weights, shaking and other adverse conditions. One day this can lead to drive failure. Usually, in this case, the disk heads break, and their recovery can be performed by a specialist.

Ordinary HDDs that are not subjected to any manipulations can also fail. It is enough for a particle of dust to get inside the device under the writing head, as this can cause creaking or other sounds.

You can determine the problem by the nature of the sounds emitted by the hard drive. Of course, this does not replace a qualified examination and diagnosis, but it can be useful:

• Damage to the HDD head - a few clicks are emitted, after which the device starts to work more slowly. Also, with a certain frequency, sounds that continue for some time may occur;
• The spindle is faulty - the disk starts to start, but in the end this process is interrupted;
• Bad sectors - there may be unreadable areas on the disk (on physical level that cannot be eliminated by software methods).

What to do if the clicks cannot be fixed on your own

In some cases, the user cannot not only get rid of clicks, but also diagnose their cause. There are only two options for how to do it:

1. Buying a new HDD. If the problematic hard drive is still working, then you can try to clone the system with all user files. In fact, you will only replace the media itself, and all your files and OS will work as before.

   If this is not yet possible, you can at least save the most important data to other sources of information storage: USB-flash, cloud storage, external HDD, etc.

2. Contacting a specialist. Repair physical damage hard drives very costly and usually meaningless. Especially when it comes to standard hard drives (installed in a PC at the time of purchase) or bought independently for little money.

   However, if there is very important information on the disk, then the specialist will help to “get” it and copy it to a new HDD. With a pronounced problem of clicks and other sounds, it is recommended to contact professionals who can recover data using software and hardware systems. Independent actions can only aggravate the situation and lead to the complete loss of files and documents.

We have analyzed the main problems due to which the hard drive can click. In practice, everything is very individual, and in your case a non-standard problem may arise, for example, a jammed engine.

Finding out for yourself what caused the clicks can be very difficult. If you do not have sufficient knowledge and experience, we advise you to contact specialists or purchase and install a new hard drive yourself.

Most recently, I already told you about the ways you can. In particular, the article talked about a program that can control coolers in your system unit. But, coolers are still half the trouble. For most users, a lot of noise comes from the hard drive. Moreover, some hard drives so loud that they are the main cause of noise from the computer.

But, in fact, there is nothing wrong with this. After all, a hard drive, also called a hard drive, is a mechanical device in which there are several rotating disks, in fact, which make noise. Internal drives are similar to regular CDs, but they work in a completely different way.

Thanks to the magnetic heads inside the hard disk, information is read. During this process, the disks move and create noise. For some users, hard drives rumble, for someone they crack and even scream, then you. The noise emitted depends on the hard drive model and the stability of the computer case. If the case of the system unit is cheap and its walls are thin, then the noise from the hard drive will be transmitted throughout the case. Loose parts will vibrate, creating even more noise.

In order to reduce crackling, you can do the following:

• Replace an old noisy hard drive with a new one after learning about its noise level.
• Use the AAM settings to change the acoustic noise level.
• Check the soundproofing of the housing. Perhaps the problem is in it and after replacing it with a new one, the computer will work quieter.
• Install the hard drive on special soundproof pads or use a soundproof case for the drive.
• Defragment your hard drive. But not the fact that this procedure will help you. And if, after it is carried out, the hard drive starts to work quieter, then soon the noise will return again.

Reducing Hard Drive Cracking with AAM

Any hard drive has a feature such as controlling its noise level using the internal AAM setting. (Automatic Acoustic Management). The principle of this setting is very simple: the speed of movement of the heads is reduced, which allows the hard disk to work many times quieter. But, such a setting reduces not only the noise level, but also the speed of the hard drive as a whole.

Here it is already necessary to choose what is more important for you - the speed of the hard drive or the noise from it. Perhaps, after setting up, you will not notice how the speed of the hard drive has dropped, but there will be no cod during operation.

In order for you to be able to start adjusting the volume of the hard drive, you need to download the "WinAAM" program. This program is completely free and it is better to download it from the official site.

The program has a Russian interface and for work, you do not need to install it. Run it directly from the archive and configure it. After opening the program, you will see a window with options for choosing the program.

You need to press the "continue" button. We do not go into the security settings at all, since they will not be able to affect the noisy hard work disk.

When you run the program, you will see that the first line will say "noise control is not active at the moment". You will need to select "Quiet/Standard (128)" to set the "silent" that the program has a range of values ​​from 0 to 255, you need to select the "Quiet / Loud" value, since intermediate options are not displayed at work and hard disk noise reduction. It is for this reason that the program has only one button you need, so as not to rack your brains with choosing a value for the effective operation of the program.

After the value is set, the program will automatically close. You need to run it again and click the "continue" button, and then "check".

After the program has run, you will see a window that will contain all the information about the chaotic movement of the hard disk read head, and you will hear how your hard disk will sound in a new way. I'm sure the hard drive will start to work much quieter. For comparison, you can press the "Loud(254)" button and hear what noise the hard drive was working with before all the settings.

By clicking on the same button, you will return all the standard settings and the hard drive will continue to work at the same speed.

If this program will not detect your hard drive, then I recommend using "HD Tune" the essence is the same.

Actually, that's all. Now you can independently control the noise level of your hard drive. If the hard drive is accompanied by crackling and various kinds of clicks, then I definitely recommend using any of the programs to make the hard drive work quieter if the noise bothers you. Thank you for being with us!