WD1002FAEX Rumble noise?

A while ago my WD1001FALS developed uncorrectable sectors according to SMART. Since it was still very much under warranty, I got a replacement. This was a WD1002FAEX. I’m a bit confused about certain sounds this one is making.

When mostly writing or reading, the disk makes the usual chatter. But then after the I/O operation, there’s a low rumbling noise like a perculating rumble for a few seconds. Almost like slowly dropping rocks in a plastic 5 gallon bucket. The FALS used to make this sound too but it wasn’t as loud and resonating as this one. So far, the noise does not happen as long as there’s no I/O on the disk.

Searching this place, I found a few threads. This one in particular: http://community.wdc.com/t5/External-Drives-for-PC/My-take-on-PWL-noise-and-customer-support/m-p/434914/highlight/true#M12050

Am what I’m hearing is this noise?

I know what the damaged head knock sounds like, just not on these models. It passes SMART and the quick test.

I wonder if its the disk motor? It make a similar noise on the short test along with a hum for a brief time.

It’s probably your OS moving things in and out of swap Space.  

You can tell by opening resource monitor and looking at disk usage to see what’s accessing the disk.

There is no OS on this drive. Its only file storage. I use a SSD for my OS where the swap file resides.

Use some utility to determine if any disk activity is happening. Could even be disk indexing. Who’s to say without further info? It could be the wear leveling and scanning. Some disks have faster actuators, and thus make more noise. It’s always hard to describe noises unless you get a microphone going. I would say that if the noise is like a rhythmic shoving and pushing sound then it’s wear leveling.

In the meantime, why not keep an eye on the SMART values, be sure they are stable. Why not post them here for us to see? Run an extended read test overnight when you have the time.

Ohh, and the hum and buzz on the short test is the head seeking randomly, and doing microstepping, and butterfly style seek. Yep. Look it up.

As I mentioned in my post above, the rumble happens shortly after the I/O operation ceases. I confirmed it with Task Manager in Windows 8.

The hum occurs at the beginning of the short test which just sounds like the disk motor revving up to full speed for a few seconds.

SMART:

1    Read Error Rate    0    200    200    51    0x000000000000
3    Spin-Up Time    4066 ms    178    173    21    0x000000000FE2
4    Start/Stop Count    165    100    100    0    0x0000000000A5
5    Reallocated Sectors Count    0    200    200    140    0x000000000000
7    Seek Error Rate    0    100    253    0    0x000000000000
9    Power-On Hours (POH)    78d 21h    98    98    0    0x000000000765
10    Spin Retry Count    0    100    100    0    0x000000000000
11    Recalibration Retries    0    100    100    0    0x000000000000
12    Power Cycle Count    160    100    100    0    0x0000000000A0
192    Power-off Retract Count    44    200    200    0    0x00000000002C
193    Load Cycle Count    120    200    200    0    0x000000000078
194    Temperature    32 °C    115    106    0    0x000000000020
196    Reallocation Event Count    0    200    200    0    0x000000000000
197    Current Pending Sector Count    0    200    200    0    0x000000000000
198    Uncorrectable Sector Count    0    200    200    0    0x000000000000
199    UltraDMA CRC Error Count    0    200    200    0    0x000000000000
200    Multi-Zone Error Rate    4    200    200    0    0x000000000004

Intel RST also gives me a warning about resetting the device.

Warning    1/15/2013 5:15:03 PM    iaStorA    129    None

Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort1, was issued.

Still not sure what that’s about yet. Searches done says its the cable being loose, but I’ve checked them and they’re snug. Next step is to replace it with another good sata cable.

Briefly, the multi-zone error rate is raising my personal red flag. I am very busy at the moment, so I invite someone to do an explanation.

the value of my spin up time is 2308 yours is close to double that hmmm

i have the same drive and i too got it from from an rma / refurb.

did they give you a warranty on it ?

because i received mine with a 3 month waranty and the drive i RMA was close to half way in on a 3 year warranty.

*supposedly i’m supposed to have the remainder of my old warranty added in 2 months if it isn’t they will be hearing from me lol

This drive is NOISEY

many people get rid of em because of that too

look at teh feedback on places like Newegg and you’ll see its a common complaint

not sure if yours is faulty just sayin…

There’s really no technical or engineering need for a disk to rumble like these do. If you want to scan for bad tracks you step through them one at a time, in sequence. This would then become a silent operation.

It would be as quiet as a full format or zeroing operation!

WD10EARS wrote:

the value of my spin up time is 2308 yours is close to double that hmmm

i have the same drive and i too got it from from an rma / refurb.

 

did they give you a warranty on it ?

because i received mine with a 3 month waranty and the drive i RMA was close to half way in on a 3 year warranty.

*supposedly i’m supposed to have the remainder of my old warranty added in 2 months if it isn’t they will be hearing from me lol

 

This drive is NOISEY

many people get rid of em because of that too

look at teh feedback on places like Newegg and you’ll see its a common complaint

 

not sure if yours is faulty just sayin…

When I RMA’d my 1001FALS it was about 3 years in (give or take). They sent me this 1002FAEX and applied the remaining warranty which I think is about 2 more years.

I suppose I should talk to one of the support guys. The Multizone Error Rate doesn’t kill the rating in every SMART software I throw at it. According to WinDLG only Spin Up, Reallocation and Raw Read Error  is in the warranty.

Here’s the SMART data from HD Sentinel:



    S.M.A.R.T.
   ------------
No.  Attribute                Thre… Value  Worst  Data                Status                   Flags                                                  
1    Raw Read Error Rate      51     200    200    000000000000        OK                       Self Preserving, Error-Rate, Performance, Statistica…
3    Spin Up Time             21     175    173    000000001089        OK                       Self Preserving, Performance, Statistical, Critical    
4    Start/Stop Count         0      100    100    0000000000BF        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
5    Reallocated Sectors Co… 140    200    200    000000000000        OK                       Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical, Critical    
7    Seek Error Rate          0      200    200    000000000000        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Error-Rate, Performance, Statistical  
9    Power On Time Count      0      98     98     000000000810        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
10   Spin Retry Count         0      100    100    000000000000        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
11   Drive Calibration Retr… 0      100    100    000000000000        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
12   Drive Power Cycle Count  0      100    100    0000000000B2        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
192  Power off Retract Cycl… 0      200    200    00000000002C        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
193  Load/Unload Cycle Count  0      200    200    000000000092        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
194  Disk Temperature         0      109    106    000000000026        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Statistical                           
196  Reallocation Event Count 0      200    200    000000000000        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
197  Current Pending Sector… 0      200    200    000000000000        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
198  Off-Line Uncorrectable… 0      200    200    000000000000        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count                           
199  Ultra ATA CRC Error Co… 0      200    200    000000000000        OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
200  Write Error Rate         0      200    200    000000000004        OK (Always passing)      Error-Rate                            

The Spin Up Time seems to be consistent with other users.

http://www.highdots.net/pc-storage-devices/motherboard-causing-hd-problem-232843.html
03 Spin Up Time 21 174 170 4258

http://hardforum.com/archive/index.php/t-1570269.html
03 170 169 _21 00000000118B Spin-Up Time (0x118B = 4491)

http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/forum/printer_friendly_posts.asp?TID=6888
(03) Spin Up Time 180 171 21 3991

http://www.computerbase.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=193582&d=1278785402
(03) Spin Up Time 184 173 21 3758

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Comp/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage/2012-09/msg00074.html
03 Spin Up Time 21 173 171 4333

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop-Portable-Drives/WD1002FAEX-s-m-a-r-t/td-p/230216
3 Spin-up time 173 170 21 4308

First of all do a full backup of your drive. Did you hear this noise before? If you did not, I would recommend you to replace the hard drive