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WD Black HDD loud whining noise during shutdown

niceman199
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Hey guys. So I purchased a 1TB Western Digital Black about a month ago and whenever I turn off my computer, it has a very loud whining (almost screeching) noise coming from it. I know its the new HDD since disconnecting it does stop the noise from happening. I've ran WD diagnostics on it and it passed the SMART and extended tests. Apart from this noise at shutdown, the drive works just fine. I haven't heard any clicks of death noises from it either, only this high pitched noise. I can't seem to find anyone else with a similar problem so I've decided to try my luck here.

 

Is this noise a sign of a failing hard drive? I'm a bit hesitant to RMA the drive since I've heard horror stories that the refurbished drives that WD send back end up failing quickly.

 

Noise (starts at 0:04):

This noise can be clearly heard even when my case is closed.

 

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The WD black I owned did not do this. must be defective; return it.

             ☼

ψ ︿_____︿_ψ_   

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@Captain_WD

 

@niceman199

is the HDD in a secure spot are you using a HDD caddy?

 

does the drive makes any noise during the test?

 

sounds more like the drive spindle is spinning down but it may seem the bearings may be the problem

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, niceman199 said:

~snip~

Hi there :) Welcome to the community! 

 

If the drive passes WD DLG's tests it should be safe to use. Could you get the S.M.A.R.T. status with the raw values and post them here? 

I would try moving the drive around the case and try it out with different SATA and power cables and see if the sounds persist. Also, if you can, try the drive on another computer. 

As @dragoon20005 and @SCHISCHKA suggested, the drive could be defective and RMAing it may be the best thing to do here. 

 

Post back with some more info :)  

 

Thanks dragoon for the mention! 

 

Captain_WD. 

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
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Thanks for the replies guys. So I put the drive on a different drive tray, put it on a different slot in the HDD drive bay(not sure what to call it but its where my HDDs are in the case), and used different power and SATA cables. The noise still happened at shutdown with no changes. The drive didn't make any odd noises during both tests. It's actually much quieter than my older 5 year old WB 1TB black that I was planning on replacing with this new one. I don't really have another computer to try the HDD unfortunately.

 

 

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18 hours ago, niceman199 said:

~snip~

The drive's S.M.A.R.T. status looks ОК so you should be safe using that drive. 

If you still want to RMA the drive you could check out this link. 

 

Captain_WD. 

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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20 minutes ago, Captain_WD said:

The drive's S.M.A.R.T. status looks so you should be safe using that drive. 

If you still want to RMA the drive you could check out this link. 

 

Captain_WD. 

Yeah maybe it is just best to RMA this drive. I just hope the RMA process goes smoothly...

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3 minutes ago, niceman199 said:

~snip~

Everything should go smooth and problem-free if you follow the guidelines. 

Let me know if you need help with this or if you encounter issues!

 

Captain_WD. 

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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This is bearing spin down noise. It may be due to lack excessive clearance in the bearings in the drive. Although not failing at the moment, it may have a shorter life expectancy due to the excessive clearances. IMHO I would see if it could be RMA' Ed as they always go at the most inopportune time.

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Hey guys. So I got the replacement drive today. There is still a spin down noise when shutting down but it doesn't seem nearly as loud as the first one. I've uploaded a video of it just to make sure that its normal. The replacement drive also seems slower then the original one. The original one transferred files pretty quickly but this one seems to be taking a while. It does pass the SMART test though.

Video (noises at 0:04 and 0:16)

 

 

Also, I've got a quick question about the RMA process. I did an advanced RMA so I got the replacement HDD first and now I need to ship out the old one. I wanted to use the same anti-static bag that came with the replacement but it isn't resealable. Would I just be able to put the old HDD in the anti-static bag and just tape it up? I do want to avoid buying a set of anti-static bags just for this.

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8 hours ago, niceman199 said:

~snip~

Please, delete the Serial Number of the drive from the screenshot as this information shouldn't be visible publicly. 

 

The S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive looks OK. 

 

You should be able to use the anti-static bag from the old drive. 

 

Try benchmarking the two drives and see if the new one is really performing slower. 

 

Captain_WD. 

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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1 hour ago, Captain_WD said:

Please, delete the Serial Number of the drive from the screenshot as this information shouldn't be visible publicly. 

 

The S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive looks OK. 

 

You should be able to use the anti-static bag from the old drive. 

 

Try benchmarking the two drives and see if the new one is really performing slower. 

 

Captain_WD. 

Sorry about that, didn't know serial numbers needed to be hidden. Did a quick benchmark on both drives with CystalDiskMark. The refurbished one is slower than the original one but shouldn't both these drives be getting around 180 MB/s? They both seem really slow compared to benchmarks online.

 

Original Drive:

 

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) :   131.315 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) :   132.612 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :     1.458 MB/s [   356.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :     1.666 MB/s [   406.7 IOPS]
Sequential Read (T= 1) :   142.808 MB/s
Sequential Write (T= 1) :   137.346 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :     0.516 MB/s [   126.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :     1.581 MB/s [   386.0 IOPS]

 

Refurbished Drive:

 

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) :   125.989 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) :   115.640 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :     1.969 MB/s [   480.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :     1.856 MB/s [   453.1 IOPS]
Sequential Read (T= 1) :   129.172 MB/s
Sequential Write (T= 1) :   118.284 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :     0.609 MB/s [   148.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :     1.831 MB/s [   447.0 IOPS]

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Hey guys, I have one last question about this RMA. So it says I need to put the RMA label on the box but I can't seem to find the RMA label. All I can see is my RMA status and the RMA premailer.  The RMA premailer just gives me the UPS label and packaging instructions, I don't see a RMA label anywhere.

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