Raptor buzz sound ?

[Admiral]

My drive is making a buzz noise, I'm not sure if it was there when I got it, I seem to remember it wasn't.
Between the fans (4x 80mm) noise and hdd access while recording the mp3, there is a buzz. Took me a while to pinpoint the sound source.
Somehow, I don't think it's normal, should I go service it ?

[Jon P. Inghram]

I remember when my old 7200 rpm 10 gig Maxtor drive suddendly started making that noise all the time. It got to the point where the computer would lock up with the HD just going CLICK CLICK, CLICK CLICK, CLICK CLICK. Then it magicly fixed itself, and has been working fine for years.

[Admiral]

I got this drive in early June and I remember starting hearing the sound in late July, so it's been going for a few months.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I'd suggest getting a new HD if you can afford it and then only use the old one for (very) non-critical uses, that's what we did. If it clears up on it's own then you've just delayed that annoying "not enough storage space" problem. If it bites the dust instead, you've avoided the annoying "Aw hell, my computer is totally fubar" problem. Oh, and buy a new HD cable first and see if that helps, I had one go bad from wire flexing at the connectors and horribly corrupt data on both HD's that were using it.

Or, if it's still under warranty, get it replaced that way.

[Admiral]

It's a SATA enterprise edition drive that has a 5 year waranty.

[Marshmallowman]

Probably not this, but sometimes badly fragged drives can make some pretty funky seek noises.

However since it may be the drive itself I would make a good backup before defragging the drive, since if it is a drive fault defragging will probably bring it its knees.... which may be a good idea, eg force the fault now before it sneaks back and bites you on the ass

Does WD have a drive fitness test you could use?

[Jon P. Inghram]

You might try running WDC's diagnostic software too, couldn't hurt. They'd want you to run it before they approve an RMA anyway.

[Admiral]

WD's fitness tool is called Data LifeGuard Diagnostics and it passed both the quick test and extended test, in Windows and DOS mode.
I've defraged, scanned and moved large files from one partition to another, I've reinstalled Windows a couple of times. No problems, no erros whatsoever, just the annoying sound.
I'll backup my data and go service it this week or next.