Crimson 0 Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 This purchase started with my current HDD (a WD 80G) that around two or three nights ago, all of a sudden, started to make the most annoying, LOUD, humming sound. It could be heard from corners of my house. I consider this to be a problem. The sound comes and goes, but while playing America's Army, and others, the game will hang for two to ten seconds. I just ordered a new Seagate 160G HDD. Anyone have a problem of a humming HDD? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt03 0 Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 A humming HDD is a problem? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted November 6, 2004 Author Share Posted November 6, 2004 When you can hear it over your 5.1 speakers... yes! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt03 0 Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 That is really bad. Why is that nobody ever picks up on my sarcaism? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted November 6, 2004 Author Share Posted November 6, 2004 I was thinking that you were thinking of a HDD searching for something. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CR6 0 Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 When you can hear it over your 5.1 speakers... yes! ← Dude, I wouldn't play around with that system any more until you backup any precious data off that HD and remove it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted November 6, 2004 Author Share Posted November 6, 2004 I'm trying to do as little as possible, but I do have a mass of english homework that needs to get typed up. It hasn't made the sound for a bit now. I just thought of something else. How should I transfer everything over from my old hard drive to the new Seagate on the way? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CR6 0 Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 I just thought of something else. How should I transfer everything over from my old hard drive to the new Seagate on the way? ← First, if they are IDE (PATA) HDDs, make sure you have them on two seperate IDE channels (i.e. make sure they are not master and slave on the same channel). If one or both are SATA drives, then no probs. If you're using WinXP, it should be easy to transfer info. I would unplug your original HD, then do a fresh install of WinXP on your new HD. After that's done, plug in your old HD and set the BIOS to boot into WinXP on your new HD. Then just go to WinXP's disk management tool, and it should automatically detect your old HD. Then just drag and drop your old data into your new HD. Before you discard your old HD, it's best to erase any sensitive data on it by overwriting it rather than just deleting it or reformatting the HD. There some simple programs on the 'net to overwrite whole HDs, or do a low level format of the HD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Super-Bob 0 Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 I just thought of something else. How Before you discard your old HD, it's best to erase any sensitive data on it by overwriting it rather than just deleting it or reformatting the HD. There some simple programs on the 'net to overwrite whole HDs, or do a low level format of the HD. ← Drill a hole through it. Seriously. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 I just thought of something else. How should I transfer everything over from my old hard drive to the new Seagate on the way? ← First, if they are IDE (PATA) HDDs, make sure you have them on two seperate IDE channels (i.e. make sure they are not master and slave on the same channel). ← How would I go about seperating them? Do I just need two different IDE cables? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WhiteKnight77 1 Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Your motherboard has 2 IDE channels so you would need to place each HD on a seperate channel thus you would need 2 cables. Make sure that the drives have the jumpers removed from the Master/Slave slots on the back of it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 Good to know. I ordered a black Thermaltake cable just in case of this. It's amazing, NewEgg charges five bucks to ship an 18" piece of wire. My HDD hasn't made the noise in over a day... hopefully I can keep it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Specter 0 Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 If you can hear this 'humming' all over the house, you may want to look at other hardware also, because even at it's worst, it shouldn't be that loud, so you may have other issues going on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CR6 0 Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 How would I go about seperating them? Do I just need two different IDE cables? ← Yup, you need to put both HD's on 2 different IDE cables. If you have an optical drive installed (CD burner etc), that optical drive is likely already being used by your 2nd IDE cable, so you just have to remove it from your optical drive and plug it into your new HD. WK brought up a great point that people often forget to set their jumpers on the back of their HD's - ideally, I'd make both HD's master (plugged into the end of the IDE cable) when backing up info. You will see that both are confirmed as being on master settings when you boot your system or in your BIOS. My HDD hasn't made the noise in over a day... hopefully I can keep it. ← If you want to try keeping it, just make sure you don't have any mission critical info on it. I'd put WinXP and any critical data on your new HD, and after you transfer your info over, you can make your old HD the slave drive on the same IDE channel (since you'll likely want to hook your optical drive back on the other IDE channel). You can install games, apps or anything else you have hard backups on CD on your old HD, and if it fails, nothing critical is lost. When a HD fail, it tends to be quite sudden and "catastrophic" (especially if you didn't back up your data ) Drill a hole through it. Seriously. ← LOL, I've heard that one too. FYI, I did read in PC World magazine (or one of those PC mags) that the FBI advises to overwrite data on a HD something like 7 times when discarding a HD, because even if you drill a hole through it, data can be recovered on the platters if you really want to (e.g. by those companies that can recover data from HD's damaged in floods etc.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted November 9, 2004 Author Share Posted November 9, 2004 Thanks for the help guys. I was thinking that my new drive would be here tomorrow... by checking NewEgg, I think Friday might be a better guess. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WhiteKnight77 1 Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Thanks CR6. I found that XP doesn't like a single HD with a jumper in the master position on the primary IDE channel though strange as it may seem. If you do opt to keep it in and the rig doesn't boot or seem to work right, take it completely out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Specter 0 Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 (edited) Thanks CR6. I found that XP doesn't like a single HD with a jumper in the master position on the primary IDE channel though strange as it may seem. If you do opt to keep it in and the rig doesn't boot or seem to work right, take it completely out. ← I have never had trouble with a single drive with the jumper in the master position, UNLESS the cable is a cable select cable, which comes with most new motherboards. Edited November 9, 2004 by PhantmSniper Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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