Studio 15 7200rpm Seagate HDD vibration issue

I am trying to find out if you guys have the same issue.

I have ST9500420AS Momentous Seagate 7200rpm 500GB HDD. Since day one I am feeling a light vibration in the laptop next to the touchpad. This is not too bad but is very annoying since it is constantly there.

For those who have a 7200 rpm Seegate drive please see if you have this issue. It is noticeable when fan is off.

Thanks

 

My first 1557 had the 250gb version of that drive and I noticed the same thing.I would feel bad for any left handed users cause I think it would drive them crazy.

My second 1557 came with a WD Scorpio Black 250gb.It has a much less noticeable vibration but its not all the way gone.I can live with it.

 

so it seems it is a combination of the HDD and Studio 15 chasis?

I have used a Vostro 1400 and XPS 1340 both with 7200rpm drives and not noticed any vibration at all. So this is quite disappointing. I am tempted to put the HDD from my old Vostro in there and see if it still has vibration.

 

u sure arn't talking abt the vibrations from subwoofer when playing music.lol
The 7200rpm drive in my 1557 doesn't vibrates.
have u applied the latest firmware update for ur hard drive available on dell site ?
Oh and i have a seagate one BTW

 

which 7200rpm HDD you have?
Mine is ST9500420AS Momentous Seagate 7200rpm 500GB HDD and it seesm there are threads on Dell forum blaming it to be the cause.
I will be asking Dell to send me a replacement drive that I can check if it makes a difference.

 

I have the one that u have but i had updated its firmware.

 

Alternatively, you could also buy an SSD which gives you good performance while not creating any vibrations/noise...it just costs a lot more.

 

The vibration issues you mention are very typical of Seagate's 7200.4 hard drives. My HP ProBook came with a 320GB 7200.4 and I noticed the same issues, as I did with the ASUS G73JH (came with 2x 500GB 7200.4). These drives have a high level of ambient noise as well . . . quite annoying.

Seagate's 7200.4 drives are disappointing overall, in both performance and quality of components used. My suggestion is to get a Hitachi 7K500. They are available in 250 - 500GB capacities and run at 7200RPM; they are superior to Seagate's 7200.4 in nearly every way, most notably in performance and noise. I have tested both in my notebook.

If you want an even quieter drive, take a look at Western Digital's Scorpio Blue series. I have a WD5000BEVT (500GB 5400RPM) in my other notebook and it is basically silent and has no tangible vibration. The downside is that the Scorpio Blues are 5400RPM and are about 70% as fast as a Hitachi 7K500.

More in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...uietest-mechanical-harddrive.html#post6115403

 

They are shipping me another driver. Any expereince with this one?

984TP Hard Drive,500,S2,7.2,P11,2.5,TSHBA-LC

Seems to be Toshiba 500GB 7200rpm.
There is only one I could find and that is MK5056GSY.

 

Interesting drive, I have not heard of that model before. It is not widespread; the 7200RPM notebook drive market is dominated by Western Digital's Scorpio Black series, Seagate's 7200.4, and Hitachi's 7K320/7K500. Toshiba and Samsung have a minor share.

When you get the drive, could you run some benchmarks on it? Maybe start a thread in the Hardware forum:
Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades

My past experience with Toshiba hard drives has not exactly indicated they are of the best quality or performance . . . but that may have changed over the last few years.

 

I ended up getting the same Seagate Momentus HDD as replacement so not Toshiba drive that I can test even though description led me to believe it was the case.

Anyway the new HDD has lower vibration so I am going to keep it and send the original back. The HDD I recently got although is not as quite (clicks when I request a file to be read from the HDD) as the one that vibrated more. Does anyone knows how to change the settings of the HDD form perforamne to quite etc?

 

Updated the firmware ?

 

how do you update the firmware? where do you find it for ST9500420AS

 

Drivers and Downloads

 

thanks will do. btw is there a good utility to check info and health of HDD?

 

Firmware is dated Feb 09. My drive was built in Feb 10 but I still checked and I have the latest firmeare 4SDM1
Not sure what is the difference between 4SDM1 or 5SDM1

 

I think the latest one is 5sdm1.I have 5sdm1 in mine.

 

which drive do you have 500GB or 320GB?

Derscription says on the firmware section "4SDM1 or 5SDM1" so I though they are equivalent.

I have never updated HDD before, so do you have to make a boot CD and load the firmware through the USB falsh? or you can just double click on the file like other firmwares updates?

 

Ofcourse 500GB coz i said i have the same drive as urs.
and yes u have to make a boot cd and boot from that cd to update the firmware.the firmware can't be updated if the device is in use so u can't update it when using ur HDD i.e by by simply double clicking.