WD5000BEKT loud scratching sound?

I just received a WD5000BEKT and it seems to be having severe scratching sounds. I downloaded the WD diagnotic tool and it passes the tests but scratching sound is still there.
Also, the first time I tried to format it, it just disappeared from the system and I had to reboot to get it up again.

I don't think this is normal but I would still like any second opinions before I exchange it.

 

I don't own a 500 GB but a 320 GB no real noticeable sounds...and definitely not scratching noises. I would RMA it.

 

I returned it and got an exchange and the new one is perfect. Looks like the old was just defective...

 

Another win for WD! Maybe I'll replace the Scorpio Blue 640 GB in my D620 for a 500 GB Scorpio Black..

 

I have a 640gb Scorpio blue and a 500gb scorpio black in my system hehe.

 

I've been using the following method several times:
1. Download the CrystalDiskInfo
2. Find the AAM/APM setting somewhere in the menu.
3. Choose silent(80h) for AAM then enable it, and performance(254h) for APM then enable it or simply disable(255h) it.
4. Reboot and check again to make sure the setting remains there.

The factory setting of APM on a WDC hard drive is usually 80h, which is too small. This means the hard drive constantly spins down then spins up to save power, which results in abnormally high load cycle count(C1) in the S.M.A.R.T., plus unpleasant noise.

 

Hey guys another problem with the new drive that I'm not sure is normal or not.

I made it into 2 partitions, 120GB for OS and 340GB for Steam.

The benchmarks for the OS is about right, 100mb/s read/write but the benchmark for the other Steam partition only gets about 80 read/write in crystaldiskmark and when I'm transferring a large file it only gets about 70 mb/s.

Is this normal?

 

could be normal, since that partition is most likely on a different part of the disk. The inner of the disk is faster, or was it the outer? either way the inside/outside is faster than the outside/inside.
lol

 

I think the outer one is faster since the effective rotation speed is higher.

This is really confusing because even the benchmarks seem to vary. One run I get 59mb/s, then the second run I get 79 mb/s

 

I guess benchmark it 1000 times and give us the average.

 

Hi,

I've been having a similar problem with the WD2500BEKT that came installed in my new E6510. Even when the system is idle, it's seeking every couple seconds (sometimes constantly) and producing a very audible scratching noise. Otherwise the performance is fine. I turned off indexing and ran ActiveSMART which revealed no problems.

I'm just wondering if this problem justifies asking Dell to replace the drive?

 

Does it sound weird when booting up?

When I had my old one it started sounding bad during the first bootup.

 

I hear this 'scratch' which I believe is seeking or something all the time, again SMART reveals nothing special.

I don't like the sound of it but not bother to return it and try again as I believe that is the characteristic of the drive.

If I would even buy a HDD again(seems to be quite unlikely as SSD price is finally fall into reasonable price range now for me) the next one would be a 7K500 as I found the 7K320 in my other notebook quieter than this WDC.

 

I haven't noticed anything weird that occurs specifically during bootup. Next time I reboot I'll listen more closely to make sure...

Since this drive is supposedly quiet, I want to know if it's unusual for it to be seeking this often and this noisily (it is audible even from a few feet away). And if this behavior is unusual, is it worth asking Dell to replace it since it's under warranty?

 

Well, I haven't noticed anything strange during startup, but now I can hear a constant whirring (very similar to fan noise) that I believe is coming from the hard drive. When I put my ear right up to the base of the laptop, the whirring noise is significantly louder when my ear is closer to where the hard drive is, and actually gets quieter when I move it ever so slightly closer to the fan. Funny thing is I didn't notice this out of the box, because I remember the fan noise being impressively quiet when I turned the machine on for the first time. Now this whirring is very noticeable. This is on top of the loud seeking noises I described earlier. Despite all of this, ActiveSMART is telling me that the drive is completely healthy.

Unless anybody has any suggestions, I'm going to call Dell to try to negotiate a replacement drive. I'll have to wait a while, however, since I'm traveling out of the country tomorrow.

 

I'd definitely call and have that drive replaced. Dell should be very good with warranty replacements. Hopefully they'll send you another WD Black or a Hitachi 7K500 and not some garbage.

In the mean time, make sure you keep a backup of your data handy.

Nice laptop by the way.