about the seagate 7200.1 drive..

So last week I got my T61, which has been great in almost every aspect. One thing that's bothering me, though, is the hard drive that came with the machine. It's the 100gb Seagate Momentus 7200.1, and it's driving me crazy. At idle, it produces a whirring that is nearly loud enough to be mistaken for another cpu fan. I'm assuming this is normal, but it confuses me when some say that their t61s are very quiet. I don't know whether my hard drive is unusually loud or I am simply more sensitive to noise.

Anyways, the thing that really gets to me is this unusual intermittent noise of the hard drive being accessed. It's not the normal continuous type of noise I'd hear when I'm doing something intensive like defragging the drive or copying a huge file. Instead, it occurs at regular intervals about once every 5 seconds, each interval accompanied by a distinctly pitched hum. Sometimes it'll stop altogether for half a minute, then it'll pick up again.

I've tried turning off indexing, restore points, etc to no avail. I also booted up in safe mode and it still happens. It's quite annoying since it's happening basically the entire time that I use my computer; in fact it's happening as I am typing this thread. Do any of you experience this same problem or know how to get rid of it? Could it be that this is normal? BTW, I'm not talking about the marble noise.

 

I had the same drive from lenovo, though I wasn't sensitive to the sound of the hard drive. I could hear it when the room is relatively quiet, and when it is spinning back up from the idle power management. But that never bothered me that much.

What did annoyed me though, was the vibration from the drive which was very noticeable when planing my hands on the palm rest. Plus it ran hotter than I would've liked and the power consumption was too high during idle, so I swapped it out for a Hitachi 5k160 and couldn't be happier.

Now, my thinkpad is cooler and stays up longer, all without the annoying vibration (and performance wise, it doesn't feel any different probably due to Vista's Superfetch).

 

If it bothers you, ask for a replacement. I had the 7200.1. It was the coolest and quietest drive I used. Perhaps the next one will work better.

 

I've read some bad stuff about the 7200.1, like the infamous "marble-dropping sound." If it's too much for you to handle, I suggest getting a 7200.2. Well priced, has perpendicular recording, and consequently, is very fast.

 

I ended up getting a replacement 7200.1 from ibm. it's quieter, but by a small margin. Some of the noises I described earlier are still present, but with a spare hard drive for free, i'll learn to live with it .

 

they didn't ask you to return the original one?!

 

Wow, you've got yourself a great deal!
BTW, my drive was very quiet.
I suspect some of you guys are being exceptionally picky. :rolleyes2:

 

My mistake. I just realized that a notice came with the package instructing me to return the old drive. The tech guy I spoke to over the phone didn't mention it at all though.