On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 6:19 PM, Grant <[email protected]> wrote: > A desktop Seagate 320GB hard drive of mine sometimes makes a buzzing > noise. I ran 'smartctl -t long /dev/sda' and I get: > > Num Test_Description Status Remaining > LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error > # 1 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 11740 - > > Does the noise mean I need to replace the drive, or would > smartmontools tell me if there was a problem?
Any weird noises from a hard drive scare me... make a backup as soon as possible. In fact I had a 320GB Seagate drive start making funny noises recently (but in my case it was the click of doom and the drive going offline). However, in case it's just a weird noise caused by it spinning at just the right speed with the heads at just the right place which is causing some vibration, you might try adjusting the acoustic settings on it with hdparm to see if it makes any difference (if supported, and if you dare). Or maybe even re-seat the drive in the case. The fan on top of my case randomly starts vibrating and makes the most awful buzzing noise. If I touch the case in a certain spot it goes away (until I remove my finger). :) I usually just give it a couple whacks and it stops... but that's probably not a good course to take with a hard drive. :)
