e4300 hdd spinning noise

is it ususal to hear the spinning noise quite often (whenever the hdd reading/writing indicator flashes)? it seems very noticable to me..

other than that this seems great machine..

and i look too much into the cpu/memory, forget to order one with the bluetooth..

 

which HDD. 7200rpm HDDs tend to be noiser that 5400rpm HDDs.

If the E4300 is like the E6400 then the HDD is mounted rigidly in the chassis. You can slightly dampen the noise by taking the HDD out and putting a layer of electrical tape on the edges where it fits into the bay and then refixing it.

John

 

surely it's 7200rpm..

does this look the same to your e6400?
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/late4300/en/sm/hdd.htm#wp1180165

if dell outlet convinced me not to return it (unlikely they will give me a 20% off code),,i may have to buy a 5400rpm to reduce the noise..

 

Which drive do you have?

Go to Device Manager > Disk drives to see the make and model number.

My Hitachi 7200 rpm is very quiet... although it's probably true that a 5400 rpm would be even quieter... although some of the newer 5400 rpm drives may have similar performance.

You may also be able to make your existing drive quieter... go into BIOS setup and try changing the HDD acoustic mode setting.

 

i tried that.. the hard drive is seagate 7200rpm, and still has the annoying like clicking noise most of the time the hard drive is reading..

edit:
ha, i should do more research before i post this. obviously this is a well known issue for the seagate hard drive, and a recent seagate firmware solved it (almost)..

for those who have seagate drive, read this http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19268475.aspx

the noise is pretty much gone now.. I wonder what the dell representative will tell me to do.

 

Yes. So my suggestion is worth considering.

Ah! A noisy Seagate now muted.

John