New HDD makes odd noises like a rubber ducky

Hey guys, my rig is 4 weeks old now. Everything runs fine just one of the HDDs (a 3 TB Seagate Barracuda) makes really strange noises now and then. It doesn’t happen all the time though and it took a while until I noticed that the noise happened inside the computer case and not next to the sofa because I first thought it was our dog playing with some kind of rubber ducky toy or even two tablewater bottles sliding against one another and about to topple over.
It happens while writing to HDD and reading from it but not all the time. It can be a savegame just being written, a screenshot just being saved or just while opening a folder on the HDD. It’s not a screeching, clacking or grinding noise. Just a short, and not very loud squeaky sound. It’s difficult to describe but “kwa-kwik” does get quite close to it. I googled for solutions or if it’s a faulty drive and about to kick the bucket soon but most people with defective HDDs write about screeching, rapid clicking or even grisly grinding noises. Funny thing though, I found several ppl describing “squeaky noises” in the user ratings from the online-shop where they bought the harddrive. All of these guys had a Seagate Barracuda drive, with exactly the same model number (ST3000M001-9QN166). Some of the customers wrote about having the HDD for months now, one of them has it even for a whole year and it’s still working just fine. That’s why I’m not sure if I should keep the harddrive or not. The data isn’t critical or extremely important to keep – should the drive really fail.
Answer #1
It sounds like you have a cable that is hitting a fan occasionally – the vibration from the HDD activity making the cable hit a fan blade just enough.
It could also be one of the fans – when the HDD is running the heat goes up and a fan kicks in …
You can check the health of the drive with the seagate tool – just to make sure kwa-kwik isn’t something more significant.
http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master
Answer #2
Download HD Sentinel to check the drive health, also check its securely mounted as if it isn’t that can cause some strange noises.
Answer #3
The HD health seems fine. No errors have been reported from the seagate tool. The tower fan right in front of the hdds is about 20 cm in diameter and it’s constantly running. Dunno if the HDD itself has another fan built in but the noise comes definitely from the HDD. The cables aren’t hitting any fans, they’re meant to be secured behind the mainboard’s holding plate and therefore, they’re completely out of the way. The odd noise is definitely mechanical despite being a squeaky one. I’m not an mechanical expert when it comes to hardware but the reading heads surely have to move when writing/reading, right? That’s the only reason I can think of for the noise. I had the tower open and tried pushing and pulling the drive to see if any screws might’ve come loose but it’s absolutely secure. The other HDD is the same brand and model but with 2 TB instead of 3 TB. And that one’s totally silent. The squeaking happened at least three times when I opened this site and began typing the reply. I had to consult an online dictionary ‘cuz English isn’t my first, so writing this took about 10 minutes.
Answer #4
The normal sound of a problematic head is “CLUNK” not kwa kwik. (lol – it seems like we are in the auto repair shop trying to explain a strange noise).
I don’t know if this is possible (depending on what is installed where), but do you get the strange noise if that drive is not plugged in? If you are absolutely certain that the sound is coming from that HDD, of course it isn’t normal (regardless of what the seagate tool says).
Unfortunately, at 4 weeks old, it’s unlikely that the shop you purchased your rig from will do anything unless they offered and you purchased an extended warranty. You could try to swap the drive with them – for example, I buy so much from my local shop that despite their rules they would try to fix my issue.
Answer #5
The drive was definitely faulty. Unplugging wasn’t necessary anymore because the HDD made a grinding noise and stopped working before I finished moving all data to an external HDD. I could backup about 2/3 of the files but that isn’t a big deal. I called the seller (eBay) last night and gonna send the defective harddrive back. The guy offered me two choices as a replacement, a Toshiba and a Western Digital, both are 3 TB, SATA III, 64MB Cache, 7.200 U/Min. I wasn’t willing to try another Seagate after that HDDs poor performance and picked the WD. Maybe I’m more lucky this time.