I Don't Think I Need a New PSU But What's Causing My Problem?

[ddarko]

Hi, I have a system with the following specs:

600W Silverstone SST-ST60F
Intel Q6600
EVGA 8800GT
4gb Corsair DDR2 800 TWIN2X4096-6400CS memory
Asus Maximus Formula
Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 cooler
x1 Seagate 80gb hard drive
x3 Seagate 1tb hard drive

The power supply is cannibalized from an older system and all indications are that is should be more than enough to run my system. It is rated for a combined 504W across its four 12V rails.

My problem is that one of my 1tb hard drives makes a clicking sound. This is not the rapid click-click-click sound from normal operation but a single, relatively loud CLICK every few minutes. Neither SMART nor Seagate's long disagnostic test reports anything wrong (incidentally, it takes 3 hours to run the Seagate test on a 1tb drive). That made me think the mechanical arm on the drive was defective, which is a problem that these tests wouldn't detect, but this same drive stops making the noise if I unplug one of the other drives. The noise only occurs if I have all four drives operating. If the clicking sound really was being caused by a physical defect, it should be unaffected by the operation of the other drives.

I'm now thinking the third 1tb is fine but that it isn't getting enough power when all four drives are on. I chatted briefly with Seagate tech support and they suggested the same thing. My question is: why? The Silverstone isn't the latest and great PSU but it seems more than enough to run my system. In fact, I used this very same PSU in an older system that also had four internal drives - although with a different mix of drives (x1 80gb, x1 1tb, x2 160gb) - and never had the clicking sound. So do I need a new PSU? Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[John]

Each 1TB drive should consume around 34W on spin-up (when the pc is turned on) and around 12W during read/write. The noise follows the HDD and it doesn't sound like an inadequate psu to me. If I were you I would RMA the drive for a noise issue even though it passes diags.

http://www.seagate.com/docs/pd..._barracuda_7200_11.pdf

 

[ddarko]

John,

Thanks for your reply and the info. But what confuses me is that the hard drive at issue DOESN'T make the noise when I unpower one of the other internal hard drives. The click only occurs when all four drives are powered. That's what makes me think it's not the drive per se but the PSU. That's why I'm not sure I agree that "[t]he noise follows the HDD." The noise doesn't occur with 3 drives, only 4.

The click sound also occurs when I use HD Tune to read the drives, although the same exact noise occurs with every one of the drives when I change from one drive to another under HD Tune, not just the problem drive. And the problem drive is formated but completely empty because I've just too afraid to put anything on it.

I've got no problem with getting a new drive, it's still new and I can return it to Newegg for replacement but if the problem is being caused by the PSU then a new drive would make the same noise.

 

[robertk2012]

Sounds like the drive is either spinning up or spinning down. Change the settings unde power options so that the drives never go to sleep.