Hard disk noise reduction software. Hard disk crackling, what to do? Other sounds the computer can make
Many users noticed noise while working at the computer. It can be created by both a cooler, a video card, and a hard drive. However, the noise from the hard drive is different from other sounds that come from the system unit or the bottom of the laptop. The noise of the hard disk is more like crackling. It appears when you copy large files or play a game. If earlier your PC worked stably and there was no extraneous noise, and now the hard drive is bursting, it is worth copying all the important information from it and checking it.
Get rid of the crackling of the hard drive
If your hard drive is cracking, there are two ways to fix this problem:
- Reducing the speed of positioning of the heads (as they crack);
- Secure fixation of the hard drive inside the system unit.
Each hard drive has an option such as Automatic Acoustic Management. It is responsible for the rotation speed of the magnetic heads of the hard drive. It is impossible to change its parameters and reduce the speed of data reading with the usual settings. Special software required. You can find many of these on the Internet. The quietHDD software is popular. However, it is worth warning that by reducing the speed of rotation of the heads, the speed of reading information decreases. The disc starts to run slower. This is a negative factor. Here you have to choose: speed or a working hard drive.
We remove the crackle of the hard drive using quietHDD in the following way. Download and run the utility on behalf of the Administrator.
Open the "AAM Settings" tab. Move the sliders to the minimum position, reduce from 256 to 128 revolutions. After we click "Accept" and "Ok".
In order not to launch this utility every time before using programs and applications, it is worth adding it to the system startup.
If you are the owner of a PC, not a laptop, the hard drive must be securely fixed in the system unit. This can be done in three ways:
- Fastening with bolts. Often, the hard drive is attached with only two bolts, although there are more connectors. In the "slide" the disc "feels" freely and, because of this, creates a crackle and noise. It is worth stretching the device and securing the hard drive more securely to all the bolts.
- Use of spacers. Soft rubberized pads dampen noise and vibration. You can buy them or cut them yourself and install them in the place where the disk touches the system unit. However, the material should not be too large so as not to obstruct the ventilation of the disc.
- Fastening with twisted pair. Usually, 3-4 small pieces of wire are used for this purpose and fastened as if the disc was located in a slide. However, in this case it will be difficult to move the body. There is a risk of damage to the device.
Using the above methods, you can fix the hard drive so that it does not create noise or crackle.
Most recently, I already told you about the ways you can. In particular, the article talked about a program that is able to control coolers in your system unit. But coolers are still half the trouble. Most users have a lot of noise coming from the hard drive. Moreover, some hard drives are so loud that they are the main source of computer noise.
But, in fact, there is nothing wrong with that. After all, a hard disk, also called a hard drive, is a mechanical device in which there are several rotating disks, in fact, which make noise. Internal drives are similar to regular CDs, but they work completely differently.
Thanks to the magnetic heads inside the hard drive, information is read. During this process, the discs move and generate noise. Some users have hard drives rattling, someone's crackling and even cracking, then you. The noise emitted depends on the hard drive model and the stability of the computer case. If the case of the system unit is cheap, and its walls are thin, then the noise from the hard drive will be transmitted throughout the case. Loosely fastened parts will vibrate, creating even more noise.
In order to reduce crackling, you can do the following:
- Replace the old noisy hard drive with a new one, having previously learned about its noise level.
- Use the AAM settings to change the acoustic noise level.
- Check the sound insulation of the housing. Perhaps the problem is in it and after replacing it with a new one, the computer will run quieter.
- Install the hard drive on special sound-insulating pads or use a sound-insulating case for the disc.
- Defragment your hard drive. But it is not a fact that this procedure will help you. And if after it the hard disk starts to work quieter, then soon the noise will return again.
Reducing Hard Drive Cracking with AAM
Any hard drive has such a function as controlling its noise level using the internal AAM setting. (Automatic Acoustic Management). The principle of this setting is very simple: the speed of movement of the heads is reduced, which allows the hard disk to work much quieter. But, such a setting reduces not only the noise level, but also the speed of the hard drive as a whole.
Here it is already necessary to choose what is more important for you - the speed of the hard drive or the noise from it. Perhaps, after setting up, you will not notice how the speed of the hard disk has dropped, but there will be no crackling during operation.
In order for you to be able to start adjusting the volume of the hard disk, you need to download the program "WinAAM." This program is completely free and it is better to download it from the official site.
The program has a Russian interface and to work, you do not need to install it. Run it directly from the archive and configure it. After opening the program, you will see a window with options for choosing the program operation.
You need to click “continue.” We don't go into the security settings at all, since they won't be able to affect the noisy operation of the hard drive.
When you run the program, you will see that the first line will say “Noise control is not active at the moment.” You will need to select “Quiet / Standard (128)” to set the AAM to “quiet”. that the program has a runaway in values \u200b\u200bfrom 0 to 255, it is necessary to select the "Quiet / Loud" value, since intermediate options are not displayed at work and hard drive noise reduction. It is for this reason that the program contains only one button you need, so as not to break your brains with the choice of a value for the effective operation of the program.
After the value is set, the program will automatically close. It is necessary to start it again and press the "continue" button, and then "check".
After running the program, you will see a window in which there will be all the information about the chaotic movement of the reading head of the hard disk, and you will hear how your hard disk will sound in a new way. I'm sure the hard drive will start working much quieter. For comparison, you can press the "Loud (254)" button and hear the noise with which the hard drive worked before all settings.
By clicking on the same button, you will return all default settings and the hard disk will continue to work at the same speed.
If this program does not detect your hard drive, then I recommend using "HD Tune" the essence is the same.
Actually, that's all. Now you can independently control the noise level of your hard drive. If the work of the hard drive is accompanied by crackling and various kinds of clicks, then I definitely recommend using any of the programs to make the hard drive quieter if the noise bothers you. Thank you for being with us!
The hard disk is also a "hard drive" - \u200b\u200ban important component of any computer. It has not only an operating system installed, but also stores important documents and files (music, video, photos). Like any other component, over time, it wears out and breaks down and fails. And the main symptom of this is the appearance of noise and hum of the hard disk. In this case, the first thing to do is to help avoid its sharp breakdown.
However, this may not always be the reason. New drives of some brands and models also have an increased noise level, and this is their normal operating condition.
Below we will consider several options for reducing the noise of the hard drive: manually and programmatically.
AAM
Newer HDDs support the special function “ Automatic Acoustic Management", With its help you can adjust the speed of movement of the read heads, thereby reducing the noise of the laptop hard drive.
This feature is disabled by default, so to enable it we use a utility called "WinAAM", it's free and very lightweight. You can find and download it on the Internet.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that after setting the quiet mode, the speed of the drive also decreases. However, it is very difficult to notice this by eye.
CrystalDiskInfo
If for some reason the previous program did not suit you or did not help you, the hard disk still makes noise under load and because of this, then I recommend using this utility. With its help, we will more flexibly configure the AAM function. But it has other useful features, for example, you can view detailed HDD parameters, current state and check for errors.
So what needs to be done:
After that the hard drive will start working with new settings in quiet mode.
There may be several reasons in CrystalDiskInfo:
- The HDD is old and the utility simply does not support it
- Physical or logical malfunction
How to diagnose HDD, it was said at the beginning of the article.
Defragmentation
Another way that can help you if the hard drive of a laptop or computer makes a lot of noise or buzz during operation. As mentioned above, this is due to the moving mechanical heads, or rather, to their speed.
To do this, we will reduce the distance that they need to cover in order to get to the desired section of the disk and read information from it. This is done quite simply using a regular defragmentation. It will arrange the clusters with information in order, reduce the distance between them, thereby increasing the speed of access to them. Simply put, it will be easier for the hard disk to read the information it needs, the load on it will decrease, and then the noise and hum of the hard disk will decrease.
But you can also use the built-in utility:
This way, we get rid of the hum and buzz of the drive.
Manual way
If you have a desktop computer, and not a laptop, you can use one of the following methods.
Now you know what to do when the hard drive starts making third-party sounds (noise, buzzing and buzzing) during operation, and you can solve this problem yourself using the methods discussed above.
HDD, aka hard drive - makes noise, clicks and creaks. Why and what can be done.
Most of the HDD noise has sound waves in the 1-3 kHz range and consists of noise from two different sources.
This is the noise of the hard drive generated by the rotation of its spindle and the friction of mechanical parts directly inside the hard drive. This noise can only be reduced by modifying the hard drive components.
The noise we hear most is caused by the vibration of the hard drive inside the computer case. It, in turn, consists of vibration from the rotation of the spindle, as well as vibration from the read / write heads, which accelerate and decelerate many times per second.
The clicks in the HDD, for example, are emitted by the positioner when it hits the limiter. A working hard drive can emit clicks due to the so-called thermal calibration, when the hard drive, in response to an increase in the temperature of the case and components, reinitializes the read / write head positioning system.
In addition, the hard drive clicks from a bad, "rattling" or unstable power supply, when the heads go into the parking area and the HDD electronics makes a restart. Another reason why a good screw clicks is to put the hard drive into sleep mode, and if such settings are explicitly specified in the system's energy saving properties, then this effect can appear quite often. It makes sense to mention the offline scanning of the disk surface, as one of the reasons why the HDD clicks. However, in this case, extraneous sounds from the hard drive will be caused by bad sectors (bad blocks) of the hard disk, which offline scanning tries to replace or exclude from the broadcast.
What to do?
Simply put, there are two ways to reduce the volume of sounds emitted by a hard drive - fix them in the case using soft mounts that prevent vibration transmission from the hard drive to the case and use the Automatic Acoustic Management function.
"Squeak" - is it the rattling of the propeller during operation or a constant hum? If the second, then most likely a resonance. Tighten or tighten the hard drive mount. And if there are two of them? The screws work silently one at a time, but together in the same case - the hum is. We advise you to turn one of the screws upside down so that the rotation is in different directions. Turned over. The sound has decreased% by 80. That means it.
Not everyone knows that the user can change the characteristics of the hard drive using the acoustic control function, which allows you to modify the access patterns and change the default (fast) hard drive mode to quiet mode.
Launch a utility like HD Tune Pro, enable AAM (Automatic Acoustic Management) and put it in quiet mode.
Download the Victoria program and use it to adjust the noise level of the hard drive (the noise is reduced by reducing the spindle speed).
All UltraATA / 100 and Serial ATA hard drives have Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM), but you need special software to access it and change its settings.
Sounds with a frequency from 1 kHz to 3 kHz are characterized by the greatest susceptibility, therefore, noise reduction at these frequencies is more effective than at other frequencies. This is where the acoustic control technology is based.
Most sound waves in the 1 to 3 kHz range are made up of noise from two different sources. Firstly, this is the noise of the hard drive generated by the rotation of its spindle and the friction of mechanical parts directly inside the hard drive. This noise can only be reduced by modifying the hard drive components. But most of all, we hear the noise caused by the vibration of the hard drive inside the computer case. It, in turn, consists of vibration from the rotation of the spindle, as well as vibration from the read / write heads, which accelerate and decelerate many times per second.
The fastest way to move the heads is to accelerate them to the middle of the path towards the new track and then decelerate them for the rest of the path (the so-called two-position search). There are many options for changing this operation, ranging from modifying the acceleration and deceleration and the required switching power supply. The addition of a Native Command Queuing that analyzes and reorders all incoming commands to find the most efficient order of read and write requests helps reduce head movement, which can reduce access times and reduce noise.
Now let's move on to analyzing the situation when the hard drive knocks due to a malfunction. As a rule, in this case, the positioning system, for one reason or another, is not able to receive signals from the hard drive heads, indicating that the head "sees" the servo marking. In this case, the winchester creaks, whistles, knocks or makes other sounds exciting the soul. The actuator moves the head block over the entire available range, hence the entire set. The HDD also knocks if a failure occurs during the firmware loading process and it hangs, preventing the processor from controlling the giblets of the screw. In all cases when a hard drive knocks, qualified diagnostics are needed to determine the causes and develop an action strategy for the implementation of successful data recovery from a knocking hard drive.
Winchester squeaks or HDD makes noise.
