Seagate Hard Disk Noise

Question

I just bought an used 8TB Seagate Exos HD and I although seems to works fine what caught my attention is that on startup it makes very weird sounds, this is the first time I bought a seagate hd and also the first time I bought used storage, with smaller (2TB) WD hd's never heard such weird sounds.

I tested the disk with Seatools and it passed the short and long test. Also checked it HD Sentinel and Crystaldskinfo and seems to be Ok too but I don't understand to much of the parameters listed in the results.

Seatool test result:

Seatool SMART info:

CrystalDiskInfo:

Hard Disk Sentinel report:

-- Physical Disk Information - Disk: #1: ST8000NM000A-2KE101 --

    Hard Disk Summary
   -------------------
    Hard Disk Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1
    Interface  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : S-ATA Gen3, 6 Gbps
    Disk Controller  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Controladora SATA AHCI estándar (AHCI) [VEN: 1022, DEV: 7901] Version: 10.0.19041.1889, 6-21-2006
    Disk Location  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Bus Number 1, Target Id 0, LUN 0
    Hard Disk Model ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ST8000NM000A-2KE101
    Firmware Revision  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : SN03
    Hard Disk Serial Number  . . . . . . . . . . . . : WSD1BXMB
    Total Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 7630882 MB
    Power State  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Active
    Device Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Fixed Disk
    Logical Drive(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Z: [Movies] 
    Current Temperature  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 21 °C
    Maximum Temperature (Ever Measured)  . . . . . . : 45 °C, 2/8/2023 21:43:37
    Minimum Temperature (Ever Measured)  . . . . . . : 17 °C, 7/8/2023 21:54:46
    Maximum Temperature (During Entire Lifespan) . . : 55 °C
    Power On Time  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 514 days, 12 hours
    Estimated Remaining Lifetime . . . . . . . . . . : more than 1000 days
    Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : #################### 100 % (Excellent)
    Performance  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : #################### 100 % (Excellent)

    Problems occurred between the communication of the disk and the host 1173 times.
    In case of sudden system crash, reboot, blue-screen-of-death, inaccessible file(s)/folder(s), it is recommended to verify data and power cables, connections - and if possible try different cables to prevent further problems.
    More information: https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_case_communication_error.php
      No actions needed.

    ATA Information
   -----------------
    Hard Disk Cylinders  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 15504021
    Hard Disk Heads  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 16
    Hard Disk Sectors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 63
    ATA Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ACS-4
    Transport Version  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : SATA Rev 3.3
    Total Sectors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1953506646
    Bytes Per Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 4096 [Advanced Format]
    Multiple Sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 16
    Error Correction Bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0
    Unformatted Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 7630885 MB
    Maximum PIO Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 4
    Maximum Multiword DMA Mode . . . . . . . . . . . : 2
    Highest Possible Transfer Rate . . . . . . . . . : S-ATA Gen3 Signaling Speed (6 Gps)
    Negotiated Transfer Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . : S-ATA Gen3 Signaling Speed (6 Gps)
    Minimum Multiword DMA Transfer Time  . . . . . . : 120 ns
    Recommended Multiword DMA Transfer Time  . . . . : 120 ns
    Minimum PIO Transfer Time Without IORDY  . . . . : 120 ns
    Minimum PIO Transfer Time With IORDY . . . . . . : 120 ns
    ATA Control Byte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Valid
    ATA Checksum Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Valid

    Acoustic Management Configuration
   -----------------------------------
    Acoustic Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Acoustic Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Disabled
    Current Acoustic Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Default (00h)
    Recommended Acoustic Level . . . . . . . . . . . : Max performance and volume (FEh)

    ATA Features
   --------------
    Read Ahead Buffer  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported, Enabled
    DMA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Ultra DMA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    S.M.A.R.T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Write Cache  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Host Protected Area  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    HPA Security Extensions  . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Advanced Power Management  . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Extended Power Management  . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported, Enabled
    Power Up In Standby  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    48-Bit LBA Addressing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Device Configuration Overlay . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    IORDY Support  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Read/Write DMA Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    NOP Command  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Trusted Computing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    64-Bit World Wide ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 5000C500C96F5A43
    Streaming  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Media Card Pass Through  . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    General Purpose Logging  . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Error Logging  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    CFA Feature Set  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    CFast Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Long Physical Sectors (8)  . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Long Logical Sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Write-Read-Verify  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported, Disabled
    NV Cache Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    NV Cache Power Mode  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    NV Cache Size  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Free-fall Control  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Free-fall Control Sensitivity  . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Service Interrupt  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    IDLE IMMEDIATE Command With UNLOAD Feature . . . : Supported
    Zoned Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    SCT Command Transport  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    SCT Error Recovery Control . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Nominal Media Rotation Rate  . . . . . . . . . . : 7200 RPM
    Nominal Form Factor  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 3.5 inch

    SSD Features
   --------------
    Data Set Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    TRIM Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Deterministic Read After TRIM  . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Read Zeroes After TRIM . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported

    S.M.A.R.T. Details
   --------------------
    Off-line Data Collection Status  . . . . . . . . : Successfully Completed
    Self Test Execution Status . . . . . . . . . . . : Successfully Completed
    Total Time To Complete Off-line Data Collection  : 567 seconds
    Execute Off-line Immediate . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Abort/restart Off-line By Host . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Off-line Read Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Short Self-test  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Extended Self-test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Conveyance Self-test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Selective Self-Test  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Save Data Before/After Power Saving Mode . . . . : Supported
    Enable/Disable Attribute Autosave  . . . . . . . : Supported
    Error Logging Capability . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Short Self-test Estimated Time . . . . . . . . . : 1 minutes
    Extended Self-test Estimated Time  . . . . . . . : 731 minutes
    Conveyance Self-test Estimated Time  . . . . . . : 2 minutes
    Last Short Self-test Result  . . . . . . . . . . : Never Started
    Last Short Self-test Date  . . . . . . . . . . . : Never Started
    Last Extended Self-test Result . . . . . . . . . : Never Started
    Last Extended Self-test Date . . . . . . . . . . : Never Started
    Last Conveyance Self-test Result . . . . . . . . : Never Started
    Last Conveyance Self-test Date . . . . . . . . . : Never Started

    Security Mode
   ---------------
    Security Mode  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Security Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Security Erase Time  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 732 minutes
    Security Enhanced Erase Feature  . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Security Enhanced Erase Time . . . . . . . . . . : 732 minutes
    Security Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No
    Security Locked  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No
    Security Frozen  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
    Security Counter Expired . . . . . . . . . . . . : No
    Security Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : High
    Device Encrypts All User Data  . . . . . . . . . : No
    Sanitize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Overwrite  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Crypto Scramble  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Block Erase  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Sanitize Antifreeze Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    ACS-3 Commands Allowed By Sanitize . . . . . . . : Yes

    Serial ATA Features
   ---------------------
    S-ATA Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
    S-ATA I Signaling Speed (1.5 Gps)  . . . . . . . : Supported
    S-ATA II Signaling Speed (3 Gps) . . . . . . . . : Supported
    S-ATA Gen3 Signaling Speed (6 Gps) . . . . . . . : Supported
    Receipt Of Power Management Requests From Host . : Not supported
    PHY Event Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Non-Zero Buffer Offsets In DMA Setup FIS . . . . : Not supported
    DMA Setup Auto-Activate Optimization . . . . . . : Supported, Disabled
    Device Initiating Interface Power Management . . : Supported, Disabled
    In-Order Data Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Asynchronous Notification  . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Software Settings Preservation . . . . . . . . . : Supported, Enabled
    Native Command Queuing (NCQ) . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Queue Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 32
    NCQ Streaming  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    NCQ Autosense  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
    Automatic Partial To Slumber Translations  . . . : Not supported
    Rebuild Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported, Disabled
    Hybrid Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    Device Sleep (DevSleep)  . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
    DevSleep To ReducedPwrState  . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported

    Disk Information
   ------------------
    Disk Family  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Exos 7E8
    Form Factor  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 3.5" 
    Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 8 TB (8 x 1.000.000.000.000 bytes)
    Number Of Disks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ?
    Number Of Heads  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ?
    Rotational Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 7200 RPM
    Rotation Time  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 8,33 ms
    Average Rotational Latency . . . . . . . . . . . : 4,17 ms
    Disk Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Serial-ATA/600
    Buffer-Host Max. Rate  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 600 MB/seconds
    Buffer Size  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 262144 KB
    Drive Ready Time (Typical) . . . . . . . . . . . : ? seconds
    Average Seek Time  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? ms
    Track To Track Seek Time . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? ms
    Full Stroke Seek Time  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? ms
    Width  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 101,9 mm (4,0 inch)
    Depth  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 147,0 mm (5,8 inch)
    Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 26,1 mm (1,0 inch)
    Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 716 grams (1,6 pounds)
    Required Power For Spinup  . . . . . . . . . . . : ? mA
    Power Required (Seek)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 12,8 W
    Power Required (Idle)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 7,6 W
    Power Required (Standby) . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? W

    S.M.A.R.T.
   ------------
No.  Attribute                Thre.. Value  Worst  Data                Status                   Flags                                                  
1    Raw Read Error Rate      44     82     64     161122843           OK                       Error-Rate, Performance, Statistical, Critical         
3    Spin Up Time             0      90     90     0                   OK (Always passing)      Statistical, Critical                                  
4    Start/Stop Count         20     100    100    281                 OK                       Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
5    Reallocated Sectors Co.. 10     100    100    0                   OK                       Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical, Critical    
7    Seek Error Rate          45     75     60     35384631            OK                       Error-Rate, Performance, Statistical, Critical         
9    Power On Time Count      0      86     86     12348               OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
10   Spin Retry Count         97     100    100    0                   OK                       Event Count, Statistical, Critical                     
12   Drive Power Cycle Count  20     100    100    114                 OK                       Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
18   Head Health Self Asses.. 50     100    100    0                   OK                       Error-Rate, Statistical, Critical                      
187  Reported Uncorrectable.. 0      100    100    0                   OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
188  Command Timeout          0      100    1      524287              OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
190  Airflow Temperature      40     79     45     21                  OK                       Self Preserving, Statistical                           
192  Power off Retract Cycl.. 0      100    100    45                  OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
193  Load/Unload Cycle Count  0      61     61     79076               OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Statistical              
194  Disk Temperature         0      21     55     15; 21              OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Statistical                           
195  Hardware ECC Recovered   0      13     1      161122843           OK (Always passing)      Event Count, Error-Rate, Statistical                   
197  Current Pending Sector.. 0      100    100    0                   OK (Always passing)      Event Count, Statistical                               
198  Off-Line Uncorrectable.. 0      100    100    0                   OK (Always passing)      Event Count                                            
199  Ultra ATA CRC Error Co.. 0      200    178    1173                OK (Always passing)      Self Preserving, Event Count, Error-Rate, Performanc.. 
240  Head Flying Hours        0      100    253    2856                OK (Always passing)                                                             
241  Total LBA Written        0      100    253    39782514162         OK (Always passing)                                                             
242  Total LBA Read           0      100    253    1671592783          OK (Always passing)                                                             

    Transfer Rate Information
   ---------------------------
    Total Data Read  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 MB,  1 MB since installation  (2/8/2023)
    Total Data Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 MB,  0 MB since installation
    Average Reads Per Day  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0,17 MB
    Average Writes Per Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0,00 MB
    Current Transfer Rate  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
    Maximum Transfer Rate  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
    Current Read Rate  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
    Current Write Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
    Current Disk Activity  . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 %

Please help me interpret the SMART reports.

Hi Keltari, I've the option to return the disk and get the money back. — Ryo Saeba, Aug 08 '23 at 19:04
Hi, ChanganAuto, I heard that but that doesn't worry me, I concern about some numbers in the following parameters, Command Timeout, Ultra ATA CRC Error, Hardware ECC Recovered, Seek Error Rate and Raw Read Error Rate. Although according to Seatools, HD Sentinel and CrystalDiskInfo the Disk seems to be OK. — Ryo Saeba, Aug 08 '23 at 19:06
Can you provide a recording if its sounds? The disk is probably OK for unimportant/convenience stuff like Movies you can re-acquire. The disk is probably OK. — davidgo, Aug 08 '23 at 19:42
The disk doesn't show any hard errors. The numbers for Seek Error Rate and Raw Read Error Rate are crazy-high so seem meaningless. Hardware ECC Recovered seems the serious one but [this post](https://www.hdsentinel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13768) claims it's to be ignored on Seagate HDD. I see no reason to think that the disk is bad, but if you are unsure, then return it and buy from another manufacturer. — harrymc, Aug 08 '23 at 20:25
Note: I have a Seagate HDD and it's only sometimes noisy, mostly it's quiet. If yours is noisy all the time, it might indicate another usage pattern, or perhaps a problem. — harrymc, Aug 08 '23 at 20:42

Joep van Steen · Answer 1 · 2023-08-14T23:00:15.320

I concern about some numbers in the following parameters, Command Timeout, Ultra ATA CRC Error, Hardware ECC Recovered, Seek Error Rate and Raw Read Error Rate.

Some of the Seagate RAW values are very counter intuitive.

Based on this answer: https://superuser.com/a/1747851/705502 I made a simple converter for some of the values:

1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate
7 Seek_Error_Rate
195 ECC_On_the_Fly_Count

Raw Read Error Rate 161122843 then gives:

Seek Error Rate 35384631 gives:

Hardware ECC Recovered 161122843 gives us:

Command Timeout 524287 we need to do manually based on: http://t1.daumcdn.net/brunch/service/user/axm/file/zRYOdwPu3OMoKYmBOby1fEEQEbU.pdf

3.11 Attribute ID 188: Command Timeout Count
Normalized Command Timeout Count = 100 – Command Timeout Count .

This attribute tracks the number of command time outs as defined by an active command being interrupted by a HRESET and COMRESET or SRST or another command
The normalized value is only computed when the number of commands is in the range 103 to 104. The CommandCount and ErroCount are cleared when Number Of Commands reaches 104. The error count used to compute normalized value is not reported in attribute Raw value. It is reported in vendor info area of Attribute sector, bytes 474:475. If Command Timeout Count is > 99, normalize value of 1 is reported. The initial Worst Value is set to 0xFD as a special case.

Raw Usage
Raw [1 – 0] = Total # of command timeouts, with Max hold of FFFFh
Raw [3 – 2] = Total # of commands with > 5 second completion, including those > 7.5 seconds
Raw [5 – 4] = Total # of commands with > 7.5 second completion

According to both Crystal and Seatool we get 30065295359 in decimal which is 00070007FFFF in hex.

So it does appear time outs occurred.

Ultra ATA CRC Error Count 1173, according to Seagate document should be interpreted as:

3.18 Attribute ID 199: Ultra DMA CRC Error Count
Normalized Ultra DMA CRC Error Count = 200 – (#OfCRCErrors * SampleSize /
#SectorsTransferred) where SampleSize = 8000. The attribute is computed if sectors transferred
is >= SampleSize.

Note – Replace CRC errors with R-Errs for SATA drives.

Raw Usage
Raw [3 – 0] = Current CRC/R_Errs Error Count

So it appears errors occurred.

TBH I am not certain how bad or how normal these last two values are.

With regards to Ultra ATA CRC Error, you may want to check if cables are properly seated. It's not by definition cabling errors, but they could be. It's unlikely this type of error contributes to abnormal noise.

Seagate Hard Disk Noise

1 Answers1