Bleep-like sound from HDD when shutdown computer

Hi,
I'm certainly and exactly sure a single bleep-like sound comes from
HDD when it powers off "SOMETIMES" but not "ALWAYS" . I checked some
failure-pointing noises from Hitachi website (mine is Seagate) but
none of them matches with my sound, so it may not be harmful. But i'm
not sure...

The sound comes only when system(computer) powers down (powers off-
shutdown) completely. When system powers off HDD gives a bleep-like
sound as single.

***The sound is NOT similiar with a motherboards error-code beeps.
This sound is mechanical it seems.

I heard it may be normal. But the sound does NOT come "always."

But i'm not sure, is that sound normal? I use Windows and tried with
XP and 2000 Pro.

Here is it: (please volume up to hear better)
(Couldn't find other place to share the file except rapidshare)

http://rapidshare.com/files/69208823/hddsound.wav.html

Thanks.

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:29:32 -0000, kimiraikkonen
<kimiraikkonen85@gmail.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>I'm certainly and exactly sure a single bleep-like sound comes from
>HDD when it powers off "SOMETIMES" but not "ALWAYS" . I checked some
>failure-pointing noises from Hitachi website (mine is Seagate) but
>none of them matches with my sound, so it may not be harmful. But i'm
>not sure...
>
>The sound comes only when system(computer) powers down (powers off-
>shutdown) completely. When system powers off HDD gives a bleep-like
>sound as single.
>
>***The sound is NOT similiar with a motherboards error-code beeps.
>This sound is mechanical it seems.
>
>I heard it may be normal. But the sound does NOT come "always."
>
>But i'm not sure, is that sound normal? I use Windows and tried with
>XP and 2000 Pro.
>
>Here is it: (please volume up to hear better)
>(Couldn't find other place to share the file except rapidshare)
>
>http://rapidshare.com/files/69208823/hddsound.wav.html
>
>Thanks.

Sudden deceleration of the motor may cause a beep-like
sound, if it only happens when you turn the system off then
I wouldn't worry about it. A more conservative answer might
be not to risk data when there is anything at all that draws
your attention but I've had a few drives that did make a
similar sound when powering off and none that I recall had
died shortly thereafter (though eventually, I can't recall
as the noise didn't seem to correspond to failure with one
exception which was a drive that made that sound because it
was failing while running and would keep cutting out it's
motor to cause the spin-down instead of it being
deliberately powered off).

On Nov 12, 10:07 pm, kony <s...@spam.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:29:32 -0000, kimiraikkonen
>
>
>
> <kimiraikkone...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >Hi,
> >I'm certainly and exactly sure a single bleep-like sound comes from
> >HDD when it powers off "SOMETIMES" but not "ALWAYS" . I checked some
> >failure-pointing noises from Hitachi website (mine is Seagate) but
> >none of them matches with my sound, so it may not be harmful. But i'm
> >not sure...
>
> >The sound comes only when system(computer) powers down (powers off-
> >shutdown) completely. When system powers off HDD gives a bleep-like
> >sound as single.
>
> >***The sound is NOT similiar with a motherboards error-code beeps.
> >This sound is mechanical it seems.
>
> >I heard it may be normal. But the sound does NOT come "always."
>
> >But i'm not sure, is that sound normal? I use Windows and tried with
> >XP and 2000 Pro.
>
> >Here is it: (please volume up to hear better)
> >(Couldn't find other place to share the file except rapidshare)
>
> >http://rapidshare.com/files/69208823/hddsound.wav.html
>
> >Thanks.
>
> Sudden deceleration of the motor may cause a beep-like
> sound, if it only happens when you turn the system off then
> I wouldn't worry about it. A more conservative answer might
> be not to risk data when there is anything at all that draws
> your attention but I've had a few drives that did make a
> similar sound when powering off and none that I recall had
> died shortly thereafter (though eventually, I can't recall
> as the noise didn't seem to correspond to failure with one
> exception which was a drive that made that sound because it
> was failing while running and would keep cutting out it's
> motor to cause the spin-down instead of it being
> deliberately powered off).

Yes, it only comes when system / hdd powers down, comes completely
from HDD, highly possible from motor. But i've been using that disk
for more than 3 years and power-on hours is about 9 months(Smart
value). Usually it comes, sometimes it doesn't(When there's no
excessive read/write operation)

I also check integrity of drive with Seatools passed OK.

So what would be your final conclusion words?

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:11:25 -0800, kimiraikkonen
<kimiraikkonen85@gmail.com> wrote:


>> Sudden deceleration of the motor may cause a beep-like
>> sound, if it only happens when you turn the system off then
>> I wouldn't worry about it. A more conservative answer might
>> be not to risk data when there is anything at all that draws
>> your attention but I've had a few drives that did make a
>> similar sound when powering off and none that I recall had
>> died shortly thereafter (though eventually, I can't recall
>> as the noise didn't seem to correspond to failure with one
>> exception which was a drive that made that sound because it
>> was failing while running and would keep cutting out it's
>> motor to cause the spin-down instead of it being
>> deliberately powered off).
>
>Yes, it only comes when system / hdd powers down, comes completely
>from HDD, highly possible from motor. But i've been using that disk
>for more than 3 years and power-on hours is about 9 months(Smart
>value). Usually it comes, sometimes it doesn't(When there's no
>excessive read/write operation)
>
>I also check integrity of drive with Seatools passed OK.
>
>So what would be your final conclusion words?

A drive can die at any time, even from another cause not
related to a beeping sound, so the safest answer is to back
up your data now and consider how valuable it is that the
system be as reliable as possible. If that highest
reliability level is really important then replace the
drive, and if not, keep using it after making a backup of
the data.

9 months of power-on hours isn't very long, the drive ought
to have a few more years of life at this period of use but
again a drive can fail at any time and the older it gets
past a couple years old, the more likely. Well actually
infant mortality is also bad for hard drives but it is past
this age.

I wish I could predict if it's going to fail some month soon
but there's no way to know unless you see smart values
changing significantly, which you could choose to monitor if
there is software available for your OS. I don't know which
Smart monitoring utility is the best but Google searches
will find a few.

On Nov 12, 10:21 pm, kony <s...@spam.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:11:25 -0800, kimiraikkonen
>
>
>
> <kimiraikkone...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Sudden deceleration of the motor may cause a beep-like
> >> sound, if it only happens when you turn the system off then
> >> I wouldn't worry about it. A more conservative answer might
> >> be not to risk data when there is anything at all that draws
> >> your attention but I've had a few drives that did make a
> >> similar sound when powering off and none that I recall had
> >> died shortly thereafter (though eventually, I can't recall
> >> as the noise didn't seem to correspond to failure with one
> >> exception which was a drive that made that sound because it
> >> was failing while running and would keep cutting out it's
> >> motor to cause the spin-down instead of it being
> >> deliberately powered off).
>
> >Yes, it only comes when system / hdd powers down, comes completely
> >from HDD, highly possible from motor. But i've been using that disk
> >for more than 3 years and power-on hours is about 9 months(Smart
> >value). Usually it comes, sometimes it doesn't(When there's no
> >excessive read/write operation)
>
> >I also check integrity of drive with Seatools passed OK.
>
> >So what would be your final conclusion words?
>
> A drive can die at any time, even from another cause not
> related to a beeping sound, so the safest answer is to back
> up your data now and consider how valuable it is that the
> system be as reliable as possible. If that highest
> reliability level is really important then replace the
> drive, and if not, keep using it after making a backup of
> the data.
>
> 9 months of power-on hours isn't very long, the drive ought
> to have a few more years of life at this period of use but
> again a drive can fail at any time and the older it gets
> past a couple years old, the more likely. Well actually
> infant mortality is also bad for hard drives but it is past
> this age.
>
> I wish I could predict if it's going to fail some month soon
> but there's no way to know unless you see smart values
> changing significantly, which you could choose to monitor if
> there is software available for your OS. I don't know which
> Smart monitoring utility is the best but Google searches
> will find a few.

I usually monitor:

Some SMART values reached to a bit critical level but a lot of SMART
softwares say it's OK?

My SMART values which are in danger, said by HDTune:

ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
05 Reallocated Sector Count 36 98 98 98 OK: Value is normal

ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
0A Spin Retry Count 97 100 100 0 OK: Value is normal


But i was hearing that sound *only* when HDD powers off motor. Since
the first day i purchased the drive, it never failed or stopped,
there's some this-like threads on the net which are experienced when
shutting down using Ubuntu/Linux OS, but i only used Windows XP and
2000 Pro with that drive.

If it was about OS related, it must apply to all same-model drives
around the world with the same OS (Windows).

Is there a possibility for a faulty south-bridge IDE controller of
Motherboard? Though i never had any controller error messages (event
logs) or difficulties for that drive?...

Meanwhile, have you checked (downloaded) the sound that i posted in my
first message?

Thanks.

On Nov 12, 8:35 pm, kimiraikkonen <kimiraikkone...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 12, 10:21 pm, kony <s...@spam.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:11:25 -0800, kimiraikkonen
>
> > <kimiraikkone...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >> Sudden deceleration of the motor may cause a beep-like
> > >> sound, if it only happens when you turn the system off then
> > >> I wouldn't worry about it. A more conservative answer might
> > >> be not to risk data when there is anything at all that draws
> > >> your attention but I've had a few drives that did make a
> > >> similar sound when powering off and none that I recall had
> > >> died shortly thereafter (though eventually, I can't recall
> > >> as the noise didn't seem to correspond to failure with one
> > >> exception which was a drive that made that sound because it
> > >> was failing while running and would keep cutting out it's
> > >> motor to cause the spin-down instead of it being
> > >> deliberately powered off).
>
> > >Yes, it only comes when system / hdd powers down, comes completely
> > >from HDD, highly possible from motor. But i've been using that disk
> > >for more than 3 years and power-on hours is about 9 months(Smart
> > >value). Usually it comes, sometimes it doesn't(When there's no
> > >excessive read/write operation)
>
> > >I also check integrity of drive with Seatools passed OK.
>
> > >So what would be your final conclusion words?
>
> > A drive can die at any time, even from another cause not
> > related to a beeping sound, so the safest answer is to back
> > up your data now and consider how valuable it is that the
> > system be as reliable as possible. If that highest
> > reliability level is really important then replace the
> > drive, and if not, keep using it after making a backup of
> > the data.
>
> > 9 months of power-on hours isn't very long, the drive ought
> > to have a few more years of life at this period of use but
> > again a drive can fail at any time and the older it gets
> > past a couple years old, the more likely. Well actually
> > infant mortality is also bad for hard drives but it is past
> > this age.
>
> > I wish I could predict if it's going to fail some month soon
> > but there's no way to know unless you see smart values
> > changing significantly, which you could choose to monitor if
> > there is software available for your OS. I don't know which
> > Smart monitoring utility is the best but Google searches
> > will find a few.
>
> I usually monitor:
>
> Some SMART values reached to a bit critical level but a lot of SMART
> softwares say it's OK?
>
> My SMART values which are in danger, said by HDTune:
>
> ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
> 05 Reallocated Sector Count 36 98 98 98 OK: Value is normal
>
> ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
> 0A Spin Retry Count 97 100 100 0 OK: Value is normal
>
> But i was hearing that sound *only* when HDD powers off motor. Since
> the first day i purchased the drive, it never failed or stopped,
> there's some this-like threads on the net which are experienced when
> shutting down using Ubuntu/Linux OS, but i only used Windows XP and
> 2000 Pro with that drive.
>
> If it was about OS related, it must apply to all same-model drives
> around the world with the same OS (Windows).
>
> Is there a possibility for a faulty south-bridge IDE controller of
> Motherboard? Though i never had any controller error messages (event
> logs) or difficulties for that drive?...
>
> Meanwhile, have you checked (downloaded) the sound that i posted in my
> first message?
>
> Thanks.

Is it smoking? Does it smell of burning plastic? Are there sparks
shooting out of the left hand side of the box? None of these? Then
relax.....and keep the fire extinguisher handy.

> Is it smoking? Does it smell of burning plastic? Are there sparks
> shooting out of the left hand side of the box? None of these? Then
> relax.....and keep the fire extinguisher handy.

None of them are present at the moment.

kimiraikkonen wrote:
> On Nov 12, 10:21 pm, kony <s...@spam.com> wrote:
>> On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:11:25 -0800, kimiraikkonen
>>
>>
>>
>> <kimiraikkone...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Sudden deceleration of the motor may cause a beep-like
>>>> sound, if it only happens when you turn the system off then
>>>> I wouldn't worry about it. A more conservative answer might
>>>> be not to risk data when there is anything at all that draws
>>>> your attention but I've had a few drives that did make a
>>>> similar sound when powering off and none that I recall had
>>>> died shortly thereafter (though eventually, I can't recall
>>>> as the noise didn't seem to correspond to failure with one
>>>> exception which was a drive that made that sound because it
>>>> was failing while running and would keep cutting out it's
>>>> motor to cause the spin-down instead of it being
>>>> deliberately powered off).
>>
>>> Yes, it only comes when system / hdd powers down, comes completely
>>> from HDD, highly possible from motor. But i've been using that disk
>>> for more than 3 years and power-on hours is about 9 months(Smart
>>> value). Usually it comes, sometimes it doesn't(When there's no
>>> excessive read/write operation)
>>
>>> I also check integrity of drive with Seatools passed OK.
>>
>>> So what would be your final conclusion words?
>>
>> A drive can die at any time, even from another cause not
>> related to a beeping sound, so the safest answer is to back
>> up your data now and consider how valuable it is that the
>> system be as reliable as possible. If that highest
>> reliability level is really important then replace the
>> drive, and if not, keep using it after making a backup of
>> the data.
>>
>> 9 months of power-on hours isn't very long, the drive ought
>> to have a few more years of life at this period of use but
>> again a drive can fail at any time and the older it gets
>> past a couple years old, the more likely. Well actually
>> infant mortality is also bad for hard drives but it is past
>> this age.
>>
>> I wish I could predict if it's going to fail some month soon
>> but there's no way to know unless you see smart values
>> changing significantly, which you could choose to monitor if
>> there is software available for your OS. I don't know which
>> Smart monitoring utility is the best but Google searches
>> will find a few.
>
> I usually monitor:
>
> Some SMART values reached to a bit critical level but a lot of SMART
> softwares say it's OK?
>
> My SMART values which are in danger, said by HDTune:
>
> ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
> 05 Reallocated Sector Count 36 98 98 98 OK: Value is normal
>
> ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
> 0A Spin Retry Count 97 100 100 0 OK: Value is normal
>
>
> But i was hearing that sound *only* when HDD powers off motor. Since
> the first day i purchased the drive, it never failed or stopped,
> there's some this-like threads on the net which are experienced when
> shutting down using Ubuntu/Linux OS, but i only used Windows XP and
> 2000 Pro with that drive.
>
> If it was about OS related, it must apply to all same-model drives
> around the world with the same OS (Windows).
>
> Is there a possibility for a faulty south-bridge IDE controller of
> Motherboard? Though i never had any controller error messages (event
> logs) or difficulties for that drive?...
>
> Meanwhile, have you checked (downloaded) the sound that i posted in my
> first message?
>
> Thanks.

It sounds to me like it could be the actuator mechanism that moves the
read/write heads, moving into a "parked" position. As this position is only
used when the drive is off it could be that the shaft has got a bit 'sticky'
in that position. I'd back up anything that's not easilly replaced and carry
on as usual.
--
TTFN,

Shaun.

> It sounds to me like it could be the actuator mechanism that moves the
> read/write heads, moving into a "parked" position. As this position is only
> used when the drive is off it could be that the shaft has got a bit 'sticky'
> in that position. I'd back up anything that's not easilly replaced and carry
> on as usual.

I've seen on many Seagate drives that sound with more than one
computer when going to power off state. Parking heads seem a bit
different because the motor isn't turned off, but that sound is like a
complete motor shutdown as normal.