Drive whine problem, Maxtor Maxline II 250GB

[jshorr]

Anyone familiar with these drives? I got one from ebay that was advertised "like new", appeared physically to be new, still under warranty and everything. It is 5400RPM/2MB cache. The heads don't make too much noise when the acoustic management has been set to quiet, but there is a pretty loud whine coming from the drive. Is this normal for this and other Maxtor drives? This one was made in Nov '04. Would this happen on a new/like new drive of this type or is it only a result of the drive being used a long time and maybe starting to die? Thanks.

[redrhino]

Sound anything like any of these?

http://www.hitachigst.com/hddt/knowtree.nsf/cffe836ed7c12018862565b000530c74/4b1a62a50f405d0d86256756006e340c?OpenDocument

[irregularjoe]

Sound anything like any of these?

http://www.hitachigst.com/hddt/knowtree.nsf/cffe836ed7c12018862565b000530c74/4b1a62a50f405d0d86256756006e340c?OpenDocument

Those ALL sound like my ex-wife while sleeping.

[c3]

I got one from ebay that was advertised "like new", appeared physically to be new

I can dig up my 10-year old hard drive, dust it off, and sell it "like new". Personally, I would not use any drive handled by another person, out of its original factory package.

What's the model number? If it's 5A250J0, then it has worn out ball bearings.

[jshorr]

I can dig up my 10-year old hard drive, dust it off, and sell it "like new". Personally, I would not use any drive handled by another person, out of its original factory package.

What's the model number? If it's 5A250J0, then it has worn out ball bearings.

Yes it is. As always, your information is excellent, thanks. As far as the noises, thanks for the link to that page it was cool, I got a good laugh. It's not as bad as those.

C3 you seem to know about that model....if it was brand new would that sound be heard at all, or much less? Maxtor lists "drive noisy" on their website as a valid RMA reason but I guess it's subject to their approval, do you think I'd have any problems RMAing it, it is still under warranty.

[Dan Collins]

If it was new, you would not hear that sound - until the drive was in operation a few months...those old mechanical bearings always started to whine at some point. You can try and RMA it, but the new drive will start whining in a few months.

[jshorr]

If it was new, you would not hear that sound - until the drive was in operation a few months...those old mechanical bearings always started to whine at some point. You can try and RMA it, but the new drive will start whining in a few months.

Do you think Maxtor will send me a newer drive which doesn't whine as much, even after a few months? How about the Maxline Plus II's, do they start to whine also? I had some western digitals in a tivo forever and I never noticed the noise where it was in a cabinet, but when I finally broke the unit down the whining was real loud.

[Dan Collins]

Maxtor will only replace a drive with a newer model if they don't have any of the older model on hand (they once sent me a larger drive of the same model, though).

A drive with fluid bearings (most newer drives) will be less likely to start to whine with age.

[jshorr]

Maxtor will only replace a drive with a newer model if they don't have any of the older model on hand (they once sent me a larger drive of the same model, though).

A drive with fluid bearings (most newer drives) will be less likely to start to whine with age.

Yeah once I got a 15GB replacement for a failed 10GB :)

I recently got a new, not refurbished replacement Maxtor Maxline II Plus for a failed one, I was pretty happy about that. I wonder what they will give me back for this noisy Maxline II. I also wonder what would happen in the case of an Advanced replacement, where they send you the new drive first, what they would do if they get yours back and decide that it's not nosiy enough for them to say it's a problem. Any idea? Thanks for the info btw.

[c3]

Standard or advanced replacement shouldn't matter. It's unlikely for them to actually check the drive operation before sending out the replacement (for standard RMA) anyway. I have always used the advanced RMA to get the replacement faster, and I don't have to dig up a proper shipping box to return the drive.

I don't have personal experience with that model. I just looked up the datasheet at maxtor.com and saw that there are two different bearings available for that particular product line.