Loud buzz when external HD connected

[john52il]

Hi,
I have a Macbook with an external, USB powered Western Digital HD connected. It buzzes loudly and I am getting tired of having the device I use to store music on ruin the way my music sounds! Are there any solutions to this problem?
Thank you,
John

 

[Mickey330]

john52il: I don't know the answer to help you (other than to say that maybe you should get a new external drive).

I'm just posting to tell you I've moved your post over to the Off-Topic forum ... as it is not about the iPad.

Marilyn

 

[john52il]

john52il: I don't know the answer to help you (other than to say that maybe you should get a new external drive).

I'm just posting to tell you I've moved your post over to the Off-Topic forum ... as it is not about the iPad.

Marilyn

You're right, totally spaced on this one!

 

[richsadams]

Hi,
I have a Macbook with an external, USB powered Western Digital HD connected. It buzzes loudly and I am getting tired of having the device I use to store music on ruin the way my music sounds! Are there any solutions to this problem?
Thank you,
John

The AAM (auto acoustic management) can be set on most WD hard drives using a free program called HDDscan. The default setting is 254 and the quietest setting is 126. I've only run this on OEM drives (bare drives that I could connect directly to my computer). I've never tried it on an external WD HDD in an enclosure (assuming that's what you have), so I'm not sure if it'll work or not.

Also, if it's making more noise now than when you first purchased it I would certainly run a SMART test on it (disk utilities on your Mac). Noise is NOT a good thing when it comes to hard drives. Backup now just to be safe! Here's a web site that has sample sounds failing hard drives can make:

Failing Hard Drive Sounds (It's kind of fun to listen to the various and horrendous sounds hard drives can emit. Caution, cringing zone!)

Hope that helps and let us know how it goes.

 

[john52il]

Thanks very much, Rich. I'm pretty busy these days, but hope to try your suggestions shortly. I don't think th HD is going bad, though, I'll work on this asap.