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I just bought a new Dell server tower (Poweredge T20), it comes with a 1TB Toshiba hard drive.

I currently have the server connected but it's not being used by anything.

The OS is Ubuntu server 16.04.

The server is not doing anything and yet the drive keeps making noise and is warm to touch.

The sound isn't like the read/write sound. It sounds more like a fan/low wooshy (that's probably not a word) sound. And I'm sure it's coming from the drive because I disconnected all the fans.

What could be causing this?

1 Answer 1

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For some drives that is a normal sound. The sound might be more commonly heard from optical drive (CD drives), but I have heard it from HDDs that were working just fine.

I always assumed it was the sound of that particular motor type or platter design spinning.

OPINION: Personally, I wouldn't trust a Toshiba drive in a server role, but I may have had unrepresentative experiences with them

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  • Thanks, I uploaded a sound file, is that a normal sound? I was under the impression that when a hard drive is idle it doesn't do anything at all.
    – Rtsne42
    Nov 4, 2016 at 23:22
  • HDDs are nearly always spinning. Only a very few types of arrays actually spin disks down completely. On a running computer, the HDD will be nearly always turning. Nov 4, 2016 at 23:28
  • Does this only apply to the system drive? I have an additional empty drive connected to the same machine and it doesn't do anything. Thanks.
    – Rtsne42
    Nov 4, 2016 at 23:31
  • This will be dependent on the system Power Management settings, the storage controller settings, and the BIOS settings. Nov 4, 2016 at 23:31
  • Most servers do not power down idle drives, but that sounds seems normal for a server setup. Toshiba drives are generally not recommended in a server role, that is for HGST or other higher end Seagate, WD, or drives intended for this type of use, servers utilize drives in a different way than a normal desktop PC.
    – acejavelin
    Nov 5, 2016 at 0:54

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