first, let me just state that there are no bad sectors.

OK here goes, upon installing redhat 7.1, and even in the install, my HD seems to work constantly producing a static noise, well, its not the "moving files", "loading stuff" noise, its just like something that could've come out of Ski or Die. vrrrrrrrrr. schhh. its not thrashing, and its pretty high frequency. even when I move my mouse. Its driving me mad, I've tried hdparm (aboutishly every parameter there is), and now I seek counsel here. _ANY_ response will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Codepie

Is this a mechanical HD, I'd guess yes. If it is more than a few years old and especially if it is PATA not SATA then I'd replace it ASAP. Well .. actually the SATA ones may get more stress so .. Any noisy mechanical drive.

At least back up all your data immediately! I've lost 2 mechanical hard drives this year! One just after a power surge/Outage. They are so fragile now these days it seems.

One thing you could do (After Backup) is boot a live distro and mount the drive. See how it reacts. Then maybe exercise it a bit and see if it sounds normal.

May be time for a SSD !

Hope that helps,

Tim

How do you know the noise comes from the disk?

Could be a dodgy fan or PSU.

How about the SMART stats on your drive?

2 members found this post helpful.

Excellent point! Open the case and maybe put an insulated screwdriver to your ear and carefully touch the drive case.
Keep away fron wires, pins, connectors and pc cards and use the utmost caution or maybe use a stethescope or other listening device.

If you feel uncomfortable then please take it to a qualified person. Be safe!

I would also suggest SMART.

As a follow-on for Jeremy's point, for years I had a noise coming from my computer which I was convinced was a dodgy PSU fan. I ended up buying a new PSU. I installed it only to find that the noise was still there.

It was actually a case fan, and I had thrown away a perfectly good PSU. OP, I would suggest opening the case, unplugging some fans and doing some testing to just be sure that's it's actually the HDD.

They sure don't make 'em like they used to. I've had SATA drives fail within a week of installation. At the other extreme, I used to have a very old system (my original firewall) that had a couple of small (2GB) Seagate SCSI drives in it that were pushing 20 years old and were in almost continuous use until one of them died. The bearings in those things had a constant high pitched whine that was normal. (Plus the spindle speeds were just different enough that the beat frequencies drove everyone nuts.)

Current disks are almost silent and you cannot even hear them seeking (I used to love the burbling sound the old Tandons made as the heads moved). If a recent drive is noisy, I'd be worried. Back it up.

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True. I've had similar experiences.
I'd really like to hear what the OP finds after opening the case and what the investigation reveals.

I totally agree that a backup right now is wise.
In fact, I recommend periodic backups even if everything seems OK.
You never know when a catastrophic failure may occur.
Best to be prepared

Codepie: At least back up your home directory and any other data files you may have elsewhere. Grab a flash drive, they are low cost and good insurance or use an optical media.

All the Best,
Tim

Unless it's a drive that can spindown when not in use you're stuck with the noise.

On the good side, it doesn't have to indicate a problem with the disk itself.
I recently retired (for motherboard or powersupply problems) an old Pentium III, of which the disk had been making quite a bit of noise since 2002, when I got it 2nd hand (but even now, when I mounted it thru an external housing for "the final backup", it still works OK).