Disk Grinding Noise

FredJones · 02-26-2012, 08:22 AM

I posted a long thread called Swap Partition Ruining PC Performance which ended happily. In short, I had performance and noise problems with 32 bit Arch so I got a fresh hard drive and installed 64 bit Arch and both problems went away.

In my new 64 bit install (which I installed on the new disk just 4 days ago) I was mounting the old drive using

Code:

mount /mnt/sda2 /sda/sda2
mount /mnt/sda3 /sda/sda3

to access the old files and all was well. This old disk, which used to make a loud grinding noise, was totally quiet.

Then I setup an automatic mount in fstab and now the grinding noise is returning. I'm not actually 100% sure that there wasn't a bit of grinding before today, but for sure today there was a big noise when I opened up a certain large directory in Thunar.

Here is a peek into my disks:

Quote:

[kirk@localhost ~]$ df -T
Filesystem Type 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs rootfs 71559236 7975580 59999656 12% /
/dev devtmpfs 1953616 0 1953616 0% /dev
/run tmpfs 1956404 276 1956128 1% /run
/dev/sdb2 ext4 71559236 7975580 59999656 12% /
/run tmpfs 1956404 276 1956128 1% /run
shm tmpfs 1956404 132 1956272 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs tmpfs 1956404 216 1956188 1% /tmp
/dev/sdb3 ext4 306851448 6111436 285380012 3% /home
/dev/sdb1 ext4 100604 23697 71787 25% /boot
/dev/sdb4 ext4 109239540 5264912 98504472 6% /srv
/dev/sda2 ext3 432535976 92115196 318448280 23% /mnt/sda2
/dev/sda3 ext3 522909380 150166396 346180312 31% /mnt/sda3
[kirk@localhost ~]$ mount
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
/sys on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
/dev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=1953616k,nr_inodes=488404,mode=755)
/run on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,mode=755)
/dev/sdb2 on / type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/run on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
shm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime)
/dev/sdb3 on /home type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/sdb1 on /boot type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/sdb4 on /srv type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/sda2 on /mnt/sda2 type ext3 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,nodelalloc,data=ordered)
/dev/sda3 on /mnt/sda3 type ext3 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,nodelalloc,data=ordered)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/kirk/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=100)
[kirk@localhost ~]$ more /etc/fstab
#
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
UUID=29c67a48-7636-4599-affc-e826225b49c2 /home ext4 defaults 0 1
UUID=3f211853-11a0-4ac9-9332-cad016b3b521 /boot ext4 defaults 0 1
UUID=4ca1a48e-fbd3-4756-8340-d533f6c968b8 / ext4 defaults 0 1
UUID=849fbafc-f8a9-4750-8efe-ceb434f735e0 /srv ext4 defaults 0 1

/dev/sda2 /mnt/sda2 ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3 ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda4 swap swap defaults 0 0
[kirk@localhost ~]$ more /mnt/sda2/etc/fstab
#
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
#devpts /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
#shm /dev/shm tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0

tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0

#UUID=121b8ba5-48b2-4083-ac6b-ae1386ebd600 /boot ext3 defaults 0 1
#UUID=923771e6-7ea1-4bc5-815c-a8c78bcfa1f6 / ext3 defaults 0 1
#UUID=e0f83332-f764-400b-9052-58a3ea83aafd /home ext3 defaults 0 1
#UUID=dafb368a-0c80-40ca-aca8-208ca48a941b swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sda1 /boot ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda2 / ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda3 /home ext3 defaults 0 1
#/dev/sda4 swap swap defaults 0 0
LABEL=myswap swap swap defaults 0 0
#/dev/sdb1 none swap defaults 0 0

That last fstab is the old 32 bit one. I think the fstabs are OK.

When I opened /mnt/sda2/srv/http today, however, it made a grinding noise. Directory has 137 items. Not as bad as it did on the old 32 bit install, but still a noise which a 3-month old good quality disk shouldn't make.

Here's the RAM, just for kicks:

Code:

$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3821       3690        130          0         19        877
-/+ buffers/cache:       2793       1027
Swap:         5820          7       5812

Any ideas?

macemoneta · 02-26-2012, 11:24 AM

If you find the sound distracting, you can set the acoustic management on the drive, as root:

Code:

hdparm -M 128 /dev/sdX

See the 'man hdparm' command for additional details.

H_TeXMeX_H · 02-26-2012, 12:30 PM

I would say some grinding is normal in a large directory, because it is listing files that are all over the disk, this requires seeking = light grinding / ticking / clicking.

However, heavy / loud grinding noise occurs before the disk fails. These disks are new, so this is not too likely. If you want to rule it out you can run some SMART tests using smartctl or the manufacturer utils on:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Technically, it doesn't rule it out, but it helps.

Also, I recently got one of my old IDE drives and hooked it up to my PC. It is way louder than my relatively modern SATA drive (it's a few years old now). It is not failing, but it is very loud. So, if it really bothers you, you can do what macemoneta suggests, but this will decrease performance.

With my current SATA drive I can hear ticking/clicking when in large directories, but it's not what I would consider "grinding". Grinding would be like grinding an axe on a grinding wheel ... much louder. I have heard very loud clicks / ticks on my old laptop's failing drive, but it's still running.

FredJones · 02-26-2012, 01:27 PM

The issue is not that it's distracting. It's clear that this level of noise is not normal. I have run SMART tests and other tests repeatedly and they always came out fine. I wrote in my last post in the other thread:

Quote:

While using my 32 bit install later, I mounted the new disk and opened it in Thunar and heard the crazy scraping noise. No question that this is a software issue NOT a hardware issue.

I think that's correct. It's not as bad as a grinding wheel I don't think (not that I really know how that sounds) but it does sound like scraping and I have never heard such a nasty sound from a disk in over 10 years of heavy desktop usage.

Perhaps I will just move my main data to the new disk and see if the new disk continues NOT to make noise.

"Hope" it doesn't make noise actually.

Thanks.

macemoneta · 02-26-2012, 01:38 PM

Did the drive continue to make noise after setting the acoustic management? If so, then as @H_TeXMeX_H said, it could be an indication of mechanical pre-fail. I've used some horribly loud drives that become completely silent when acoustic management is enabled though, so it's certainly worth a try.

FredJones · 02-27-2012, 07:47 AM

I tried removing the mounts in fstab and rebooting, to see if using mount from CLI would be any different. It's not. I also rebooted into my old 32 bit install and it made a grinding noise from when I booted into it until I shut it down 7 minutes later. Crazy.

Anyhow this is what hdparm says

Code:

$ sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
	Model Number:       Hitachi HDS721010CLA332                 
	Serial Number:      JP2911HZ1P4JSC
	Firmware Revision:  JP4OA3MA
	Transport:          Serial, ATA8-AST, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6; Revision: ATA8-AST T13 Project D1697 Revision 0b
Standards:
	Used: unknown (minor revision code 0x0029) 
	Supported: 8 7 6 5 
	Likely used: 8
Configuration:
	Logical		max	current
	cylinders	16383	16383
	heads		16	16
	sectors/track	63	63
	--
	CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064
	LBA    user addressable sectors:  268435455
	LBA48  user addressable sectors: 1953525168
	Logical/Physical Sector size:           512 bytes
	device size with M = 1024*1024:      953869 MBytes
	device size with M = 1000*1000:     1000204 MBytes (1000 GB)
	cache/buffer size  = 29999 KBytes (type=DualPortCache)
	Form Factor: 3.5 inch
	Nominal Media Rotation Rate: 7200
Capabilities:
	LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
	Queue depth: 32
	Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
	R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16	Current = 16
	Advanced power management level: disabled
	DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 
	     Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
	PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
	     Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
	Enabled	Supported:
	   *	SMART feature set
	    	Security Mode feature set
	   *	Power Management feature set
	   *	Write cache
	   *	Look-ahead
	   *	Host Protected Area feature set
	   *	WRITE_BUFFER command
	   *	READ_BUFFER command
	   *	DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
	    	Advanced Power Management feature set
	    	Power-Up In Standby feature set
	   *	SET_FEATURES required to spinup after power up
	    	SET_MAX security extension
	   *	48-bit Address feature set
	   *	Device Configuration Overlay feature set
	   *	Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
	   *	FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
	   *	SMART error logging
	   *	SMART self-test
	    	Media Card Pass-Through
	   *	General Purpose Logging feature set
	   *	WRITE_{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT
	   *	64-bit World wide name
	   *	URG for READ_STREAM[_DMA]_EXT
	   *	URG for WRITE_STREAM[_DMA]_EXT
	   *	WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command
	   *	Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
	   *	Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
	   *	Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
	   *	Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
	   *	Host-initiated interface power management
	   *	Phy event counters
	   *	NCQ priority information
	    	Non-Zero buffer offsets in DMA Setup FIS
	    	DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
	    	Device-initiated interface power management
	    	In-order data delivery
	   *	Software settings preservation
	   *	SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
	   *	SCT LBA Segment Access (AC2)
	   *	SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3)
	   *	SCT Features Control (AC4)
	   *	SCT Data Tables (AC5)
Security: 
	Master password revision code = 65534
		supported
	not	enabled
	not	locked
		frozen
	not	expired: security count
	not	supported: enhanced erase
	216min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 5000cca375d7b457
	NAA		: 5
	IEEE OUI	: 000cca
	Unique ID	: 375d7b457
Checksum: correct

Seems acoustic management is not supported however:

Code:

$ sudo hdparm -M 128 /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 setting acoustic management to 128
 HDIO_DRIVE_CMD:ACOUSTIC failed: Input/output error
 acoustic      = not supported

I tried using ls /mnt/sda2/srv/http in CLI before launching X both times I rebooted this 64 bit system and both times it made a small noise. Then I launch X and Thunar and open that directory in Thunar and it makes a bigger noise.

Neither noise is even close to what the old 32 bit system makes however.

ba.page · 03-05-2012, 01:19 PM

just making sure:

the grinding noise goes away if you unplug the power leads to these old drives and boot the computer, yes?
hate to find out it's just a fan somewhere...
:/

FredJones · 03-06-2012, 08:27 AM

Hi. Thanks for your response, but it's clearly the disks. The noise doesn't happen all the time, but when I do a heavy disk operation (on the old disk mostly and only sometimes) then the noise comes from the disk.