Hard drive vibration?

[SithLord075]

Unfortunately, the drive seems to have a continuous vibration. Sort of reminds me of a fluctuating "hum". Actually, now that it was mentioned, I just re-checked the mount, and made sure the drive was relatively level (horizontal installation), and it appears correct. Oh, and it is a higher rpm drive (7200). Wouldn't hurt to just exchange it. Good thing I didn't pack a bunch of crucial stuff on it, but I'll format it anyways before returning it. Thanks for the responses guys.

[SithLord075]

I'm a little concerned with a 20GB hard drive I have recently purchased. It's a Western Digital UDMA/66 IDE. The drive seems to have a fluctuating vibration during use (after feeling the side of the PC box, I traced it to the drive). I'm using a 350W power supply, so I don't think that lack of juice is the problem. Is it normal for some drives to do this?

[Szech]

I think that happens when a drive gets older, and is starting to clunk out. But that doesn't sound normal since you just got it, so I suggest you exchange it.

[nilknarf]

Is the vibration continuous, or only when you accesss the drive? Does it occur when the drive spins up and then goes away after a while?

I have encountered drives which do all kinds of things during the first few minutes. Especially modern high RPM drives.

It may be normal if it only occurs during the first few minutes after power on. However, if it is continuous, then I would say you have a suspect drive. But, before you go and swap drives, check and be sure your drive is mounted either vertically or horizontally and is level. Also be sure it is securely mounted. I'm sure you've checked this already, but just for kicks, do it again.