The Gamer's Quarter

[antitype]

It's not a constant, sustained whine, but a sort of sporadic sound. Nor is it very loud, but enough to concern me. Is this something I should be worried about, and it is something I can fix?

It's a Western Digital 500gb MyBook. It was running a bit hotter than I'd realized, so I've got it unplugged for now. Maybe I ought to copy the contents to my internal HDD, just in case it dies on me...? Going by a few google searches and skimming some forums, it looks like this could happen. I might have to contact newegg and see if a replacement is a possibility.

This might be my own fault, actually — I tend to leave the thing plugged in virtually 24/7 and I'm always listening to music (it houses all of my music files), plus I've got torrents and such running straight to it, so it probably sees a lot more activity than it should. I suppose external HDDs are not meant for this kind of thing, eh?
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[dhex]

how hot is it where it is?

the sporadic whine sounds like the fan upping the rpms to deal with the heat.
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[antitype]

Well, my computer is set up in my bedroom, which is not the coolest room in the house, but it's where there's space. And I've got the external sitting upright next to my computer case, with a few inches between them for a little breathing room. I think it's just getting hot from being on and active for so long. I do hope it's just the fan's RPMs and not a problem with bearings or something like that.

I'll plug it back in shortly to see if it's stopped.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[antitype]

OK, so it seems like that took care of it, but man, this thing heats up again fast. I guess I'll just copy my music files over to my main HDD and just store music and other large media on the external as a backup so I can turn it off more often. Which means I don't have the freedom of using a total of 800+ gb however I want (my internal HDD is a 320gb, so I hope that wasn't too skimpy a choice (I'll check on the size of my music folder with SequoiaView after I've copied it)).

La dee da.

EDIT: WTF? Word filter on "da"?

Also: As my files are copying over the whining seems to be returning, but as more of a quiet chirping sound. Hm.

EDIT AGAIN: Actually, a little more googling and skimming makes me think it's the electric motor, not the fan, because the chirping sound is in sync with the scraping sound of the drive reading/writing. I just don't want to have to worry about the thing suddenly going "CLICK— dead."
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[simplicio]

You can find 500GB internal SATA Seagates for ~$125 these days, if you've got room in your case. But yeah, try RMAing the current drive first.
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"Worlds turn the new machine to thee. To thee. Though, thine the new machine space."
-Kurt Schwitters, 1919