Hard drive issue with Vista?

BlueMak · Jun 18, 2007, 12:14 AM

So, perhaps after installing the mainboards' Vista drivers from EVGA, whenever I reboot or shut down Vista (trialware Home Premium) I get this weird noise from one or more of my hard drives (4 internal, don't know which is making the noise). Sounds like the old "parking" noise, only louder than I remember from those days. After a reboot the system stops before loading any OS, right after POST. If instead of reboot I shut down the PC, then I turn it on, everything works fine.

With XP no such problem, and neither with Linux (Slux).

Is this normal or is Vista killing my hard drives?

BlueMak · Jun 18, 2007, 05:21 PM

I uninstalled the mainboard's drivers, rebooted, same problem. What could be causing this? I don't want to ruin the drive(s).

mkk · Jun 18, 2007, 07:36 PM

Had a similar problem that ended up being solved by changing the data cable on one of my four drives. What might be what's happening is if the drive has entered power saving sleep mode, Vista for some reason has to wake the drive up before shutting down or rebooting. If the drive has some kind of problem or in my case a shaky data cable that spinning up only to shut down a second later could be what pushes it to temporarily call it quits and not appear on a "soft" restart. But no problems here after swithching out that cable, only sometimes waiting for 2-3 drives to whirr up before the system is are allowed to shut off...

BlueMak · Jun 19, 2007, 12:28 AM

So you had the noise too? That is comforting. Is there a way to not allow the hard drives to enter power saving mode? I want to test if this is the problem in my case.

mkk · Jun 19, 2007, 02:23 AM

Worth a try. To get to the HDD power settings in Vista one has to click "change plan settings" and then "change advanced power settings" to open up the detailed view. Not sure what the default value is but one can always check in there.

BlueMak · Jun 19, 2007, 07:48 AM

Same result. It was at 20min.
I downloaded the SeaTools from Seagate, going to check the drives that way.

rallymaster · Jul 12, 2007, 07:21 PM

I am getting the same problem with Vista... when just surfing the internet or doing something simple, I hear a "clunk". Just like the old HDD's parking... I dual boot this machine with XP and I don't hear it at all with XP.

I really don't think that Vista should be parking the drives... the drives can handle that on their own. Perhaps its to save power, I dont know. Any suggestions on how to stop Vista from doing this would be appreciated.

Necrosis · Jul 14, 2007, 09:37 PM

What do you have the power option set to?

rallymaster · Jul 15, 2007, 01:23 PM

After reading what other people mentioned here about the 20 minutes I started looking deeper at the power settings. Seeing I have two drives in my machine I think Windows Vista was parking the other drive seeing its not used as much.

So I went in and looked at the power settings, everything was to performance, but going in further I saw the HDD's still turned off after 20 minutes, but it still didn't make sense since I was using the machine. I changed the setting to "Never" and it seems to have stopped the parking issue. I will report back if that wasn't the issue.

I should mention I do have the Seagate drives as well...

WardenWolf · Jul 19, 2007, 06:48 AM

So that's what I've been hearing. On a Thermaltake Shark case, it's this loud thunking noise that sounds like something whacked the chassis. Probably it parking my Raptor drive, or my mirror array.

Jun 18, 2007, 12:14 AM	#1
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,483 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Hard drive issue with Vista? So, perhaps after installing the mainboards' Vista drivers from EVGA, whenever I reboot or shut down Vista (trialware Home Premium) I get this weird noise from one or more of my hard drives (4 internal, don't know which is making the noise). Sounds like the old "parking" noise, only louder than I remember from those days. After a reboot the system stops before loading any OS, right after POST. If instead of reboot I shut down the PC, then I turn it on, everything works fine. With XP no such problem, and neither with Linux (Slux). Is this normal or is Vista killing my hard drives? __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Jun 18, 2007, 05:21 PM	Thread Starter #2
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,483 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	I uninstalled the mainboard's drivers, rebooted, same problem. What could be causing this? I don't want to ruin the drive(s). __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Jun 19, 2007, 12:28 AM	Thread Starter #4
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,483 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	So you had the noise too? That is comforting. Is there a way to not allow the hard drives to enter power saving mode? I want to test if this is the problem in my case. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Jun 19, 2007, 07:48 AM	Thread Starter #6
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,483 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Same result. It was at 20min. I downloaded the SeaTools from Seagate, going to check the drives that way. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Jul 12, 2007, 07:21 PM	#7
rallymaster DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	HDD parking issue I am getting the same problem with Vista... when just surfing the internet or doing something simple, I hear a "clunk". Just like the old HDD's parking... I dual boot this machine with XP and I don't hear it at all with XP. I really don't think that Vista should be parking the drives... the drives can handle that on their own. Perhaps its to save power, I dont know. Any suggestions on how to stop Vista from doing this would be appreciated.

Jun 18, 2007, 07:36 PM	#3
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,495 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	Had a similar problem that ended up being solved by changing the data cable on one of my four drives. What might be what's happening is if the drive has entered power saving sleep mode, Vista for some reason has to wake the drive up before shutting down or rebooting. If the drive has some kind of problem or in my case a shaky data cable that spinning up only to shut down a second later could be what pushes it to temporarily call it quits and not appear on a "soft" restart. But no problems here after swithching out that cable, only sometimes waiting for 2-3 drives to whirr up before the system is are allowed to shut off...

Jun 19, 2007, 02:23 AM	#5
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,495 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	Worth a try. To get to the HDD power settings in Vista one has to click "change plan settings" and then "change advanced power settings" to open up the detailed view. Not sure what the default value is but one can always check in there.

Jul 14, 2007, 09:37 PM	#8
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	What do you have the power option set to?

Jul 15, 2007, 01:23 PM	#9
rallymaster DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	After reading what other people mentioned here about the 20 minutes I started looking deeper at the power settings. Seeing I have two drives in my machine I think Windows Vista was parking the other drive seeing its not used as much. So I went in and looked at the power settings, everything was to performance, but going in further I saw the HDD's still turned off after 20 minutes, but it still didn't make sense since I was using the machine. I changed the setting to "Never" and it seems to have stopped the parking issue. I will report back if that wasn't the issue. I should mention I do have the Seagate drives as well...

Jul 19, 2007, 06:48 AM	#10
WardenWolf DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 43 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	So that's what I've been hearing. On a Thermaltake Shark case, it's this loud thunking noise that sounds like something whacked the chassis. Probably it parking my Raptor drive, or my mirror array.