Noisy 128GB m4

Panda90uk · 6 Apr 2013 at 01:34

I have a thinkpad t61p with a 128GB Crucial m4 in it and it makes a fairly old laptop absolutely fly along. The drive, however, makes a combination of a very high pitched whining and a slight clicking noise. I gather that in spite of SSDs having no moving parts this isn't uncommon and isn't a reason for concern. Unfortunately it's really annoying in a silent room with an otherwise almost silent laptop.

How hot do SSDs get? Could I wrap in in some kitchen roll or a similar material to deaden the sound without risking damage to the drive?

wazza300 · 6 Apr 2013 at 01:37

Are you sure? Could be a motherboard relay your hearing,they click

I've never heard an ssd make a noise,could be wrong tho

Panda90uk · 6 Apr 2013 at 01:43

It might be a combination of both but the whining noise only happens during read/write and is definitely only coming from the SSD. I don't remember hearing a similar noise during the brief time I had it running off the hard drive it came with.

hyperst · 6 Apr 2013 at 01:52

Never heard of ssd's making noise, all I have owned have been silent.

No help I know, maybe it has a fault.

Panda90uk · 6 Apr 2013 at 02:00

It isn't loud enough where you'd hear it in a desktop, if the fan is going on the laptop or the speakers are making any noise, it's inaudible.

darael · 6 Apr 2013 at 11:19

I know the noise you mean, is it like a faint white noise? You'll probably find that it is noisy while it's working.

Panda90uk · 6 Apr 2013 at 18:35

That's exactly it. So, to answer my question, am I likely to damage the drive over time by wrapping it in something insulating?

Stonedofmoo · 6 Apr 2013 at 18:46

Any money what you are actually hearing is electrical interference through the speakers of your laptop. That's usually caused by a poor earth somewhere.

I can hear the same on my PC when using the onboard soundcard of my old mobo, which is the main reason I stopped using it and got a soundblaster.

Panda90uk · 6 Apr 2013 at 18:49

Originally I thought that too but I'm pretty certain that at least part of the noise is coming from the drive itself.

MagicBoy · 6 Apr 2013 at 18:53

More than likely it's the ThinkPad. I've seen more T61s than I care to recall and earlier ones can emit a slight white whining noise in certain CPU power states.

Space in the HDD bay is tight, doubt you'd be able to damped the sound much if it was the SSD.

MagicBoy · 6 Apr 2013 at 18:56

Also ... another thought - try the latest update for the Lenovo Power Management app/driver.

Dervious · 6 Apr 2013 at 19:11

wazza300 said:
Are you sure? Could be a motherboard relay your hearing,they click

I've never heard an ssd make a noise,could be wrong tho

A motherboard relay ?

wazza300 · 6 Apr 2013 at 19:11

I cantsee how ssd's make a noise theres nothing inside that moves its all electronic chips ect

motherboard whine is common,i don't know if you can access the bios but turning off c1e power saving state will help reduce it

wazza300 · 6 Apr 2013 at 19:12

Dervious said:
A motherboard relay ?

they store up power can be for the cpu and then youll hear a click as it passes on the power,to do with power saving at idle

Panda90uk · 6 Apr 2013 at 19:16

I was surprised to find that there was an update since I've only had the laptop about 4 months but it's all up to date now. I'll wait and see on that one. The CPU is on the left but the noise if definitely coming from the hdd bay under the right side of the palmrest. If I take the drive out of the caddy then there'll be plenty of room for some padding. Is it likely to damage the drive if I do so?

MagicBoy · 6 Apr 2013 at 19:17

wazza300 said:
I cantsee how ssd's make a noise theres nothing inside that moves its all electronic chips ect

motherboard whine is common,i don't know if you can access the bios but turning off c1e power saving state will help reduce it

It's a corporate ThinkPad. Basic options only. Took them months to add an option to enable VT-x ...

MagicBoy · 6 Apr 2013 at 19:21

Panda90uk said:
I was surprised to find that there was an update since I've only had the laptop about 4 months but it's all up to date now. I'll wait and see on that one. The CPU is on the left but the noise if definitely coming from the hdd bay under the right side of the palmrest. If I take the drive out of the caddy then there'll be plenty of room for some padding. Is it likely to damage the drive if I do so?

To be fair they tend to update the app with every new model range they launch, but it's one app for all supported systems.

Probly no issue to removing the rubber mounts. They are designed to help cushion shocks to a spinny drive. Just make sure it's secure and won't disconnect in use.

Another thought - tried disabling the motion sensor (Active Protection System). It's not needed on an SSD.

wazza300 · 6 Apr 2013 at 19:21

Panda90uk said:
I was surprised to find that there was an update since I've only had the laptop about 4 months but it's all up to date now. I'll wait and see on that one. The CPU is on the left but the noise if definitely coming from the hdd bay under the right side of the palmrest. If I take the drive out of the caddy then there'll be plenty of room for some padding. Is it likely to damage the drive if I do so?

it wont hurt it,they don't run hot anyway

Panda90uk · 6 Apr 2013 at 20:13

Well, something has made the noise go away, or at least it seems to have. I suppose if it comes back I can always go ahead with my padding idea. Turning off the shock protection may well have done it but it's difficult to be sure. Thanks for the help guys.

Dervious · 7 Apr 2013 at 21:26

wazza300 said:
they store up power can be for the cpu and then youll hear a click as it passes on the power,to do with power saving at idle

I`ve never seen a relay on a motherboard. Maybe they used them on older boards, but I`ve been "dabbling" with PC hardware for 20 years, and I don't remember relays being used for this purpose.

VRMs are usually used to regulate and control power for the CPU, they are not relays and do not "click".