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Seagate Expansion external HDD power supply making a very faint alarm sound (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by otp@sh.itjust.works to c/datahoarder@lemmy.ml
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I've got a fairly new 14tb Seagate Expansion. It works fine, and I've been using it for a month and a bit.

I don't know how long it's been doing this, but the power supply is making a very faint alarm sound. The power supply is plugged into a Belkin surge protector powered on and with the "protected" status light lit, and it is plugged into an outlet. The HDD is currently not plugged in to a computer.

It's not a beep or electricity. It's a distinct weewooweewoo. I couldn't even determine the source until I pressed my ear against it.

Googling just points me towards typical "my HDD is making a sound, how long do I have until it dies", but nothing pointed me to the alarm sound from the power supply.

I'll check again if it makes the alarm in other conditions, but in the meanwhile, I was hoping someone here might know something.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: The sound only happens when...

  • Power adapter is plugged into the HDD, AND the outlet
  • HDD is NOT plugged into the computer.

Plugging it into the computer stops the noise from the power adapter.

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[-] SheeEttin@programming.dev 9 points 8 months ago

Can you record the sound? I've never heard of a power supply having any kind of noisemaker. It's probably just electrical interference or coil whine or something, where the waveform happens to produce that periodic sound. (You might even look around and find a nearby device changing its power draw with the same periodicity.)

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago

Haven't been able to record it yet, but the sound only happens when the power supply is plugged into the HDD and the outlet (not one or the other), and the HDD is NOT plugged into the computer.

Plugging the HDD into the computer stops the sound. I was unplugging it from the PC to keep it offline when I didn't need it. (After safely ejecting and waiting etc. of course)

I guess I'll just need to unplug the power when I'm not using it, too.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago

Yeah, interesting. I'll see if I can record it tomorrow!

this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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