Hard Drive Noise Discussion
Dell computers often use several different hard drive manufacturers; therefore, different hard drives can have different acoustic characteristics. A certain amount of hard drive noise is considered "normal." Hard drive manufacturers incorporate several functions that may cause seemingly unusual hard disk drive activity or strange noise, and as a result, users may perceive these noises as a problem with the hard drive.
Set the Hard Drive Acoustic Mode to QUIET in the Dell BIOS
The Acoustic Mode setting can be accessed in the system BIOS (System Setup). On most newer systems, you can find this setting located on the Performance page of the System Setup. 
Figure 1: Acoustic Mode BIOS Settings (Click the image to enlarge)
The options are:
- BYPASS (Default setting) - Do nothing, needed for older drives.
- QUIET - Performance impacted, but low noise level from drive.
- SUGGESTED - Allow drive firmware to select mode based on manufacturers parameters.
- PERFORMANCE - Fast performance, but with high noise level.
If the user is not satisfied with the noise that the hard drive generates, change the hard drive acoustic mode to QUIET in the system BIOS. This will significantly reduce the hard drive noise without significantly reducing the performance of the drive or system. If the system BIOS does not have the Performance page as an option, Dell has created a utility that can be used to adjust the hard disk drive acoustic settings.
Visit the Dell Community Forum for More Information
Visit the Dell Community Forums to find out what others in the Dell user community are saying. The Dell Community Forums provide a place for Dell users to discuss support topics, to learn, and to help each other. Use the message boards to post questions and answers.
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