SAS hard drive noisy only on cMP

[LapplandsCohan]

I bought 2 Seagate ST8000NM0075 to have in my Mac Pro 5,1. They are hooked up to a Areca 1882i through the MaxUpgrades MaxConnect BackPlane Attachment (pin 3 on the sled desoldered to solve the startup problem.)
One drive is manufactured dec 2017 and is fast and quiet. The other drive is manufactured jan 2017 (previous generation with different label) and is fast but noisy as hell, but only in my Mac Pro! If I take the drive and put in my HP Z620, the drive is fast and as quiet as the newer one, even if I move the SAS RAID card to the HP so that I use the exact same controller card!

Has anyone experienced this and have a solution?

Sound samples:

• Drive 1 (quiet): https://ufile.io/4jvtc
• Drive 2 (noisy): https://ufile.io/rm1yg

(Files will be available for 30 days)

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Could it be mechanical vibration of the sled/sled-related hardware, rather than just the drive? Have you swapped the position of those two drives? Have you swapped the two sleds?

 

[AidenShaw]

I bought 2 Seagate ST8000NM0075 to have in my Mac Pro 5,1. They are hooked up to a Areca 1882i through the MaxUpgrades MaxConnect BackPlane Attachment (pin 3 on the sled desoldered to solve the startup problem.)
One drive is manufactured dec 2017 and is fast and quiet. The other drive is manufactured jan 2017 (previous generation with different label) and is fast but noisy as hell, but only in my Mac Pro! If I take the drive and put in my HP Z620, the drive is fast and as quiet as the newer one, even if I move the SAS RAID card to the HP so that I use the exact same controller card!

Has anyone experienced this and have a solution?

Sound samples:

• Drive 1 (quiet): https://ufile.io/4jvtc
• Drive 2 (noisy): https://ufile.io/rm1yg

(Files will be available for 30 days)

Assuming that drive 2 is noisy when drive 1 is removed, it's probably not a vibration issue. (The loudest noises can come from the sound from multiple drives "beating".)

What does S.M.A.R.T. say about the drive - any unusual recalibration or error counters?

I listened to the sound files - is the noise like the sound of a train whistle on drive 2? Could that be an alarm from the controller? (The controller has a small loudspeaker to warn of errors.)

 

[LapplandsCohan]

Mechanical vibration was my first guess, but I have changed positions, changed sleds, and even pressed my hand to the drive to make sure it wasn't causing vibration noise to no effect.

It's not the alarm from the controller. That sounds every startup just to let you know it is still working and is even worse!

Will have to get back to you on the S.M.A.R.T. status.