Extreme 240 making sounds the first minutes

Yesterday I completed my new PC with a new SanDisk Extreme 240.

I was a bit confused when I power ed the disk the first time that it is not silent as I know it from other SSDs.

Instead it is making quite sounds like a slow fan or a quite HDD. 

It is definetly the SSD that makes the noise.

This happens every time the PC is powered-on and remains for some minutes. Then I can’t hear the sound anymore or my PC is just too loud .

Is this normal? 

I don’t know if it’s normal or if there is a batch of Extreme 240GB’s that have this “problem”?

I have 3 x 240GB Extremes.

1.Completely silent apart from VERY quiet noise when writing to the drive.

2.Very noisy all the time, even when not being written to.

3.Just like yours - a little bit of screeching sounds for the first few minutes, then quiet

I bought #1 and #2 as a pair and was concerned about the noise #2 was making, so I returned it as faulty.  Unfortunately, the replacement (#3) is better but still not silent like #1 is.

the ssd should not be making noise. only thing you could really try is updaing the firmware. it probably will not fix it but worth a shot. if it does not resolve the issue the drives that are making noise would need to be replaced. 

I updated the firmware on both my noisy drives and it did not make any difference.

you should contact sandisk support for warranty replacement. the drive should not make any noise. i suspect they will fail soon. 

@Chippy_boy:

How old are your Extreme SSDs, or in detail how long are they in use and in what environment (server 24/7, desktop, notebook)?

As SanDisk grants a three year warrenty and I have scheduled a weekly full backup of my system including a backup of my documents every two days I think I will risk to use the SSD some weeks until more details are known about the sounds it makes.

BTW: I installed firmware R201 right before installing my system. But that did not change anything on the sound it makes. 

I noticed a quiet high pitched whining noise from mine when I initially had it connected up via USB enclosure to clone my original drive. I have never noticed a sound since but I will check it out tonight to see if I can hear anything at all.

Hi Guys,

  I came here after reading a review on newegg claiming this is a well known issue with the sandisk ssd drives. I was extremely curious to see exactly how a bunch of memory chips with absolutely NO mechanical or any moving components of ANY kind can possible create an audible sound. It’s like physically impossible, so I was extremely curious naturally.

 However after reading this entire thread, I am convinced the 2 people claiming to have heard noise are unfortunetly mistaken. The noise might appear to be coming from the new component (the SSD drive) but is physically impossible so it has to be mistakenly coming from a fan inside the laptop or PC.

 Especially the guy who said he heard the noise when the ssd was in the usb enclosure but not since installing it inside the laptop. I mean, come on now, doesn’t that convince you that the noise was the USB enclosure itself? Obviously the cooling fan this particular usb enclosure has for cooling the mechanical hard drives is starting to make some mechanical noise.

Think about it guys, a SSD drive is nothing but memory chips inside a tiny box, that’s it! Nothing but integrated circuits and certainly NOTHING that can vibrate or create any possible physical noise, that’s for sure. Memory chips don’t vibrate, they don’t move, they don’t make noise, they never have and never will. Have you ever read online ever about any kind of memory modules being returned because they are making loud screaching noises? LOL

Never!

Only mechanical parts like fans or old type hard drives which have motors and bearing can ever make that kind of noise.

Any brand SSD is a Solid State Device people, that’s what it means, opposite of mechanical, so what is moving to make this noise?

Nothing obviously from inside the tiny ssd case, the noise is coming from fans located some place else in these systems, mystery solved.

I hope this helps educate a lot of newbies.

Your welcome guys

Your post gave me a chuckle. You are completely right of course, this sound that I heard must have been the enclosure itself including the fan. Such a shame this enclosure has no fan or moving parts so it would be physically impossible for the enclosure to make any noise then right, based on your assertions?

Not sure if you are just trolling or not but just because there are no moving parts, it doesn’t mean the drive can not make any noise or that it is physically impossible as you say. Have you never heard a power supply make a noise? Have you never heard a high pitched whine from a monitor or laptop screen? A plasma TV buzz depending on how much light content is being displayed? None of these have mechanical moving parts but the power regulation itself makes noise and guess what an SSD needs to work?

Hi Andonios,

I am a hundret percent sure that the sound is coming from the SSD because I plugged in the ssd without any enclosure while the system was already running. The sound was only there after I plugged-in the SSD to power.

Furthermore it seems like you are missing a lot of physical components that can make noise: Coils.

Coils can make sounds under certain conditions. This is a common case in certain combinations of mainboards and power-supplys. 

In a very old system (I think it was Pentium 1) I could even hear if the CPU was idle (made a little sound) or busy.

There may be other electronical components that may create sounds in case they come in contact with high-frequency signals. Therefore don’t think that you know everything.

Sounds like the old “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” adage.

:laughing:

Andonios - I have only just seen your post.  I am not sure if you are trolling or being serious?

Anyway, for the avoidance of any doubt, the noise is coming from the SSD.  How do I know?  Well I can hold it in my hand and listen to it.  No case, no fans, just the SSD in my hand.

I will be RMA’ing the loudest and most annoying one shortly.

i saw something about this a while back. if i remember correctly it was an issue with the hardware on the SSD. no big issue but siomething to do with oscillation in one of the capacitors or something. 

bottom line

Yes, the ssd can make noise even with no moving parts. 

No, This is not normal and the drive should be replaced. 

Just contact sandisk support and they will take care of you. 

1 Like

Ok so heres the thing, I put the **bleep** ssd extreme 120gb to my ear right, I clicked on a program to execute and start up and the **bleep** drive makes all kinds of freaking little screeches and eeks for those 3-4 seconds that it reads for the program to come up…what the efffing hell is that???

see the comment right above your post. the drive will need to be replaced. 

Whoa! :dizzy_face:

What’s with the language??? There’s no need for that here. While it’s obvious you are frustrated, please keep your posts civil and expletive-unadorned. This is a family-friendly forum and we attempt to help each other in a civilized and respectful manner. We haven’t earned nor deserve such disrespect.

But just one rhetorical and humorous question . . . what happens if you put the ssd extreme 120gb to your left ear? :laughing: