Proof: ever running left fan is the harddrive! Post your drives!

Question

Hi!
I know there are some posts around here from users that report that their left fan is always running. I started one of those threads myself. Therefore I also know that there is debate, whether this sound comes from the harddrive or from the left fan spinning slowly.
Yesterday I was in a store because my mbp made all kind of noises but this constant sound that seemed to be rather loud on my book was my major concern (I can hear it from a few meters away in a silent environment in which I work most of the time). The technician tried some hacks to shut off the harddrive, but they seemingly didn't work (he actually concentrated on the whine because it was too loud in the store too hear the "swoosh" and because it also has a very intense mooing and a bent case, it's still doa and will be replaced in the next days).
Anyway, today I suddenly noticed that the noise had stopped. I was extatic. As soon as I clicked on something, the noise would start again though.
So: What did the technician do? He set the disksleep timer to a minute. I thought, it then would spin down for a minute. That's why it didn't seem to work, when I ran the command in terminal again in a quiet environment. So after a minute now, my harddisk would spin down.
So here is how you can test if your drive is the everlasting "swoosh"-producer. Don't do anything of the following if you feel as if you had no idea of what you are doing! I can give you no warranties at all (esp. harddrive-damage. See question below! I think it's best to reimpose your normal energy saving settings afterwards and not let the disk spin down every minute)!!!
- Open a terminal-window (it's in applications->utilities)
- Type sudo pmset -a -g disk and note the "disksleep" settings for battery and ac.
- Type in the following command:
sudo pmset -a disksleep 1
You will then need to enter your administrator password.
This will actually set your disksleep timer to a minute (for battery and ac. If you only want to test this for one of those states, use -b (battery) or -c (charger) instead of -a. This could make it easier to go back to your former settings afterwards, in case your ac and batterysettings differ). It is normally tied to the sleep mode of your mbp in general. That's why it's easy to think it's the fans.
- To check, if it worked, enter:
sudo pmset -a -g disk
The new time should then show up under disksleep for both ac-power and battery.
Then just don't touch the book for a minute. Don't do anything with it. Don't click anywhere. After a minute, the harddrive should spin down, leaving you with complete silence. As soon as you do anything that requires hardware access (even clicking on a scrollbar in a programm that runs from an external disk) you will hear the harddrive spin up.
Changing the disksleep might actually change your energy settings. So after trying this you can reset the disksleep to it's previous status by going into the energy saving preferences and readjusting everything. Use the sudo pmset -a -g disk to check if everything is back to normal. Maybe you need to go into the manager another time so the changes will be made.
My question is: Does it hurt the harddisk to spin up and down often? When I set this to a minute and e.g. write a post here, it will spin down or when I read a webpage, it will spin down until the next click of my mouse. So there isn't so much use for it anyway. But will it damage the harddrive over time when it is spinning down so often?
If you think your mbp is very silent, I'm interested in what harddrive you have. If you think, your mbp is unnervingly loud, please post your harddrive as well. (you can find the info in finder->applications->utilities->system profiler->serial-ata)
Mine is a:
Capacity: 74.53 GB
Model: TOSHIBA MK8032GSX
Version: AS114B

Answer 1

So here is how you can test if your drive is the
everlasting "swoosh"-producer. Don't do anything of
the following if you feel as if you had no idea of
what you are doing! I can give you no warranties at
all (esp. harddrive-damage. See question below! I
think it's best to reimpose your normal energy saving
settings afterwards and not let the disk spin down
every minute)!!!
- Open a terminal-window (it's in
applications->utilities)
- Type sudo pmset -a -g disk and note the
"disksleep" settings for battery and ac.
- Type in the following command:
sudo pmset -a disksleep 1
You will then need to enter your administrator
password.
This will actually set your disksleep timer to a
minute (for battery and ac. If you only want to test
this for one of those states, use -b (battery) or -c
(charger) instead of -a. This could make it easier to
go back to your former settings afterwards, in case
your ac and batterysettings differ). It is normally
tied to the sleep mode of your mbp in general. That's
why it's easy to think it's the fans.
- To check, if it worked, enter:
sudo pmset -a -g disk
The new time should then show up under disksleep for
both ac-power and battery.
Then just don't touch the book for a minute. Don't do
anything with it. Don't click anywhere. After a
minute, the harddrive should spin down, leaving you
with complete silence. As soon as you do anything
that requires hardware access (even clicking on a
scrollbar in a programm that runs from an external
disk) you will hear the harddrive spin up.
Changing the disksleep might actually change your
energy settings. So after trying this you can reset
the disksleep to it's previous status by going into
the energy saving preferences and readjusting
everything. Use the sudo pmset -a -g disk to
check if everything is back to normal. Maybe you need
to go into the manager another time so the changes
will be made.
Mine's silent, but then I have a different HD spec from your's.
My question is: Does it hurt the harddisk to spin up
and down often? When I set this to a minute and e.g.
write a post here, it will spin down or when I read a
webpage, it will spin down until the next click of my
mouse. So there isn't so much use for it anyway. But
will it damage the harddrive over time when it is
spinning down so often?
The HD is a finite par, so increasing its usage above the norm. will probably decrease its life-span of effective use.
If you think your mbp is very silent, I'm interested
in what harddrive you have. If you think, your mbp is
unnervingly loud, please post your harddrive as well.
(you can find the info in
finder->applications->utilities->system
profiler->serial-ata)
Mine is a:
Seagate Momentus