Lacie SSD external drive spinning noise in speakers?

You might try checking in System Report. I've seen some LaCie external drive interfaces that didn't hide the internal contents. They were essentially just a drive enclosure. My LaCie D2 FW drive reported as a Seagate hard drive inside.

I've got a LaCie Little Disk, and that interface does mask the name of the internal drive. However, you might get some kind of information you can use.

If you're curious about what it should look like inside, here's a review and teardown of one. The internals were just a Samsung SATA SSD.

LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt 500GB External Storage SSD Review

Sounds like it's RF interference of some kind where the result just sounds like a hard drive click. I've experienced weird types of RF interference over the years coming from all sorts of electronics. It may not even be coming specifically from the SSD, but from something else like the cables/hub/dongles/MBP as they're transferring data. You could rule out the LaCie SSD if you had a really long Thunderbolt cable and could place your drive far enough away, although it could be coming from the cable.

If you could borrow a low frequency RF spectrum analyzer it might be able to narrow down where this interference is coming from.

Satellite77 wrote:

Well, I finally found out with help from LaCie support that the noise is most probably RF interference. In my case it's only occurring through the open speakers, not through headphones. So, the speaker cables, adapters, or something else is the culprit. Still don't know exactly-- as I mentioned, my old 2012 Macbook was fine. This still keeps the 2017 Macbook suspect in my mind.

Just reposition the external drives around the desk area to find spots that are quIet.

Thanks to all who replied!

Sounds just about right.

If you look at the teardown guides of the newer MBPs with replaceable SSDs, many of them are in some sort of metal enclosure. And that's on top of the metal case.

Do you have any aluminum foil? You might try wrapping the drive in foil. It might not completely shield it, but if that's the source you will likely hear less noise.

Satellite77 wrote:

Aluminum foil? Really? Talk about "high tech!" Ha ! Sounds like the old old days when you could smack the side of a TV to get it to work.

I'll try it.

Or some sort of metal box. I'm not saying it's a solution, but just kind of an inexpensive experiment. A lot of things are shielded with aluminum foil. If you see external hard drive teardown video/photos, they're typically covered in aluminum foil for some reason. I've bought shielded coax cable, and it's just a braided outside conductor - often with an additional foil shield.

Just don't make a hat out of it.

Doesn't sound right. SSDs may give off an electronic buzzing sound, but it won't sound like platters or bearings spinning. Are you sure you have the SSD version?

Satellite77 wrote:

I would do that if there were long t-bolt cables, but the length would slow down the data transfer anyway--

I'm still working with Lacie-- they just emailed another list of stuff to try but I can't get to it till tomorrow.

Well - just as an update I decided to finally get a SATA SSD for my 13" mid-2012 MBP. It's kind of a workhorse, the screen obviously isn't as nice as the Retina.

However, as the drive is writing in an external enclosure with the cover off, I can literally hear it chirp. It's giving off a faint electric chirp sound that's similar to hard drive clicks. So it could very well be the interference as your SSD moves data that's ending up as noise from your speakers.

Ask LaCie. Obviously, an SSD does not have moving parts.

Satellite77 wrote:

I would do that if there were long t-bolt cables, but the length would slow down the data transfer anyway--

I'm still working with Lacie-- they just emailed another list of stuff to try but I can't get to it till tomorrow.

I think 3m is supposed to be the limit for electrical cables, but I've heard of longer ones that aren't to spec. I don't believe it's supposed to affect the speed by having longer cables.

Satellite77 wrote:

Frankly I'm a bit surprised there hasn't been any Apple tech responding to this-- it's really quite a large problem. I know they don't respond to everything posted, but...come on -- even at least to suggest taking my brand new 2017 Macbook Pro that I paid $2500 for to the Genius bar.

And Apple, please don't ban me from this site for constructively and reasonably speaking my mind. This is what tech forums are for. Thanks!

You haven't done anything remotely wrong or worthy of even being edited. I've seen rants completely removed, as well as personal information being removed by moderators. However, Apple people rarely interject here other than to give general instructions. I don't recall seeing anything that didn't look like it was cut and pasted from a stock answer.

If you want to make an appointment at an Apple Store, you should feel free. They may just tell you that they can't be responsible for the compatibility of 3rd party components, but you can always try and they won't charge you anything.

And I looked over your original post and am trying to figure out if I got it wrong thinking you meant that the LaCie drive is making a spinning-type noise. You're saying that you're hearing something coming from you speakers that sounds like a hard drive spinning when you're transferring data on your LaCie drive? If that's the case, it could just be RF interference. A lot of electronics do that. I had a calculator that would give a somewhat audible electronic buzz when executing a calculation. I'm pretty sure that it would have created buzzing with speakers nearby. There's the standard FCC notification on most electronics sold in the US.

https://apps.fcc.gov/kdb/GetAttachment.html?id=I2QqxFknp%2F39qNa3Mo4bOw%3D%3D

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.