Hitachi Drive Odd Noise

[pigoesfar]

I just acquired an Xbox 360 from a friend I was visiting.  He said it was broken and sold it to me for $15.  He said that the problem was in the DVD drive as there is an odd whirring noise followed by a series of clicking noises that he says is unusual.  Apparently it plays games but he says that the drive is scratching the games making them unreadable.  I tried it and it plays games, but is this noise normal for a Hitachi drive (never used them)?  If this is not how do I fix it.  If this is normal, I figure that his disc was just scratched and the whirring just happened to coincide with the playing of his scratched disc although he insists that the drive gave the game the scratches.  Help much appreciated. 

[PspKicks316]

Hitachi's can be loud, but not too loud. Open the drive and make sure the drive spindle holder thing (on the top of the casing, it holds the disk in place on the spindle) is properly set in place. If it isn't, it can cause loud noises and scratch disks (they won't be balanced right).

[jrfhoutx]

no, they are known for scratching discs... the fix is to basically put a few foam pads in the drive to prevent it from happening. I did it to mine even though I never had an issue with it, just wanted to be on the safe side... as for the noise being normal or not, idk. I do know that from what I hear the Hitachis are loud as , at least mine is pretty damn loud...

[pigoesfar]

I did some research, it is NOT the "grinding" noise that everyone talks about.  It doesn't really sound like the disk is being scratched.  It just sounds like "whirr whirr, click, click, click."  Not in any real order i don't think.  It just worries me.  I don't want to either ruin my own games, or sell it to someone and get a bad review back on eBay or something.
EDIT:  It always happens even when still.  I'm not moving it around or anything.

[jrfhoutx]

well, if you're not sure and don't wanna mess with it I'll take it off your hands, I've been looking for another 360...

[SN!P3R]

Hitachis are nrmally loud, I have a 59 and a 79, the laser is loud on the tracks when it scans the disk.
Post Merge: January 03, 2010, 04:33:55 PMAnd if you feel unsure, put foam pads in it, or retrieve the key from it and spoof with a Ben Q drive, the quietest drives.

[pigoesfar]

yeah, the only other drives I have really used were either the BenQ or Lite-on, so I was concerned when I heard what sounded like an HDD header scraping across the plates mixed with a blender coming from the xbox

[SN!P3R]

Or save your money, there might be dirt / debris where the gears are moving. I had an xbox like that, I took the drive apart and blew out the crap with compressed air.

[pigoesfar]

I might just clean it for good measure although I am pretty sure that is how it is supposed to sound.  If it starts failing I'll update.  Where do you spray to clean it?

[SN!P3R]

Look in the gear tracks, start there, the lazed tracks, pretty much anywhere that moves. Just be careful to not contaminate the laser.

[pigoesfar]

Cool, i'll try it out and report back.

[SN!P3R]

Alright, tell us how it goes!