Slow and noisy hard drives

Question

I just purchased a Dell T160 and the performance is terrible.

Problems \ Symptoms

The server is very slow and it seems to me like the hard drives are the problem. I can hear the drives making so much noise and just churning away.

-When trying to open applications i hear hard drive Churn and it takes so long

-When installing windows updates it can take up to an hour to run and then rebooting takes 20 minutes or more.

-I set it up as a file share for Quickbooks and Lacerte software - Quickbooks on the workstations take 30 seconds to open any file no matter the size. The old T140 server only took a few seconds to open the same files

-While installing windows updates I tried to open a QB file from a workstation and it took 3 minutes

I contacted DELL Technical support and they ran a IDRAC scan and then updated several drivers, but it really did not help at all - it was the same

Server Specifications:

DELL PowerEdge T160PERC H355 Adapter, Low Profile
Windows 2022 standard preinstalled and I made no changes
16 GB UDIMM, 5600MT/s ECC
2TB Hard Drive SATA 6Gbps 7.2K RPM 512n 3.5in
RAID 1

What I did to set up the server

-I installed ESET antivirus

-I partitioned the drives with a 1.5TB data drive and the remainder for OS

-I have configured only the DATA drive with bitlocker (problem was happening before bitlocker)

-Installed windows updates

-Deployment was just copying over about 250GB of data and mapping all the workstations to the new server

-We are in a WORKGROUP and not a domain

I am hoping that someone has any information about this server or if others are having the same trouble.

Any help is appreciated.

Dell-Martin S · Answer

Hi,

Certainly—here are detailed findings with addressing the slow and noisy hard drive behavior on your Dell T160, along with causes, technical basis, and recommended actions.

## Core Issues: Hard Drive Performance and Noise

Your T160 uses 7.2K RPM SATA drives in RAID 1, which is an **entry-level configuration with inherently limited performance**—particularly under random IO (like file sharing and QuickBooks data access)[https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/fi-fi/products/servers/technical-support/poweredge-t160-technical-guide.pdf][https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/de-de/products/servers/technical-support/poweredge-t160-technical-guide.pdf]. This hardware limitation often leads to the “churning” and loud access noises you’re hearing, as well as delays when opening, saving, or transferring files.

#### Design Facts on Drive Support and Performance:

- Supported drive types: 3.5" SATA at 6Gbps (spinning at 7.2K RPM) and SSDs; supports both, but SATA HDDs will be much slower than SSDs[https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/fi-fi/products/servers/technical-support/poweredge-t160-technical-guide.pdf][https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/de-de/products/servers/technical-support/poweredge-t160-technical-guide.pdf].

- RAID 1 doubles disk writes (each must be mirrored), and in file share scenarios, mechanical drives struggle, especially with several users and many small file accesses.

## Community and Technical Input

1. **Performance Issues:** Multiple Dell forum users reported very similar problems on T160/T360 with both HDD and SSD, especially when not using the highest-performing controllers or when using basic software/entry-level hardware RAID. Even updates to latest BIOS/firmware did not resolve the base hardware performance cap[https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t360-slow-disk-performance-on-perc160/677f9a467591a35fb5e71d69].

2. **Noise:** Cases of the T130/T140/T160 series report *intrusive hard drive sound and general slowdowns* when running with spinning disks—this is commonly cited as a design tradeoff for using budget/server-class HDDs and basic acoustic insulation[https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t160-with-sata-boss-card/68111e3e51b7bf2faedcabc5].

3. **Suggested Diagnostics and Upgrades:** Dell and forum members recommend verifying drive health (SMART/etc.), ensuring BIOS/iDRAC/RAID firmware are updated, and, for any meaningful boost, migrating the OS or file share to **SSDs or NVMe**—which the T160 fully supports[https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t160-with-sata-boss-card/68111e3e51b7bf2faedcabc5][https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t360-slow-disk-performance-on-perc160/677f9a467591a35fb5e71d69].

## Official and Technical Recommendations

- **Technical Guide (full):**

https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/fi-fi/products/servers/technical-support/poweredge-t160-technical-guide.pdf

https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/de-de/products/servers/technical-support/poweredge-t160-technical-guide.pdf

- **Dell Forum Thread on Slow Disk Performance (full):**

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t360-slow-disk-performance-on-perc160/677f9a467591a35fb5e71d69

- **Dell Forum on T160 SATA Expansion and SSD Upgrades (full):**

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t160-with-sata-boss-card/68111e3e51b7bf2faedcabc5

- **Drive Health, Noise, and Troubleshooting Guidance:**

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000064317/why-do-hard-disks-fail

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000121365/performance-issues-how-to-measure

## Actionable Steps

- **Upgrade to SSDs** for drastically better speed and far less noise. The T160 supports SATA SSDs and NVMe (for best results, see BOSS-N1 controller notes in the technical guide)[https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t160-with-sata-boss-card/68111e3e51b7bf2faedcabc5][https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/fi-fi/products/servers/technical-support/poweredge-t160-technical-guide.pdf].

- **Keep all firmware (BIOS, iDRAC, RAID, HDD)** fully updated.

- **Check drive health** with Dell’s RAID controller tools and iDRAC for any signs of failure; excessive errors may mean a bad drive.

- **Minimize concurrent disk-heavy operations** (avoid running antivirus scans/copy jobs during business hours).

- **Contact Dell support** for persistent hardware errors—if all else checks out and problems persist, a hardware warranty claim may be needed.

***

**In summary:**

Your Dell T160’s poor performance and noisy disk symptoms are due almost entirely to the baseline limits of mechanical SATA drives in your current RAID 1 setup. The definitive solution is to migrate your OS and critical data sharing to SSDs, as supported by the T160 platform and confirmed in Dell forums and official technical guides. This is a common pain-point, not a unique defect—see the detailed links above for further action or reference.

Sources:

[1] [PDF] Dell PowerEdge T160 Technical Guide https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/fi-fi/products/servers/technical-support/poweredge-t160-technical-guide.pdf

[2] PowerEdge T160 with SATA BOSS card | DELL Technologies https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t160-with-sata-boss-card/68111e3e51b7bf2faedcabc5

[3] PowerEdge T360 slow disk performance on PERC160 - Dell https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t360-slow-disk-performance-on-perc160/677f9a467591a35fb5e71d69

[4] [PDF] Dell PowerEdge T160 Technisches Handbuch https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/de-de/products/servers/technical-support/poweredge-t160-technical-guide.pdf

[5] Poweredge T160 SATA& Power Cable | DELL Technologies https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/poweredge-hddscsiraid/poweredge-t160-sata-power-cable/678637d3efb69d2956630998

[6] PowerEdge: Why do hard disks fail | Dell US https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000064317/why-do-hard-disks-fail

[7] PowerEdge: Performance issues, How to measure | Dell US https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000121365/performance-issues-how-to-measure

[8] Support for PowerEdge T160 | Articles | Dell US Virgin Islands https://www.dell.com/support/produc

t-details/en-vi/product/poweredge-t160/resources/articles

PowerEdge Hardware General

Slow and noisy hard drives

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