Boy that takes me back! We've got it so much better today. I've got a Bigfoot 6GB drive given to me by a friend that I've not used in years, but hopefully still works and was pretty noisy. The size was a major novelty so I consider myself very lucky to have one of these. I think your one might have more bearing noise than mine. Hard to tell, as recording level and microphone proximity make a big difference here.
I've also got a WD Raptor X 150GB 10000RPM drive, the only HDD ever made with a clear plastic window allowing the platter and heads to be seen. An absolutely beautiful and unique looking drive that I bought new in 2007, mainly for that unique feature and also it's top performance for the time.
The bearing noise on this was clearly audible, but not whiny since it used a fluid dynamic bearing, sounding more like a white noise shush. The head seek noise on the hand was on another level!
Also, due to that transparent cover, the noise was really unpleasant and I had to eventually upgrade it to something quieter for the sake of my sanity, plus faster drives with bigger capacity were starting to come out then, too. Whenever I showed it off to my friends, they were amazed that I could tolerate that noise.
Today it sits in my cupboard, pristine and in its pouch and original box. I know it still works since I tested it a few months ago
