Enable AAM on Western Digital Hard Drive

A thread at Hexus here, describes another user's identical problem, and several possible solutions. The final "stop-gap" solution that worked for that user was using the Windows version of hdparm and setting up a batch file to run at startup, since the settings got erased at restart.

I used HDDScan to enable AAM on my WD10EADS-00P8B0 (1 TB Green Power). Its freeware, and does not require installation.

To use:

1. Download tool.
2. Unzip to any directory.
3. Run HDDScan.exe as administrator
4. Select the drive you want to adjust in the "Select Drive" drop down.
5. Select Tasks > Features > IDE Features.
6. If AAM is disabled the "On" label in the Automatic Acoustic Management box will be red. Change the value in the "Current" text box to match the value in the "Recommended" text box.
7. Press the "Set" button. The "On" label should turn green and your drive should instantly become noticeably quieter.

I have 2 of these drives. One was noticeably louder than the other. I'm pretty sure SpinRite turned off the AAM feature and did not turn it back on, since the drive got noisy immediately after running SpinRite. The drive is now quiet, but I haven't had a chance to reboot yet to see if the setting is stable throughout a power cycle.

Hope this helps.

UPDATE: After rebooting I can confirm the setting has persisted.