Strange HDD noise when idle.

[Techtu]

So for awhile now one of my storage drives seems to be making a hell of racket when sat doing nothing...

I've only recently discovered that this is whilst the drive is idle as was just updating a few of my programs which led to me running a test with HD Tune where to my surprise the noise stopped. It's pretty much sounds like the needle isn't resting properly and flicks back and forth, I'd usually think the drive was on it's way out but it's been like it for as long as I can remember.

Here's a pic of HD Tune, does that look ok, if so what could be the solution to my problem if any

[qubit]

The drive is dying from that description.

The blue line shouldn't be rough like that but more or less smooth.

Make sure you have a backup of your data and get another drive.

[Batou1986]

Originally Posted by Techtu

So for awhile now one of my storage drives seems to be making a hell of racket when sat doing nothing...

I've only recently discovered that this is whilst the drive is idle as was just updating a few of my programs which led to me running a test with HD Tune where to my surprise the noise stopped. It's pretty much sounds like the needle isn't resting properly and flicks back and forth, I'd usually think the drive was on it's way out but it's been like it for as long as I can remember.

Here's a pic of HD Tune, does that look ok, if so what could be the solution to my problem if any
http://img.techpowerup.org/130213/HD...ARS-22Y5B1.png

somethings wrong there for sure
how long have you had it so i have a guess of impending doom on mine

[drdeathx]

Mr. Miagi says go buy solid state. Wax on, wax off.

[Techtu]

Originally Posted by Batou1986

somethings wrong there for sure
how long have you had it so i have a guess of impending doom on mine
http://img.techpowerup.org/130213/uhoh.png

I've had it a good couple of years... maybe 3.

Originally Posted by drdeathx

Mr. Miagi says go buy solid state. Wax on, wax off.

Mr Miagi say's check system specs he already has an SSD :P

[drdeathx]

Originally Posted by Techtu

I've had it a good couple of years... maybe 3.



Mr Miagi say's check system specs he already has an SSD :P

Hehehehehe

Get another!

[kn00tcn]

uh how do we know it's not windows/another app trying to do something? does it sound the same as writing/reading or is it a completely new sound? can you make a recording?

i've been using a clicking (head parking) seagate for over 4yrs, it's not dead or dying in my case, it's just a bit unstable & the read speed test is a little more jittery than yours

how are the smart values?

[95Viper]

These tidbits of info may be of interest to you...
WD10EARS makes "clicking" noise when idle

Quote from NGOHQ.com:

It has come to our attention that Western Digital's Caviar Green HDDs suffer from a critical design flaw caused by an aggressive power-saving feature. Western Digital has developed a new technology called Intellipark (aka Idle 3 mode) and it is designed to reduce power consumption, in part by positioning the HDD's heads in a park position and turning off unnecessary electronics after 8 seconds of inactivity.

According to an in-house investigation and user reports', some software and operating systems are incompatible with the Intellipark feature causing endless head parking movement as the HDD continuously goes in/out of idle mode. This abnormal behavior creates stress on the HDD and that could lead to the following issues:

• Loud clunking/clicking/buzzing noises every few seconds.
• Artificially increases the number of load-unload cycles in S.M.A.R.T.
• Possibly shortens life-time of the HDD.
• Possibly reduces performance of the HDD.

And, they mention a fix in the rest of the article, here --> Critical Design Flaw Found in WD Caviar Green HDDs

[Batou1986]

Originally Posted by 95Viper

These tidbits of info may be of interest to you...
WD10EARS makes "clicking" noise when idle

Quote from NGOHQ.com:
And, they mention a fix in the rest of the article, here --> Critical Design Flaw Found in WD Caviar Green HDDs

its been so long i forgot about that my drive wasnt effected
This sounds like exactly what your describing

[natr0n]

The speeds look good but the drive is failing/about to die.

Back and forth clicking means head failure usually.

[Techtu]

Originally Posted by 95Viper

These tidbits of info may be of interest to you...
WD10EARS makes "clicking" noise when idle

Quote from NGOHQ.com:
And, they mention a fix in the rest of the article, here --> Critical Design Flaw Found in WD Caviar Green HDDs

I think your spot on the ball there! I'll get round to giving it a try tomorrow with today being Valentines day an all the missus wouldn't be too happy with me spending more time here than with her

Anyway here's a screen shot of my smart attributes.

[Techtu]

Just to let you all know the fix worked a right treat!

[DRDNA]

GREAT JOB GUYS! Thank you for the follow up to the resolution!

[qubit]

I've got three WD20EARS HDDs and never had this load/unload problem. On top of that I'm using two of them in raid 1 as data-only drives without issue. These are not constantly accessed, so I don't know why I don't have the problem.

Only thing I can think of is that the timout is set to a much longer interval. I could check it with the fix if I was really bothered to find out.

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by 95Viper

These tidbits of info may be of interest to you...
WD10EARS makes "clicking" noise when idle

Quote from NGOHQ.com:
And, they mention a fix in the rest of the article, here --> Critical Design Flaw Found in WD Caviar Green HDDs

must sound like a click of death (trying to find the boot sector while the head moves back and forth across the patter and the platter is rotating) that IBM Deskstar drives had. After Hitachi bought them i never had an issue again cuz all ibm deskstar drives turned in would be replaced with Hitachi Drives.