• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

HDD clicking issue (not dead it seems)

Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
123 (0.02/day)
OK, I have a little issue. We just bought an MSI CX623 as a general use laptop. The problem is, that the HDD clicks when it's in use (read/write), and I had it freeze on me one time. I've ran the S.M.A.R.T. test on Western Digital Data Lifeguard, and most of the values are above the threshold, so it shows a 1 under warranty. Is that grounds to get a replacement from the store, or should I run the extended test first? I've never had to deal with a clicking (but still working 95% of the time) drive... most of the clickers I've dealt with were dead...
 
Joined
May 21, 2009
Messages
4,966 (0.92/day)
System Name i7-PC / HTPC / iMac
Processor i7 3820 / Phenom II 940
Motherboard GIGABYTE G1.ASSASSIN2 / M3A79-T Deluxe
Cooling Corsair Hydro H100i / Scythe II (HS only)
Memory G.SKILL Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600mhz / 4GB DDR2 1066 (@800) Corsair Dominator
Video Card(s) GB Radeon HD 7950s 3GB / GB Radeon HD 7950s 3GB
Storage 2x 80GB Intel X-25, 2x600gb SATA, 1x1tb 5400RPM storage /1x600GB, 3x500GB,1x160,1x120 SATA
Display(s) 1x 27" Yamakasi / Vizio 42" HDTV
Case Lian Li Lancool PC-K58 / Antec 900
Audio Device(s) HT Omega Striker 7.1 / Onboard and HDMI from ATi Card
Power Supply PC Power & Cooling 750W / 610W
Software Ubuntu / Windows 8.1 Pro / OS X / PHPStorm / Gaming
clicking is never a good thing, though it may not be fatal.

either way, back up your info and try and get it replaced. the noise and the fact that it randomly causes freezing should be reason enough considering it's under warranty.
 
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
123 (0.02/day)
clicking is never a good thing, though it may not be fatal.

either way, back up your info and try and get it replaced. the noise and the fact that it randomly causes freezing should be reason enough considering it's under warranty.

The problem is that the test says PASS, when three of the thresholds were tripped. Well, I'll try and get it replaced tommorow :) Thanks for the reply.
 
Joined
May 21, 2009
Messages
4,966 (0.92/day)
System Name i7-PC / HTPC / iMac
Processor i7 3820 / Phenom II 940
Motherboard GIGABYTE G1.ASSASSIN2 / M3A79-T Deluxe
Cooling Corsair Hydro H100i / Scythe II (HS only)
Memory G.SKILL Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600mhz / 4GB DDR2 1066 (@800) Corsair Dominator
Video Card(s) GB Radeon HD 7950s 3GB / GB Radeon HD 7950s 3GB
Storage 2x 80GB Intel X-25, 2x600gb SATA, 1x1tb 5400RPM storage /1x600GB, 3x500GB,1x160,1x120 SATA
Display(s) 1x 27" Yamakasi / Vizio 42" HDTV
Case Lian Li Lancool PC-K58 / Antec 900
Audio Device(s) HT Omega Striker 7.1 / Onboard and HDMI from ATi Card
Power Supply PC Power & Cooling 750W / 610W
Software Ubuntu / Windows 8.1 Pro / OS X / PHPStorm / Gaming
and it could last for months or years like that. clicking doesn't mean imminent death, but it does mean manufacturing defect.
 
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
107 (0.02/day)
System Name My PC!
Processor AMD FX 8350 (4,66 GHz)
Motherboard Asus Crosshair V Formula
Cooling Corsair H100
Memory 16GB Kingston HyperX Predator T2 DDR3 at 2133 MHz
Video Card(s) SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 480 4G (1350 - 1900 MHz)
Storage Western Digital Caviar Black 1 and 2 TB (WDC Green)
Display(s) LG 24EA53VQ
Case Coolermaster HAF X (942)
Audio Device(s) Sound Blaster ZX
Power Supply Corsair TX 950W
Software Windows 7x64 Ultimate SP1, Windows XP Professional SP3
I had the same problem before a month ago, with a 2 TB Caviar Green. After trying full format which was never completed the HDD died. I send it for RMA and received a new one.
 
Joined
Jan 12, 2010
Messages
1,526 (0.29/day)
System Name Custom Built
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard Asus PRIME A520M-A
Cooling Stock heatsink/fan
Memory 16GB 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2400MHz
Video Card(s) MSI 1050Ti 4GB
Storage KINGSTON SNVS250G 256GB M.2 + 2 data disks
Display(s) Dell S2421NX
Case Aerocool CS103
Audio Device(s) Realtek
Power Supply Seasonic M12II-520 EVO
Mouse Logitech MX Master 2S
Keyboard Logitech
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
I have a laptop HDD in my system and it clicks very often and the system "micro hangs" when happens, I think it's parking the head so not bad but it's annoying.
 

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
28,472 (4.25/day)
Location
Indiana, USA
Processor Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory 32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super
Storage 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s) Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
Laptop drives park the heads to conserve power, this can cause an audible click as well as slight system hang as the drive unparks the head and looks for the data. WD drives in particular are really agressive with how often the heads are parked.
 
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
123 (0.02/day)
Laptop drives park the heads to conserve power, this can cause an audible click as well as slight system hang as the drive unparks the head and looks for the data. WD drives in particular are really agressive with how often the heads are parked.
The weird part is that it does it during normal operation, which should have the drive engaged almost all of the time. Hmmm... I'll have it replaced either way, as the tripped SMART statistics worry me as well. Thanks for all the responses :)
btw, is there any way to prevent the parking? I thought it did that only when the drive was unpowered. As I've set it to never unpower the drive.
 
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
4,355 (0.94/day)
Location
Mexico
System Name Dell-y Driver
Processor Core i5-10400
Motherboard Asrock H410M-HVS
Cooling Intel 95w stock cooler
Memory 2x8 A-DATA 2999Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s) UHD 630
Storage 1TB WD Green M.2 - 4TB Seagate Barracuda
Display(s) Asus PA248 1920x1200 IPS
Case Dell Vostro 270S case
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Dell 220w
Software Windows 10 64bit
I've run into a clicking HDD once and it was dead a couple of days later. Thankfully it was my system drive so no data was lost.

That being said I've had a couple of laptop drives go dead without warning, not even SMART, so don't rely entirely on it to determine if a drive is healthy.
 
Joined
Jan 12, 2010
Messages
1,526 (0.29/day)
System Name Custom Built
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard Asus PRIME A520M-A
Cooling Stock heatsink/fan
Memory 16GB 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2400MHz
Video Card(s) MSI 1050Ti 4GB
Storage KINGSTON SNVS250G 256GB M.2 + 2 data disks
Display(s) Dell S2421NX
Case Aerocool CS103
Audio Device(s) Realtek
Power Supply Seasonic M12II-520 EVO
Mouse Logitech MX Master 2S
Keyboard Logitech
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
The weird part is that it does it during normal operation, which should have the drive engaged almost all of the time. Hmmm... I'll have it replaced either way, as the tripped SMART statistics worry me as well. Thanks for all the responses :)
btw, is there any way to prevent the parking? I thought it did that only when the drive was unpowered. As I've set it to never unpower the drive.

I think mine also does it when using though I am not 100% sure

Let's see if the new one don't do it :) is yes then is the parking thing lol
 

AsRock

TPU addict
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
18,851 (3.08/day)
Location
UK\USA
Processor AMD 3900X \ AMD 7700X
Motherboard ASRock AM4 X570 Pro 4 \ ASUS X670Xe TUF
Cooling D15
Memory Patriot 2x16GB PVS432G320C6K \ G.Skill Flare X5 F5-6000J3238F 2x16GB
Video Card(s) eVga GTX1060 SSC \ XFX RX 6950XT RX-695XATBD9
Storage Sammy 860, MX500, Sabrent Rocket 4 Sammy Evo 980 \ 1xSabrent Rocket 4+, Sammy 2x990 Pro
Display(s) Samsung 1080P \ LG 43UN700
Case Fractal Design Pop Air 2x140mm fans from Torrent \ Fractal Design Torrent 2 SilverStone FHP141x2
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V677 \ Yamaha CX-830+Yamaha MX-630 Infinity RS4000\Paradigm P Studio 20, Blue Yeti
Power Supply Seasonic Prime TX-750 \ Corsair RM1000X Shift
Mouse Steelseries Sensei wireless \ Steelseries Sensei wireless
Keyboard Logitech K120 \ Wooting Two HE
Benchmark Scores Meh benchmarks.
Might be the HDD getting to hot which in turn coursing the clicking which will kill it. Or might be just plain faulty. As seen as you have a laptop and you not been using it on a bed so it cannot breath you might want to get a replacement.


If it is a heat issue you might want to invest in a laptop cooler.
 
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
123 (0.02/day)
Seeing as it's brand new, and I'm using it on a surface... it shouldn't be heat :D
 
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
9 (0.00/day)
Location
USA
System Name Toshiba Satellite A215-S7422
Processor AMD Turon 64 X2 TL-58 @ 1.9 GHz (stock)
Motherboard ATi/AMD SB600
Cooling Ultra 15" X3 Sub Zero notebook cooling station
Memory Kingston 2GB PC5300 DDR2 SDRAM
Video Card(s) AMD/ATi Radeon X1200 series
Storage 250GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue SATA 300 @ 150 HDD and 1TB WD MyBook USB2.0
Display(s) 17" Trinitron CRT (1600x1200)/15.4" Toshiba laptop LCD (1280x800)
Audio Device(s) Realtek HD Audio
Power Supply Laptop 75 Watt/100/240V AC adapter and 60Wh/60000 mAh battery
Software Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2
The hard drive parking its heads after activity or/and a short length of time is also a form of advanced power management that's used to conserve power and reduce heat. Only qualm I take with it is that it causes said heads to park more than I think they should, which might end up in wear and tear on the heads (and therein an unnecessary increase of load_cycle_count, or rather the unloading and loading of the heads) and premature HDD death. I agree that Western Digital (along with Seagate, possibly even more, in my experience - Western Digital hard drives might park their heads after 8 seconds of inactivity, but modern Seagate drives have for me after 2-3 seconds with APM on!) are quite aggressive with this approach, though they're not the only HDD company to do this (but it would depend on the model as well). If it's a Scorpio Blue or Black drive (due to being a laptop drive) you might be able to download a third party app like HDDScan or CrystalDiskInfo and disable APM (which should do away with intermittent clicking), though it might result in a slightly higher idle temperature for your hard drive due having the disk spin in a more unending manner. However, not all Western Digital hard drives can be recognized as having APM by such applications, in which case you would have to download an executable known as widle.exe and write it to a bootable disk, and you could disable the "idle timer" that way, though that voids the warranty and firmware. But make of note that Windows applications like the aforementioned do not permanently change the settings of the hard drive (you would have to turn off APM again after rebooting... you could try writing something like Hitachi Feature Tool to a permanent disc if you wanted to permanently change it but I don't know how well that supports WD hard drives so I'm not sure that should be risked).

I'm not necessarily suggesting doing any of this to begin with as I believe there is always a risk with messing with low-level hard drive settings along this nature, though if you know what you're doing (which I imagine you do), you should be fine. If the clicking doesn't bother you that much, I think you would be alright continuing as you are. Then again, if the hard drive once froze on you during transfer, I would worry about it being defective. D: But it sounds like you're going to replace it anyway, which might be ideal.
 
Last edited:
Top