Hard Drive Clicks When Using WMP or Windows 8 Music App to Play Certain MP3s

A couple of nights ago I noticed that when playing certain MP3s (one set in particular) located on my Western Digital Blue WD10JPVT, the hard drive would click rather loudly every couple of minutes, the click sounding like a read/write head suddenly parking. Panicking, fearing my <1 month old hard drive was already in its death throes, I copied everything onto a backup drive and then proceeded to try to diagnose it, only to find... nothing. The hard drive passes both quick and extended SMART tests and otherwise performs normally, as in I can play any other set of MP3s, play other media files, etc. without any of the same sort of clicking as when I'm playing that particular set of MP3s. Further attempting to narrow down the issue this morning, I found that the clicking only happens if I'm using either Windows Media Player or the Windows 8 Music app. If I use VLC, for instance, nothing happens; the MP3s play without any abnormal noises from the hard drive.

I'm not sure whether or not this is the right place to ask this question, but has anyone experienced anything remotely like this? What do you think might be causing this?

clicking hard drives are usually not a good sign.

do you back up your data?

syncopied said:

clicking hard drives are usually not a good sign.

do you back up your data?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I did; that was the first thing I did after noticing the clicking. However, like I mentioned, this isn't the sort of general clicking that usually accompanies a hard drive undergoing the click of death. The clicking sounds like a read/write head quickly and suddenly parking for some reason, and this happens only when I'm playing a particular set of MP3s using Windows Media Player or the Windows 8 Music app. I can't replicate the clicking playing a different set of MP3s (or doing anything else) or using a different player like VLC.

My GUESS is that WMP and the W8 Music applications for some reason make the HDD think it's idle when playing the aforementioned set of MP3s even though it's not, causing the read/write head to park/unpark as it's reading from the HDD, the rapidity of this action causing the clicking sounds. What this guess doesn't account for is why this only occurs when using WMP and W8 Music, and why only when playing that particular set of MP3s and AFAIK nothing else.

Any ideas?

Edit:

Here's some info from CrystalDiskInfo:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) WDC WD10JPVT-22A1YT0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : WDC WD10JPVT-22A1YT0
Firmware : 01.01A01
Serial Number : Redacted
Disk Size : 1000.2 GB (8.4/137.4/1000.2/1000.2)
Buffer Size : 8192 KB
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 1953525168
Rotation Rate : 5400 RPM
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Minor Version : ----
Transfer Mode : SATA/300
Power On Hours : 204 hours
Power On Count : 31 count
Temparature : 35 C (95 F)
Health Status : Good
Features : S.M.A.R.T., APM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
APM Level : 0060h [ON]
AAM Level : ----
-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 200 200 _51 000000000000 Read Error Rate
03 186 185 _21 000000000693 Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 __0 0000000001A7 Start/Stop Count
05 200 200 140 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 100 253 __0 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
09 100 100 __0 0000000000CC Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 __0 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B 100 253 __0 000000000000 Recalibration Retries
0C 100 100 __0 00000000001F Power Cycle Count
BF 100 100 __0 000000000000 G-Sense Error Rate
C0 200 200 __0 000000000003 Power-off Retract Count
C1 200 200 __0 0000000005DA Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2 112 100 __0 000000000023 Temperature
C4 200 200 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 200 200 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 253 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 100 253 __0 000000000000 Write Error Rate

And from HDTune:

HD Tune: WDC WD10JPVT-22A1YT0 Health
ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 200 200 51 0 Ok
(03) Spin Up Time 186 185 21 1683 Ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 100 100 0 423 Ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 200 200 140 0 Ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 100 253 0 0 Ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 100 100 0 204 Ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 100 0 0 Ok
(0B) Calibration Retry Count 100 253 0 0 Ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 100 100 0 31 Ok
(BF) G-sense Error Rate 100 100 0 0 Ok
(C0) Power Off Retract Count 200 200 0 3 Ok
(C1) Load Cycle Count 200 200 0 1498 Ok
(C2) Temperature 112 100 0 35 Ok
(C4) Reallocated Event Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 100 253 0 0 Ok
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C8) Write Error Rate 100 253 0 0 Ok
Power On Time : 204
Health Status : Ok

Anything stick out to anyone?