Clicking Drives?

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fantomau

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Has anyone ever had drives make clicking sounds internally, But if you put the drive(s) in an external enclosure, They are quiet?..Seems I everytime I put either my 1.5tb or 2tb drives inside my case, I hear them making a clicking sound. Its not a every sec clicking sound, Its more like click (quiet for like a sec), then click and does this over and over. But if I put 1 of them in an external enclosure, Nothing, dead quiet. Very odd.

I have taken them out, Put them in an external enclosure, They are quiet. I mark the drives i test, Then put each drive internally to hear if they click.

I really dont think the drives are faulty. Its odd that they click internally, but are whisper quiet externally.
 
Are they getting too hot in the case, and run cooler in the external enclosure?

It also helps to explain what make/model drives are involved when asking questions.
 
Look at the SMART data for uncorrectable sectors. CrystalDiskInfo is a good program for this.
 
wkearney99 said:
Are they getting too hot in the case, and run cooler in the external enclosure?

It also helps to explain what make/model drives are involved when asking questions.
Click to expand...


WD 1.5 - WD1502FAEX
WD 2.0 - WD2002FAEX

They are around 39-40c
 
Last edited:
I've never heard of a drive clicking due to heat. Anytime I hear a clicking sound I replace the drive asap.
 
Look at the SMART raw values for Reallocated Sectors Count, Current Pending Sector Count, Offline Uncorrectable and UltraDMA CRC Error Count.

All of these should be 0 or close to 0 (for Reallocated Sectors Count and UltraDMA CRC Error Count)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.


For excessive load cycles look at Load/Unload Cycle Count
 
drescherjm said:
Look at the SMART raw values for Reallocated Sectors Count, Current Pending Sector Count, Offline Uncorrectable and UltraDMA CRC Error Count.

All of these should be 0 or close to 0 (for Reallocated Sectors Count and UltraDMA CRC Error Count)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.


For excessive load cycles look at Load/Unload Cycle Count
Click to expand...


On crystal, it has columns:

current, worse, threshold, raw value

current pending count is

200 / 200 / 0

relocated sector count

200 / 200 / 140

UltraDMA CRC Error Count

200 / 200 / 0

Uncorrectable sector count

200 / 200 / 0

Load/Unload Cycle Count

200 / 200 / 0

thats for 1 of the 1.5tb drives:
 
I would watch the relocated sector count to see if it grows per week. Other than that I see no problem or any reason for clicking.
 
fantomau said:
On crystal, it has columns:

current, worse, threshold, raw value

current pending count is

200 / 200 / 0

relocated sector count this looks like it has 140 relocated sectors! i may be wrong but this one may be bad. :(:(:(

200 / 200 / 140

UltraDMA CRC Error Count

200 / 200 / 0

Uncorrectable sector count

200 / 200 / 0

Load/Unload Cycle Count

200 / 200 / 0

thats for 1 of the 1.5tb drives:
Click to expand...


The relocated sector count doesn't look good.
 
But what I dont get is all 4 drives have the same # 140. Can all 4 drives be failing at once?
 
The reallocated sector count you are seeing is not the current value, it is the threshold of WD drives. You need to look at the raw value to determine if or how many sectors have been reallocated. If the clicking occurs at what seems to be normal intervals and is not too frequent it could just be head parking which is normal. It's possible that the case just causes it to be more audible than the external enclosure. If you are concerned download WD's diagnostic software and run an thorough test of the drive.
 
tdg said:
The reallocated sector count you are seeing is not the current value, it is the threshold of WD drives. You need to look at the raw value to determine if or how many sectors have been reallocated. If the clicking occurs at what seems to be normal intervals and is not too frequent it could just be head parking which is normal. It's possible that the case just causes it to be more audible than the external enclosure. If you are concerned download WD's diagnostic software and run an thorough test of the drive.
Click to expand...


Oh my bad.
 
When your drives are in your computer case, are they mounted directly to the metal housing?

I think you are hearing the heads park or at least return to their resting location and the noise they make may be amplified by your computer case, hence you don't hear it when they are in an external enclosure?!?

Try not mounting them to anything that can carry the sound or take one of the 'noise' drives out of the case and rest it on a piece of foam while still connected to your computer and see if the noise is still noticeable...
 
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