WD Black 1TB (Old) Lots of clicking

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Mr. Stryker

Supreme [H]ardness
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Mar 15, 2005
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I'm deaf, and all of my roommates are deaf as well. (Or hard of hearing but he's never home) The reason why I'm posting here is because I noticed my desk having these sharp vibrations and I thought it was my phone, until I traced it and found out that it was coming from my only platter drive (main is a 128 M4 SSD). I haven't noticed any slow downs in loading times for any of my games, but I'm wondering if I should back up some of my things.. because this is my storage/games HDD. I watch the HDD light flashing and it synchronizes with the crazy clicking that I feel on my HDD. I'm wondering if this is a sign that it's about to buy the farm? Because I recall it being quiet and not clacky when I first got it ~3 years ago. P.S. the statement about me being deaf is I can't hear the arm (actuator) and be able to identify that it's going bad...
 
Look at the SMART raw data with a program like CrystalDiskInfo. This will tell you if the drive detects that it is operating abnormally.
 
Whenever any of my WD drives click (normally after years of usage) I RMA them, and get a fresh drive from WD.

I'd backup your data, erase the data, and then RMA it before it completely dies and you lost it.
 
Guess I'll try that I get home tonight. I just got to work so I won't be home till 11PM. Is CrystalDiskInfo that good? Yeah, I still need to buy a new drive anyway because I feel that time is almost up for my current drive.And I should probably separate the ~400GB worth of Steam games from the actual storage and put them on different drives.
 
I'd say SMART information is a good first place to look for issues with the drive, and crystaldiskinfo is a good and easy to use interpreter for that information.
 
Who cares what those software packages tell you ?

Seriously.

If it's clicking and you can feel the vibrations RMA it, why wouldn't you do that ?

These drives have a 5 year warranty!

WD RMA process is super-easy, and shipping is around $6.
 
If it's clicking and you can feel the vibrations RMA it, why wouldn't you do that ?
Click to expand...

To see if the clicking is indeed a real problem and not caused by OS drive activity. Also if you RMA a perfectly working drive the refurbished drive you get back could certainly be in worse condition than the one you sent them.


Although with WDC you may sometimes get lucky. What I mean by that is if they have no refurbished drives available when they receive a RMA they will send you a new drive.
 
Run the WD diagnostic tool. If that reports errors RMA the drive. I once received a 2TB drive for my 1.5TB RMA. If the drive is really that loud I would RMA it.

It always a good idea to back up your data anyway. By the time you notice the slowdown of a bad drive it may be too late.
 
Both the WD Diagnostic tool and CrystalDiskInfo says that my HD is just fine as rain...
 
Created a RMA request with WD, and with Seagate for the 3TB HD that I forgot I had in the closet (which had really crippled performance and clicks as well).
 
Mr. Stryker said:
Both the WD Diagnostic tool and CrystalDiskInfo says that my HD is just fine as rain...
Click to expand...

Clicking is not necessarily a problem, particularly since WD Black drives are performance models (ie: not designed to be quiet like a Green). The problem is if the system seizes up for a second when it clicks or causes system slowdowns.

If you haven't already done so, you'll want to run the full test (~8-10hrs) on it before you RMA it. Also check your Event Viewer: System log for ftdisk or disk errors.

I had to advance RMA a first-generation WD 2TB Black last month due to constant bad sectors (wrote a copy/read script, the SMART bad sector counter kept going up after each cycle), and although I got a nice, new second-generation 2TB Black as a replacement, I wouldn't suggest an RMA unless it really isn't working since you usually end up getting refurbished disks which could be in worse condition.

Mr. Stryker said:
Created a RMA request with WD, and with Seagate for the 3TB HD that I forgot I had in the closet (which had really crippled performance and clicks as well).
Click to expand...

Firmware update for Seagate 3TB load cycle clicking:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/223651en
 
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