What to do?

V

vsrdan

Gawd
Joined
Jun 29, 2005
Messages
663
I have a 300GB Seagate ST3300831AS SATA-II which is continously giving a clicking noise (loudest among 5 HDs I have in the computer - a couple of other Seagates among them) when reading/writing. The drive, however, works fine - for now. Should I get a replacement or is this normal? I am scared of losing 200+GB data without warning if it fails. Seagate's warranty replacements are refurbished units anyway :mad:
 
The drive is either damaged or the format/data is in need of repair.
HDD Regenerator or Spinrites tools may be able to fix it.

I've had a number of drives that clicked a lot, one was thoroughly unusable.
HDDRegenerator sorted them out a treat.
 
Downloading Seatools from the Seagate website will tell you if the drive is bad in Seagate's eyes.
 
Since you have multiple drives, make a copy of that drive to be safe.
 
Ockie said:
Since you have multiple drives, make a copy of that drive to be safe.
Click to expand...

Already did! I am formatting it now. The clicking noise is very obvious when I used "Eraser" to erase it (multiple passes).

A good refurbished one would be better than a noisy/clicking one ready to fail (?)

I've used Seatools before, but it doesn't detect all the errors - especially when it comes to BSODs related to HD errors.

I am leaning towards sending it back.
 
The manufacturers diagnostics will only check to see if the drive can be read properly. They do not test the integrity of the data. While it may not be perfect, it is a good place to start, because if you are getting errors in Seatools, don't waste your time reformatting and such, just get a refurbished one from Seagate.

Also, don't waste your time with the Windows version of Seatools. Even THEIR instructions tell you to get the Dos version and rerun the test if it has an error in the Windows tests.

Don
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top