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"Click of Death" - what does it sound like?

A

AmberClad

Diamond Member
I was wondering if anyone has personally experienced the infamous "click of death", and if I could get some details about it, like what it sounds like, how rapid it is, and when they heard it (i.e. only during boot, the entire time the computer was powered, etc).

I'll check back later and post an audio clip and you guys can tell me what you think (no worries, it's a blank HDD drive).

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.people.virginia.edu/~lml4q/ClickODeath.wav">
UPDATE: The long anticipated audio clip...</a>
The audio quality is pretty bad since I recorded it with an MP3 player and not a proper mic, but you'll get the idea. I think the Deathstar may have finally bit the dust this morning, didn't get recognized at all. Ah well. Looks like I'm in the market for a new Seagate to go with my other one.
 
It probably sounds a little like when the starter is dead on your car, but I have never personally heard it thankfully.
 
its like 1 to 2 clicks per second with a bit of a whirling sound in between. sorta like *thwip thwip CLANK* over and over 🙂

edit: and it does this the whole time power is on, or at least a minute or so, which is the longest Ive let one do it.
 
It may also depend on the manufacturer.
I had a Maxtor that sounded like a muffled machine gun - a rapid series of clicks for about 15 seconds, until it shut itself down.
I also had a Seagate that would wind up and do 5 clicks, wind up and do 5 clicks, etc. I imagine it would go on forever doing that.
I've run Western Digital ever since and never had a crash with them so I don't know what they sound like. 🙂

EDIT: I note in your Rig link that your internal drive is a 'Deathstar' so now I'm looking forward to your audio clip for my own evil purposes. :laugh:
 
My IBM Deathstar just packed it in....continual clicking noise like trying to start an ignitor on a barbeque...thats where this drive is heading
 
My IBM Deathstar that died sounded like: trrr trrr trrr trrr click-click... trrr trrr trrr trrr click-click... trrr trrr trrr trrr click-click...

I got all the data off it when it started doing that. No sense tempting fate.

If anyone likes I could record it, it still runs.
 
Originally posted by: ribbon13
http://www.dataclinic.co.uk/ibm-deskstar-click-of-death.wav
Click to expand...

Oh noes 🙁...
And I wanted to use that HDD as a boot drive too. Looks like someone may have already Deathstarred it.

EDIT: I can't get it to reproduce the noise right now (it only does it for the first 5-20 sec of a cold boot after a night of being shut down, then sounds/runs normal). I'll try to get a recording of it in the morning. It basically sounds like repeating "WHOOOOOSH" "CLICK!" sequence. Each sequence is about 2 sec long.
 
Originally posted by: Aquila76
EDIT: I note in your Rig link that your internal drive is a 'Deathstar' so now I'm looking forward to your audio clip for my own evil purposes. :laugh:
Click to expand...

Audio clip's been posted, enjoy :beer:.
EDIT: And remind me to scratch that Deathstar off my rig component list...
 
yeah i had that with one of my old western digital drives .. but it still worked then suddenly .. nothing it was dead 🙁 .. lucky i backup my data alot and before long, i had my new raptor with my fully working OS back on it 😀
 
Originally posted by: AmberClad

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.people.virginia.edu/~lml4q/ClickODeath.wav">
UPDATE: The long anticipated audio clip...</a>
The audio quality is pretty bad since I recorded it with an MP3 player and not a proper mic, but you'll get the idea. I think the Deathstar may have finally bit the dust this morning, didn't get recognized at all. Ah well. Looks like I'm in the market for a new Seagate to go with my other one.
Click to expand...

Why did you record a grandfather clock? 😉

Originally posted by: AmberClad


EDIT: I can't get it to reproduce the noise right now (it only does it for the first 5-20 sec of a cold boot after a night of being shut down, then sounds/runs normal). I'll try to get a recording of it in the morning. It basically sounds like repeating "WHOOOOOSH" "CLICK!" sequence. Each sequence is about 2 sec long.
Click to expand...

Beat the sh!t out of it but make sure you record that. Don't hit the mic though.

 
Originally posted by: AmberClad
Originally posted by: Aquila76
EDIT: I note in your Rig link that your internal drive is a 'Deathstar' so now I'm looking forward to your audio clip for my own evil purposes. :laugh:
Click to expand...

Audio clip's been posted, enjoy :beer:.
EDIT: And remind me to scratch that Deathstar off my rig component list...
Click to expand...

I've always thought someone should use that sound in a loop in some kind of techno song. It's a pretty cool effect. If I ever get off my lazy arse and get around to producing again I'll send you the clip. This may be my motivation.
 
Hi, When any drive has a problem reading it recalibrates by going back to the first track and reseeking the desired track. It makes a click. When a Hard Drive has bad problems reading it will calibrate and reseek about once per second. That's probably the click you hear. Jim
 
Originally posted by: JimPhelpsMI
Hi, When any drive has a problem reading it recalibrates by going back to the first track and reseeking the desired track. It makes a click. When a Hard Drive has bad problems reading it will calibrate and reseek about once per second. That's probably the click you hear. Jim
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm actually really starting to wonder about this disk. It has failed to be detected during boot up at least twice now, plus all the clicking noises at boot time. But after XP has finished booting, it shows up as one of the active HDDs under My Computer and I can write and read data off it just fine. SMART doesn't detect anything out of the ordinary. It's running at 31C because of the HD cooler it's in (my Seagate's running at 35C). The really odd thing is, if I were to power down the computer right now and power it right back up, there wouldn't be any clicking. It only happens after the computer's been off for the night. I'm pretty sure that I have the Seagate SATA set as the first boot drive, so it shouldn't be seeking for a non-existent OS on the Deathstar.
 
Hi Amber, The only reading to be done on a non bootable drive is to ask it if it is working and get its specs. If it can't read, it can't give the correct answer back to the system. Jim
 
Originally posted by: JimPhelpsMI
Hi Amber, The only reading to be done on a non bootable drive is to ask it if it is working and get its specs. If it can't read, it can't give the correct answer back to the system. Jim
Click to expand...

*sigh*

I think I figured out the problem. Forgot to set the jumpers 😕. Whoever had it before me had it set to slave. When I added it to an IDE channel which already had a DVD drive set to master, the BIOS didn't like it, but XP could sort it out. I switched the slave/master settings on the two and it seems ok now (no more stalling and Click of Death during boot up). I still don't trust this drive 100% though (2001 IBM Deskstar...).
 
I wouldnt trust it.

Modern drives store some of the drives OS code on the disk platters in a special area and when it tried to boot itself and cant read the rest of the drives OS in it clicks right on power up. Since the only thing it knows at that point is how to seek the manufactures area (where the OS and SMART data is stored) it just keeps trying and clicks away and usually cant even report to the computers BIOS what kind if drive it is.

Ive never heard of a drive clicking because of a jumper, usually the drives just conflict and neither can communicate with the BIOS.
 
Originally posted by: CrispyFried
I wouldnt trust it.

...

Ive never heard of a drive clicking because of a jumper, usually the drives just conflict and neither can communicate with the BIOS.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the click-of-death has nothing to do with jumpers. I'll bet you have inaccessible sectors or other corruption on that drive now if it's silent. I also predict you will have a critical crash soon. A noisy drive going silent is like that sickening 'cone of silence' during a storm just before the tornado destroys your house. I would backup whatever you can IMMEDIATELY with Ghost or whatever you prefer to use.
 
Ok I didn't even get the click of death.. Here's what I got..

kshh kshh kshh kshhhhhh (4th one longer.. total of 4 scratches about 4 seconds)

This would repeat about a billion times.....

Who got this?
 
Correction: If I hit a bad sector or something I get about 1 - 2 clicks of death (lasts like 2 seconds) and then I hit the scratch of death.... I have used 3 75GXPs and gotten this all the time.
 
Thank god I've never bought an IBM 'Deathstar'... they sound like really crap drives! Kind of reminds me of the 5 1/4" Maxtor 'Athena' 20 GB drives; when it came up as Athena in the BIOS, you knew you were screwed! They seemed to enjoy failing for no apparent reason. :disgust:

 
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