Hard drive

[squirrel dog]

Tell me what exactly is the click or clicking I hear when a read is requested . This drive I pulled from an array because as i would do my daily thing I would hear what sounds like a ball point pin being pushed in , then released . So I found the drive and removed it . It still works fine , i assume its nearing its mean failure time . But what really is it doing ? And what makes the sound ?

 

[bobsmith1492]

It is probably seeking. The heads on the drive are probably moving back and forth rapidly, making a small noise when they stop rapidly upon reaching their destination. The noise probably comes from some slack/looseness in the mechanical drive moving the head so that when the mechanical drive stops moving, the head continues moving until hitting the end of the slack space, where it collides with the drive mechanism and comes to a halt, making a small impact noise (not that that's all bad, but as it gets louder, it means the drive is probably wearing out).

I don't know that as a fact, but it seems pretty reasonable.

 

[patentman]

Usually the clicking noise is the head making contact with the surface of the platter. Its not a head crash per se, as a head crash entails the head getting "stuck" on the surface of the platter. Most modern hard drives have a lubricant layer that helps prevent the head from sticking, hence the clicking noise. Regardless, the head should not be contacting the surface of the disk anyways, so I'd back up your data now before its too late.