HD clicking problem

[DidelisDiskas]

I bought a laptop a month ago and the first time i booted it, it started making these faint, fast (8 clicks per second~) clicking noises. I thought that the drive is probably dying, so i just waited for it keel over, so i could replace that terrible 5400rpm junk. A month later it's still going strong and i have not noticed any unusual behavior as far as moving files and running programs, booting also seems fine. I have been running games and using this laptop pretty often and even installed a few os'es (linux and then back to windows).

My last hard drive that failed, died much faster and it kept getting worse and worse, while this one only makes these annoying clicking noises. Can it really be failing that long, or might this be some other problem? I might keep the drive, because it comes with a windows key (in case i want to sell the laptop), but that clicking noise is really annoying. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[eton975]

Could be a bad sector background scan that runs on some models of hard drive (e.g. my Toshiba DT01ACA300 has it). Do you know what model the HDD is?

 

[DidelisDiskas]

I think it's a "Seagate Laptop Thin ST500LT012 500GB 5400 RPM". The device number in device manager shows: ST500LT012-1DG142.

 

[Elixer]

I bought a laptop a month ago and the first time i booted it, it started making these faint, fast (8 clicks per second~) clicking noises. I thought that the drive is probably dying, so i just waited for it keel over, so i could replace that terrible 5400rpm junk. A month later it's still going strong and i have not noticed any unusual behavior as far as moving files and running programs, booting also seems fine. I have been running games and using this laptop pretty often and even installed a few os'es (linux and then back to windows).

My last hard drive that failed, died much faster and it kept getting worse and worse, while this one only makes these annoying clicking noises. Can it really be failing that long, or might this be some other problem? I might keep the drive, because it comes with a windows key (in case i want to sell the laptop), but that clicking noise is really annoying. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Check the SMART attributes with cyrstaldiskinfo (portable version, free).
You can post a screen shot if you wish.
Clicks could be head parking (or something else), so, can't really tell much just from the sound.

BTW, there is no windows key tied to the HD. It is tied to the laptop's BIOS/Motherboard.

 

[DidelisDiskas]

Is this it?

Also, task Manager shows that it is constantly writing something, is this normal? (i have not used Windows in ages)

BTW, there is no windows key tied to the HD. It is tied to the laptop's BIOS/Motherboard.

Oh, that's interesting. Can a bios firmware update do something to that key?

 

[Elixer]

Well, you got 18,501 load/unload count, (average of 46 per hour) and I suspect this is the click you are hearing.
You can monitor when you hear the click with the above program after a refresh, and I bet C1 has increased.


No, a bios firmware update won't do anything to the key, it is a OEM key that don't change.

 

[DidelisDiskas]

Well, you got 18,501 load/unload count, (average of 46 per hour) and I suspect this is the click you are hearing.

Where do you get that number, did you divide some of the stats? Also, what is load/unload count? I am not very well versed in storage lingo D:.

C1 shows 91 91 still

You can monitor when you hear the click with the above program after a refresh, and I bet C1 has increased.

I hear it all the time, it's basically constant.

 

[Elixer]

Where do you get that number, did you divide some of the stats? Also, what is load/unload count? I am not very well versed in storage lingo D:.

C1 shows 91 91 still

I hear it all the time, it's basically constant.

The RAW value is what you want to look at... 4845 is hex, you need to convert it to decimal.

 

[DidelisDiskas]

The RAW value is what you want to look at... 4845 is hex, you need to convert it to decimal.

Ah, thanks, it's now 18504. So what does this tell me? Is there a remedy for this?

 

[DidelisDiskas]

Well, i tried to disable apm (advanced power management) feature in crystaldiskinfo and the constant clicking (8 clicks a second~) seems to be gone, but there is still a different audible click once in a few seconds or so (at least not so annoying).

Now i wonder if it is possible to disable apm permenatly?

Edit: It seems the clicking is back, might as well just get rid of this hardrive.

 

[Elixer]

There isn't anything wrong per se, it just parks the head many times to save power, and whatever else they tell you.
There could be some seagate utilities to turn this behavior off though.

 

[DidelisDiskas]

There isn't anything wrong per se, it just parks the head many times to save power, and whatever else they tell you.
There could be some seagate utilities to turn this behavior off though.

The only reason i am spending time on this hdd, is because i'm thinking about selling this laptop and i'm not keen on wasting 50 euro on a new ssd, but anyway, i will try to figure this out, thanks for the help!

 

[Magic Carpet]

Sell as it is, there is no permanent fix to this "problem". And you haven't heard my old Seagate drive that has been in service for about a decade now.