Issue with hard disk: psu defectuous?

[Jhkh]

Hi everyone! Please don't mind if my English is awful, I'm french! Your forum brought me here for its many interesting answers.
So, time to ask myself!

I have a computer with a WD caviar SE 2500 old hard drive (2001, 250GB), that stops and restarts irregularily with a loud "click", making windows xp freeze during the restart.
It is also very loud when powered down (same loud click)
I put it on a dock on another machine, and it seems to work proprely.


I ran a test with full cpu usage with an external voltmeter, no sign of problem on either 5V or 12V.

I tried to use the molex power connector of the disk instead of sata: makes things worse, the disk stops every 30secs:''(!

Going further, I took two other power supplies for the hard disk only, and it works perfectly on molex with one (dosen't start with the other), but the drive won't start on sata with molex/sata power adaptator on any of the three supplies (will start only on native sata with 3V)

The drive regulation card may be dead as the computer works normally with another ide molex drive. But I wanted to be sure before buying anything, I'm afraid to see the new disk failing.

If I buy a new disk, I think I should not get more than 500Gb to avoid motherbord compatibility issue as well (must be sata I), can you confirm that?

Thanks for according attention to my problem

 

[nickbits]

The clicking sound means your disk is dying. It isn't related to the power supply.

I doubt your power supply created the problem. Your post reminds me of almost exactly what happened to me before except I had 2 disks fail in a short time frame (clicking). I thought it must be the power supply. I made a post very similar to yours and the conclusion was it was bad luck and not the power supply. I did not replace the power supply and the new disk did not encounter any issues.

 

[Jhkh]

Thanks nickbits, I was going mad with this tricky problem, as I have few experience in computer hardware.
For a new drive, I have read that I should avoid advanced format; can I take this one? http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/internal-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/barracuda/?sku=ST500DM002

 

[MicahC]

Yes, Seagate Barracuda is good, or the Western digital Blue is another stable option.

 

[Jhkh]

So you think advanced format will work on a 2001 computer?
Someone have tried that?
Maybe the 500GB model isn't using this technology, and seagate seems to provide all necessary tools for windows xp, but there is no way to get information on the maximal size supported by the motherboard (Asus P5GD-1FM/S)

Edit:I installed the new drive today, no problem. The 500GB isn't using advanced format.
Thanks for your help, problem solved!