Barracuda XT, Barracuda, Barracuda Green, DiamondMax and other desktop SATA and IDE drives

[henryblack]

I own 30 ST3750640AS hard drives with firmware rev. 3.AAE .
Three of my hard drives have low SMART Seek Error Rates.All three of them pass the Long Drive Self-Test of SeaTools. During checking though they produce severe clicking noises and the SMART Seek Error Rate deteriorates. One with Serial Number 5QD1RT19 started with value 78 and right now it's 54 in 3 days time while the threshold is 30.
Another one with serial 5QD1RJ9F started with 68, right now is 41 and it's been to as low as 36.
The clicking noises persist and are continuous for an amount of time until they go away to come back later during usage.
I don't know whether this is a clue but the ST3750 that I have and are made in China seem to be more problematic than those ST3750 that were made in Singapore. These three drives are all made in China while all the drives that are older and were made in Singapore haven't had any problems whatsoever.
I'm really concerned because the other drives have usual seek Error Rates 100 (Singapore) or 78/73 (China) and produce no clicking noises.
Are drives like these with deteriorating SMART Seek Error Rates so close to the Threshold eligible for return? The retailer I bought them from (www.plaisio.gr) has a warranty policy of immediate replacement from their own stock, but I don't know if they will accept the drives as faulty since they pass most tests and otherwise they seem to be working fine.
I'm really concerned about the safety of my data on these drives.
Is these clicking noises and low seek error rates normal? Should these 3 drives be replaced  and should I ask my provider for replacement or not?

[Martyhead]

If you hear a clicking from your hard drive, shut it down IMMEDIATELY. Your drive has gone bad and will be completely unusable within a short amount of time. You need to get the data off ASAP.

[henryblack]

Does anybody experience anything similar? Because the clicking and seek errors happen with not one but three drives I believe that it must be experineced with other drives of this line too (ST3750). The hard drive doesn't die. They actually pass the long drive self-test of seatools with clicking appearing and going away during it. No read erros.The SMART seek error rate deteriorates. I guess it's the hardware ECC that recovers them? I now have two drives with seek error rate around 40 when the threshold is 30 and the usual value should be from 60 to 100.

[beowulf6]

I have exactly the same. i have a new 500GB Seagate ST3500630A and it is making clicking noise sometimes. it dont find any errors and the SMART Seek Error Rate is also lower than my other Seagate HD that is older that doesnt make this clicking sounds. should i return this Harddisk, or is this normal?

[utopian201]

Hi
Does the clicking sound like my drive?
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=645

I've attached a sound and hdtune screenshot for your reference.
If so, the drive is going to die. My one did anyway.

[beowulf6]

Hi. Thanks for your answer.

But i already returned my drive
because the Seagate support told me, this is not normal, and i should return it.

Now i am waiting for it to come back to me.

[beowulf6]

Hi.
I got my new Seagate, and it is not longer making this clicking noise.

and no. the noise of my old HDD was not like your clicking noise.

my old only clicked sometimes for some seconds and not so fast like your HDD. if it sounded like this, i would have say it is really defect.

but wath i wonder... my new HDD have also a low Seek error Rate. (lowest 60 most 66)

Screen of my HDD in HD Tune:


maybe this is normal for Seagate Harddisks? Only the clicking sound was a notice for a defect?

(i hope my english is understandable)