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

[db9000]

I just bought a Maxtor 500GB SATA II/300 drive (STM305004NA). 

When I turn on the computer, I hear a constant "clicking".  This is before installing windows or accessing the drive.  I have verified that it is not another drive or a fan making the noise.

Should I be concerned about this?  I have had a drive in the past with a bad "clicking" prior to dying, but this doesn't quite sound the same.

Thanks -
Dan

[JanJanssen]

Try Seatools for DOS - it has an Acoustic Spin Down test which will spin down the drive so you can make sure it's the drive that is clicking.

[Golai]

I got a brand new Barracuda 7200.11 750gig  and it also is making clicing sounds, about every 15-20sec, doesn't stall or crash my system in anyhow.. just makes those clicking sounds. As if something is faulty with it, quite enoying.

Have run seatools for DOS and no errors reporting in the short run.. havent' tryed the long run since it seamed to take forever. Audio test didnt' give any errors either (spinning the drive up). Any suggestions to what these clicking sounds are?

/G

[mikewratch]

glad i am not the only one getting the clicking,
i can't figure out why mine is doing it either,
and i have also run all the tests,
seatools shows no problems,
however an independant S.M.A.R.T test at http://www.hddstatus.com/ shows that the drive fitness is 0 and should be replaced immediately (used from the program SpeedFan v4.34)

it is not a healthy sound. makes one anxious.

[ifloydian]

I too have purchased a brand new Barracuda 7200.11 750gig HD (Model: ST3750330AS) and I am experiencing the random "clink" as I would describe it. I actually purchased 5 of them at the same time(5 days ago) and placed them in a NAS (Thecus N5200Pro). This is the only drive that does it and it's quite noticable. It started doing it from the moment I put it in and fired up the NAS. I was able to create a RAID5 did a migration(over 40 hours) from 3 to 5 drives, rebuilt the Raid(around 10 hours) and expanded the space(less than an hour). I have copied 1.3TB to the NAS and haven't seen anything negative as of yet. I've also read many files off the NAS as well.

Interesing findings:
When I view the drive statistics using the NAS management application I get no readings for this drive only. All other drives report:
Power On Hours
Temperature (Celsius)
Reallocated Sector Count
Current Pending Sector
Raw Read Error Rate
Seek Error Rate
Hardware ECC Recovered

This particular drive shows N/A in all these fields. (The other drives have actual values)

I assume I have a lemon and will be contacting support for a replacement. What are the chances I will get an already used drive? Any thoughts are welcome!

Thanks,
ifloydian

---

Drive Model: ST3750330AS
Drive Firmware: SD15

[Walkaboutout]

I am experiencing what appears to be the same issue. I have a Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB. During drive operation, while I'm loading information or a program, I hear the normal chatter a hard drive makes. But occasionally during that process I hear a distinctly metallic click, or even a slight crunch sounding noise. Its louder than the normal hard drive chatter sound you hear when the drive is reading data. Not only is it louder, its slightly higher in pitch.

In addition to this happening occasionally during hard drive operation, it ocurrs when the drive is idle. Now I know Windows tends to do things when a computer sits idle, but this is different. Every 5 or 10 minutes, even while the computer is sitting completely idle and Windows isn't accessing the drive, I hear the sound. Just a "cliiiick", or "crrruuunch" sound. It lasts for about 2 seconds. It doesn't repeat itself over and over in quick succession (not yet), but it happens constantly. Like I said every 5 or 10 minutes. I have alot of other computers in the house, and I swear, the only time I've ever heard noises of this nature was when I've had a hard drive eventually fail on me.

I'm concerned there seems to be no official word from Seagate about this particular noise. Is this just a quirk of their drives, and is normal to hear from them? Something we shouldn't be concerned about? Or are there plenty of their drives out there that don't do this, and it is in fact an abnormal thing to be hearing?

I'm sending the drive back to Newegg for a replacement, as it is within its 30 day warranty with them. I've only had the drive two weeks, and its done this since I first installed.

[Walkaboutout]

Still no answer on this from anyone with Seagate?? Come on guys...

An update to my situation. I received a replacement drive which is actually somewhat quieter, and does not make those clicking noises the way the other drive did. While I have indeed heard a similar, somewhat quieter version of the same noise, it has only happened a handful of times, with no where even close to the regularity of the last drive.

I sure would love some sort of comment from Seagate here.

[AlanM]

Hi:

Thanks for your participation in the our forums so far. Please remember that this is an online community where many of the responses come from other users, such as yourself. The forum is not a replacement for Customer Service. Seagate representative do from time to time come to lend a hand answering posts but not necessarily on a continual or frequent basis. If you have immediate needs, your best bet is to contact Customer Service directly whether by phone, email, or chat.
Thanks.

-AlanM
Mod

[DiamondJ]

I too keep getting a clicking sound from one of the drives (7200.11) RAID 0 set up.

I just built the system and I'm very concerned. The is annoying, and sometimes there will be 3, 4, or 5 in a row.  It sounds like "Click-shhhh, click-shhhhh, click-shhhhh" then it will go back making normal hard drive sounds.

I wish Seagate would explain why so many of their drives are making this noise and what we can do about it!

[Gunslinger]

I recently bought a Barracuda 7200.11  ST3500320AS 500gb drive and I'm noticing that it makes loud grinding/crunching type noises seemingly at random throuhgout use. It can go for an hour running quietly and then the next minute it's making noises that only last a second as often as every 2-3 seconds