BlackArmor NAS Network Storage Server

[Seppo]

Clicking sound coming from my hard drive started getting so intense it would occur nearly constantly so couldn't access my hard drive at all,

Solution found at bottom!

[Cantbecanit]

Would help if you could be more specific tbh, click click boom doesn't really say much does it?

[Seppo]

Annoying clicking sound intermitantly coming from my 3.5" external hard drive while it is being used for just about anything. Seems to be an extremely common issue, there are threads up to 50 pages long filled with a huge number of seemingly untested fixes, to attempt them all would most likely do more harm than good.

I would like to hear from Seagate if there is a fix or if I should have returned the drive when purchased (even though it seems all of their drives had this same issue and the only solution was to change brands) People have said they took the drive back and got another one, only to find the exact same issue occur again.

I would also like to know if anyone has succesfully fixed this issue with a work around, or by simply rehousing the hard drive.

I have Windows 7 x64, did a few tests in seatools and it passed ok, but didnt do the tests that risk data loss.

[Seppo · Accepted solution]

I turned the hard drive upside down placed on a soft cloth buffer on the desk to avoid vibration, and it now seems to have fixed the problem!!!

I am sort of shocked, I have had the hard drive for about 15 months, and I don't think it's every run so smoothly as now...

Did seagate design these things upside down?

I will report back to this post if my fix starts to fail...

[Cantbecanit]

Had you not used it for a while?

Just for a bit of prevention in future, I think all of these mini HDD externals in the small form factor possibly don't get enough cool air and if run for a long time the heat becomes detrimental to it, all the rest are the same I believe, be it WD,Freecom etc, if it holds real important data you might want to consider re-homing it in a suitable case that is fan assisted, I know you didn't buy it with that in mind, but if it stops the drive dying early it has to be worth it, that or site it inside the PC where a fan blows across it.

[Seppo]

This morning as I started moving files from my hard drive to my new Nas the click of death has returned... Just for a few seconds, but I fear the problem is not yet fixed... We will see how it holds up over the next few days but the click, at least in part... has returned!!!

[Cantbecanit]

I wouldn't trust it any further tbh.

[sigabot]

You've got to be kidding this worked!
Stop the annoying clicking by turning the NAS 110 upside down! Solved!
After 2 more clicks it stopped and sounds normal.
Seagate did build it upside down!