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More Seagate Disk Drive clicking
I have a 1.5 year old Dell Studio XPS 8100. A few weeks ago, the 1.5 TB disk drive started making intermittent clicking sounds. I took the warning and backed up all data. After that, I ran the Windows 7 tests and checked it to fix bad sectors. Its a long test, so I left it running and went to a party. Upon returning there was just a black screen and blinking cursor. I tried to reboot but the disk would no longer boot.
I purchased a new 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM SATA drive from BestBuy and replaced the hard drive. After a few days of reinstalling software and data, I'm hearing clicks again. Its a different pattern now, but its an unmistakable click that gives you a shiver and thinking " not again." The old click had that unmistakable click of death sound - intermittent and 5 or 6 clicks about 3/4 of a second apart. With this disk drive, its very infequent ( maybe 2 or 3 times a day) 1 click and some times a clunk.
Could this be a power supply issue? I know Dell skimped on the power supply and I'm wondering if this is coming back to haunt me. I also know the web is full of complaints about clicking Seagate SATA drives.
So where do I go from here? I ran HD tune pro on the drive and nothing shows up, but the clicks and sometimes clunk doesn't sound right.
I apologize if this is in the wrong place. I'm not really sure if this covers the primary hard drive or just secondary storage.
skylarking
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April 6th, 2012 00:00
I would have contacted Dell support and discussed the issue with them as i would expect more than 1 & 1/2 years out of a desktop HDD (regardless of any stated warranty). This could have been resolved either under warranty or under 'not fit for purpose' consumer law and saved you the small cost of a new HDD.
Luckily you recognized a potential problem and backed up your data which is much more important that the small cost of the HDD, many do not and loose their data. In any case, i prefer to use the manufacturers test tools, in your case SeaTools by Seagate.
Such tools gives you access to the smart data on the drive and have short and long test routines amongst other routines you can run. It also allows cloning of data from one Seagate disk to another. I would use this tool to check your new drive's smart data for any issues or predicted failures as it should not be making odd noises (if i remember correctly the tool has good help info so you should be able to work out what is a problem or not).
Normally you can hear HDD heads seeking data from the platters but odd sounds and clunks are an indication of something wrong. If you suspect the power supply, the BIOS or a windows app may list the voltages (Sisoft Sandra lists voltages amongst many many things). You could also remove some components and see if the problem goes away with a reduced power load. If so you may have found the underlying issue. You could also return the drive for the noise issue and get another. If the replacement still exhibits issues, then it may well be something else with your system.
Good luck.
osprey4
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April 6th, 2012 05:00
Hi ShawnLau,
To add to skylarking's info, it is not unheard of for brand new drives to fail soon after being put in service. But different drives make different sounds, so I would not jump to conclusions. Go HERE to try the Seagate SeaTools.
Keeping good back-ups is always the best strategy.