Most newer hard-disk drives will seem to be active and accessing data when they actually are not. Also, this activity may be heard as “clicks” and other noises. Such activity is normal and should not be a cause for concern.
If there is HDD activity going on it is most likely polling of the HDD to check for the amount of free space.
The activity could also be: Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART): SMART warns users of imminent hard-disk drive failure so that proper precautions, such as backup of data, can be taken to prevent data loss. During periods of inactivity, SMART-compliant drives update logs in the drive's firmware, causing unprompted drive activity and access noises. The drive's firmware initiates this activity, not the operating system. Currently, Dell implements SMART support for IDE hard-disk drives in the BIOS. Dell does not implement SMART support for SCSI hard-disk drives, although the hard-disk drive's firmware supports this feature.
My opinion differs from that of the moderator. The C400 drives do not have a pronounced "click". You have to listen very very carefully to hear the normal operational click.
If you hear a loud rhythmical click that you can hear four feet away, you have a probable failure of the regular C400 drive. Some other older drives were designed to click lightly, but not the ones used in the C400. I would worry about your data and take precautions to be sure you do not lose something important.
DELL-Corey
2.6K Posts
0
July 24th, 2002 18:00
Most newer hard-disk drives will seem to be active and accessing data when they actually are not. Also, this activity may be heard as “clicks” and other noises. Such activity is normal and should not be a cause for concern.
If there is HDD activity going on it is most likely polling of the HDD to check for the amount of free space.
The activity could also be: Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART): SMART warns users of imminent hard-disk drive failure so that proper precautions, such as backup of data, can be taken to prevent data loss. During periods of inactivity, SMART-compliant drives update logs in the drive's firmware, causing unprompted drive activity and access noises. The drive's firmware initiates this activity, not the operating system. Currently, Dell implements SMART support for IDE hard-disk drives in the BIOS. Dell does not implement SMART support for SCSI hard-disk drives, although the hard-disk drive's firmware supports this feature.
ray1bay
12 Posts
0
August 30th, 2004 18:00
If you hear a loud rhythmical click that you can hear four feet away, you have a probable failure of the regular C400 drive. Some other older drives were designed to click lightly, but not the ones used in the C400. I would worry about your data and take precautions to be sure you do not lose something important.