Newly RMA-ed HGST 4tb having "clicking noise"

[jeff119]

Hi guys, I need some help here.
I bought a HGST NAS 4tb 3 weeks ago.
It suddenly disappeared in windows after 1 week of usage and I lost my data on it.
Went down to Convergent for RMA, the guy allowed me to exchange without testing. a very good experience.

However, this new rma-ed drive has this audible and annoying "click" sound every 5-7 secs. What scares me the most is it has 2 brief periods of LOUD vibration when I am doing the HGST drive fitness test.

Is this sign of a bad/failing drive?
I don't think this is normal right.
Or does the fault lies with my system? ( The Convergent guy did ask for my motherboard model and say something like maybe my board might be too old for this drive as newer batches of 4tbs are slightly different)
I am sure if i bring it back to Convergent, they will be quite skeptical.

This drives pass the HGST fitnes test and CrystalDisk Info shows "Good health".
I do have another HGST NAS 4TB drive from last year, no such clicking noise and very stable so far.

 

[yusoffb01]

normal .

 

[DriftKing]

Usually the click noise is another sign of hdd failure... better get RMA again before writing more stuff on it.

 

[xonix]

For most hdd, clicking sound is a sign that it's failing. For some models, it's a characteristic. Try googling for your particular hdd model, I recall there was an Hitachi model that have this sound.

 

[Koenig168]

i have a 4TB Hitachi NAS running on Z87 MB without any problem and silent.

Generally, I don't trust any HDD that clicks. First sign of clicking, I will RMA or dispose. No point risking data.

 

[hawthorne]

Clicking normally associated with early death. However some of my HDDs will have a click when it's awoken sleep. But the click is a rather soft sound.

Edit: those were the IBM Deskstar harddisks. These are ancient

 

[chong]

Suggest TS to paste the crystal disk info screenshot here, but blank out the serial number.

 

[jeff119]

thanks for replying.

I exchanged a new set today.
The click is still there but is a bit softer when it click and jerks against the wall of my define S.

Here are some infos about it.

Strange that my old HGST NAS 4TB is totally fine and quiet.

 

[ZrE0_Cha0s]

wow 16 read error rate and 67 seek error rate and 60 spin retry count. (even though not the main issues of hardware failure (iirc))

 

[chong]

wow 16 read error rate and 67 seek error rate and 60 spin retry count. (even though not the main issues of hardware failure (iirc))

Those are the threshold limits, below which is considered a fail. The actual values for the drive are in the Current and Raw columns.

 

[chong]

thanks for replying.

I exchanged a new set today.
The click is still there but is a bit softer when it click and jerks against the wall of my define S.

Here are some infos about it.

Strange that my old HGST NAS 4TB is totally fine and quiet.

Try this in CrystalDiskInfo:
1. Function -> Refresh to refresh the values.
2. Remember the Raw Values for "Power Off Retract Count" and "Load/Unload Cycle Count". (In your screenshot they both have values of 3).
3. Wait for the annoying click to happen 3 times.
4. Function -> Refresh to refresh the values.

Compared to step 2, did the Raw Values for "Power Off Retract Count" and "Load/Unload Cycle Count" increase after step 4?

 

[xonix]

 

[jeff119]

Try this in CrystalDiskInfo:
1. Function -> Refresh to refresh the values.
2. Remember the Raw Values for "Power Off Retract Count" and "Load/Unload Cycle Count". (In your screenshot they both have values of 3).
3. Wait for the annoying click to happen 3 times.
4. Function -> Refresh to refresh the values.

Compared to step 2, did the Raw Values for "Power Off Retract Count" and "Load/Unload Cycle Count" increase after step 4?

Nope. They are still the same.
Just realised that the newer HGST NAS 4TB are slightly different from last years one.
My older one is HDN724040AL640
This drive is HDN726040ALE614

Probably the newer ones are noisier.
Sian, should have gone for WD black :/

 

[yusoffb01]

told you its normal

clicking when reading the hard drive and clicking due to faulty hard drive sounds different

 

[leo0o0]

interesting.. I guess the clicking sound is just ominous, most ppl will prob relate it to the "click of death" though

told you its normal

clicking when reading the hard drive and clicking due to faulty hard drive sounds different

 

[Encrypted11]

Deleted my last comment. But the summary is there's a difference between Read/Write IO related "rattle" versus "click" induced by unwarranted disk head parking/flicking on normal operation.

Or "screech" from motor's lack of lubrication, or the spinner/motor assembly loosening causing the disk head to scratch the platter during rotation.

Had a hitachi around XP/Vista capable era that had the discerning rattle on IO activity, it remained healthy throughout the useful life of PC. It's a harmless, by-design rattle. HGST 3.5" drives are reliable, but fairly noisy.

If in doubt,
-Isolate and categorise the source of noise, not all sources point to a probable mechanical failure.
-Double check SMART data for failure signs

 

[LionPlushie]

my wd black also got clicking when accessing on cpuz if i recall.

googled and found out that some hdd using cpuz will have clicking sound.

 

[LoNgMaO]

Try connect it to another power connector. If your is a module PSU the try another slot. Maybe power not enough.

 

[beemer]

I think ts should start backup his data.

Had a hgst 3tb that uplorried on me about 1 week ago.

It was on raid0 and had clicking sound when I was copying stuff to my external HDD.

Copy halfway suddenly got error: file does not exist or smth like that.

Reboot and whole disk array disappeared.
Disk mgmt labelled as failed.

 

[jeff119]

Try connect it to another power connector. If your is a module PSU the try another slot. Maybe power not enough.

Yeah. I tried already, still the same.

I think ts should start backup his data.

Had a hgst 3tb that uplorried on me about 1 week ago.

It was on raid0 and had clicking sound when I was copying stuff to my external HDD.

Copy halfway suddenly got error: file does not exist or smth like that.

Reboot and whole disk array disappeared.
Disk mgmt labelled as failed.

My HGST 4tb bought 3 weeks ago died within 2 weeks.
Suddenly disappear from my computer and cannot be detected.
if I restart a few times, it will come back and after that it will disappear again.
It will stuck at 0mb/sec sometimes when copying files.
That one was quiet, like my drive that was bought last year.

Only these 2 recent exchanged drives are clicky and jerks against the wall of my Define S when it clicks.
but they are noticeably faster in CrystalDiskMark.
Oh well, guess it is normal for the newer batch of drives.