HGST clicking?

Hi Guys,

My HGST 7k4000 clicks but it's not the same type of click that you would expect from a dying drive..

In fact the drive works fine but the click is every 3rd second....so basically it clicks, one, two, click, one, two, click...forever...

I even touched the drive and I can feel the click, I'm guessing that's the arm moving back and forth but what I don't understand is why it's so perfectly synchronized to click every 3 seconds and I'm not even using the drive or accessing it in any way.

Any help would be appreciated before I start an RMA process.

Thanks.

It's a dying drive, backup your data and rma it. It appears the arm is sticking. Nothing you can to stop it. The clicking may stop temporarily, but the drive is on its way out.

Thanks, I just unplugged it to take a pic of the drive for the S/N info and now it doesn't click anymore once plugging it back in and restarting system.

I believe I tried this before though...so as you say, it can go away temporarily but it comes back.

Get a program to read the SMART data and post it here.

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: HGST HUS724020ALA640
Serial Number: PN1134P6HV01XW
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 22dd9e962
Firmware Version: MF6OAA70
User Capacity: 2,000,398,934,016 bytes [2.00 TB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4
Local Time is: Sat Oct 03 13:41:26 2015 EDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 28) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 326) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x003d) SCT Status supported.
SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 016 Pre-fail Always - 0
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 054 Pre-fail Offline - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 128 128 024 Pre-fail Always - 489 (Average 487)
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 197
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 005 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 067 Pre-fail Always - 0
8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0005 100 100 020 Pre-fail Offline - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1044
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 197
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 214
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 214
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0002 187 187 000 Old_age Always - 32 (Min/Max 19/40)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]


SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm doing a long test now with GSmartControl...

Is this what I should be using/doing? I'm new to this type of testing.

I would not trust that drive. It should not be making clicking noises like that. Problem is, you probably can't make a good enough case with the vendor or the mfgr to get a replacement or a refund if there is any warranty left on it. How long has the drive been in service?

The drive has plenty of warranty and it's only been in service for a few months. I have a warranty until 2018 sometime. I believe it was an RMA replacement but it was brand new when I got it.

As others have said, backup all data to a reliable drive.

Already backed up to the Seagate, lol, also a RMA, brand new pretty much. I had high hopes for this HGST drive

passed the 6 hour long test with no errors...

Hi mate.

I'm glad that the drive is not making any clicking sounds anymore, but since it already started to make such I would suggest not to trust it with any important data you have and look for a replacement HDD.

Did you contact the manufacturer about making an RMA if it's still under warranty? If not, I would suggest to do so and see if you'll get another unit.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Hi guys, I'm back in this thread because my replacement brand new HGST drive is also doing the same clicking as the previous??? It sounds like the arm is snapping back and forth from start to it's end range or beyond. I've tried a different SATA port on my motherboard and SATA cable and I've also put the drive in a different part of the hard drive bay.

HGST is good on replacing it again and even covering the shipping cost but this makes no sense to me? The drive doesn't post any errors and yet every 3 seconds, click, click, click, like a freakin cookoo clock.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Am I missing something?

Can you take or find a video so we know what it sounds like?

I tried and no, but I'm almost certain it's the arm moving back and forth every 3 seconds, like a whip and I can even feel it when I touch the drive. I feel a thud type tactile sensation against my finger.

If the drive is idle, you should hear/feel the motor and nothing else. Usually rhythmic moving of the head indicates failure. Check the SMART data.

Does this tell you anything? I've never used this program, am I supposed to do some kind of scan with it other than this?

Nope, I don't see an indication of problems in the SMART data, but that doesn't mean there isn't an issue. Does the clicking happen in the BIOS?

never checked in BIOS, will do that and report back.

I also switched SATA power cable, didn't help as well as a different port on the PSU.

Hi again.

The S.M.A.R.T. values look OK to me, so I would say that you can use the replacement HDD you currently have. As for the noise, not all are sign of a failing hard disk, you can take a look at this KB article about it if you want:

http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=C3App7

Hi guys, the drive didn't make noise in BIOS and it's actually not doing it in Windows now either. I did swap out the SATA power cable, not sure this fixed it but I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the help.