Seagate SATA HDD makes faint clicking noise.

[AvidGamer117]

Hi,

I was just wondering if it is normal for a hard drive to make faint clicking noises. My computer usually makes two faint clicking sounds occasionally, usually when accessing the hard drive. I didn't notice this noise until I recently installed a new SSD and updated to Windows 11 from Windows 10. It is a Seagate HD. I tried using Seatools and it said that the hard drive is fine. I tried recording the clicking sound, but accessing the HD involved clicking the mouse and the mouse clicking sound drowns out the faint clicking noise the HD makes. Other than these clicks there is no sign that the hard drive is failing. I can access video games installed on the HD and they work fine.

Should I be worried? If it made the clicking sound from the beginning then I wouldn't be worried, but because they happened recently it worries me. Also, the HD is almost 6 years old.

For some reason the clicking almost always happens when I open AS SSD Benchmark, when it says "drive detection". It happens sometimes when not clicking this program, but not very often. Still, it makes me worried that it clicks when not using the hard drive.

Does this make any sense? Why would it make the clicking sound when not accessing the hard drive?

It's not a huge problem, but the clicking annoys me and makes me paranoid the HDD will fail.

Thanks!

[northwind]

You're not being paranoid -- clicking is not normal.
Assuming that the clicking indeed comes from the hard drive and not from somewhere else, then probably one of the heads is about to give up. Why not replace the drive and go on?
Again, the origin of the clicking could be from some other computer part, if it was coming from the hard drive you would most probably notice performance drop.
If you're too sure it's the hard drive causing it -- just replace it.

[unknown]

Sometimes, rattle noises are normal. (not clicking)