Clicking noise already???

[Michaelmoo]

Hi. I have the following hard drive:

Seagate Barracuda st31000524As 1TB

Now, I only bought my system yesterday, and already noticed the hard drives clicking noise. The noise is persistent from when I turn it on to opening a web browser. It's not too loud, but noticeable. Is this normal? I'm a bit worried the guy who put my system together may have put an old hard drive, although it looks OK from the outside.

I should also note my system runs inside an Antec 300 tower. It has a grilled front end (for air flow), which may be why I'm hearing the noise (I'm used to the traditional closed towers)

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Michaelmoo]

I should also add that the computer is running fine. Also the fans are extremely quiet (maybe that's why the noise becomes obvious?)

[dmarques]

You should swap your drive with the supplier.

[dick]

Maybe normal, maybe not. You need some kind of backup.
I think I would add in a second drive and set it up as a raid 1 mirror.
Then if the noisy drive condition gets worse you shouldn't suffer total data loss.
The pc builder should be able to set this up for you.

[pclab]

Maybe a bad PSU can be the origin of the problem.

[Vulcan]

@Michaelmoo,

Trying to diagnose a sound remotely, especially without giving a recording of it (but sometimes even with that), is prone to misinterpretation & incorrect analysis. It's like being asked to give an opinion about a song, without being sent an MP3 of it.

The noise is persistent from when I turn it on to opening a web browser.

Are you saying that the noise stops completely, until you next power-on the system, once you've started the web browser?

It's not too loud, but noticeable. Is this normal?

Impossible to say from the limited description and no recording having been given.

One possibility is that this is the normal sound, especially if the AAM setting has been adjusted on the drive, to give fast (but noisy) seeks.

Try powering-on the system, and press whatever key is needed to enter BIOS setup (e.g. F2 or whatever) and just sit there for a few minutes. Is there any noise from the drive during that time or not? If not, and if the disk noises only start when you exit BIOS setup and boot the OS (after making no BIOS changes e.g. by pressing ESC), then it's probably just normal disk seek noises. If you hear repetitive clicks from the disk, even when just sitting in BIOS setup, then that is a concern.

I'm a bit worried the guy who put my system together may have put an old hard drive, although it looks OK from the outside.

You can check the Seagate manufacturing date from the top of the drive and it's s/n on the Seagate website warranty checker IIRC; or use a good SMART utility to read the raw power-on hours counter from the drive (this data can be altered, but is rarely done) - and that SMART data can also be checked for any other signs of concern

So those are a few things for you to consider doing, depending on how important (and how much of a concern) this is to you.

[Michaelmoo]

Thanks guys for your help. So I've tried my best to do what I've asked you to do and here's what I came up with:

Are you saying that the noise stops completely, until you next power-on the system, once you've started the web browser?

The noise does not seem to stop as long as my computer is on. And the frequency of "clicks" seems to increase with increasing computer activity (rulling out fans as the problem)

Try powering-on the system, and press whatever key is needed to enter BIOS setup (e.g. F2 or whatever) and just sit there for a few minutes. Is there any noise from the drive during that time or not? If not, and if the disk noises only start when you exit BIOS setup and boot the OS (after making no BIOS changes e.g. by pressing ESC), then it's probably just normal disk seek noises. If you hear repetitive clicks from the disk, even when just sitting in BIOS setup, then that is a concern.

I did that. And no! There were no clicks when I entered the BIOS. It seems to begin only when the windows wants to start up.

You can check the Seagate manufacturing date from the top of the drive and it's s/n on the Seagate website warranty checker IIRC; or use a good SMART utility to read the raw power-on hours counter from the drive (this data can be altered, but is rarely done) - and that SMART data can also be checked for any other signs of concern

Found that for you. The date code read: 11406. What does this mean?

So those are a few things for you to consider doing, depending on how important (and how much of a concern) this is to you.

I've also taken the time to open up my computer and actually record it for you guys. Yes, the noise is definitely from the hard disk. I've put the recorder right near it so you can try to hear. Basically, what I did during this interval is turn on my computer and then shut it down immediately. You can here the activity, especially when windows kicks in and starts loading. It wouldn't let me attach an mp4 file so I uploaded it to megaupload. Download link is:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6YRHC645

If you guys could give me a diagnosis I'd really appreciate it.

[Vulcan]

Thanks guys for your help.

You're welcome but then you turn-on the guilt later

Are you saying that the noise stops completely, until you next power-on the system, once you've started the web browser?

The noise does not seem to stop as long as my computer is on. And the frequency of "clicks" seems to increase with increasing computer activity (rulling out fans as the problem)

Now that you've explained that the noises do not stop after you run the web browser (as you had originally implied they did), then this noise is related to disk I/O.

There were no clicks when I entered the BIOS. It seems to begin only when the windows wants to start up.

From this BIOS "power with no I/O" test result, you'll see my diagnosis in my previous posting.

You can check the Seagate manufacturing date from the top of the drive

Found that for you. The date code read: 11406. What does this mean?

Google seagate date code decoder and you'll see your answer - it's a new drive.

I've also taken the time to open up my computer and actually record it for you guys.

If, as your tone implies, you are trying to make me feel guilty for asking for a recording and all the effort that was for you to do it, then you're failing - you're just making me regret spending valuable time offering to help, by making a big deal out of a request for information to help with answering your question. If it's such a big deal to get the information, then don't do it and live with the result. Or if it isn't such a big deal, then why mention it.

Anyway, my current (non-PC) system can't play an MP4 file (there was a reason I mentioned MP3 ), so you'll have to wait for a response from someone who can play it. I think I've helped enough now and the results of my suggested BIOS test have answered your question with a high degree of confidence, as far as I'm concerned (the recorded sounds will help confirm my previously explained diagnosis, SMART raw data analysis may give extra confirmation, and checking the AAM setting may give an interesting result). Good luck.

[RecoverTex]

One further note: Depending on your amount of RAM, swap file size, and load on your system you could be accessing the HDD excessively. If you are using one of the "speedup" programs during internet access, they basically pre-load web pages onto your HDD for viewing so they load faster in your browser. This would result in increased drive access.

[Dizidago357]

Sounds ok to me. Typically if the heads are bad you're going to hear some sort of repetitive clicking, a pattern or something like that. To me that sounds like a computer just working and doing it's job. Anyone else care to confirm?

Dizi

[Michaelmoo]

Thanks heaps guys. Oh and @ Vulcan, I'm not playing the guilt card, please don't take it that way! This means a lot to me (I paid a good amount for this system) that's why I went through the effort.

Sounds ok to me. Typically if the heads are bad you're going to hear some sort of repetitive clicking, a pattern or something like that. To me that sounds like a computer just working and doing it's job. Anyone else care to confirm?

But that's the thing, it's a brand new hard disk. Maybe it's just that this particular brand of hard disk isn't top notch? I didn't notice this with my previous Samsung hard disk (but then again, it could be due to the quieter fans and grilled front end on my tower)

Anyway, my current (non-PC) system can't play an MP4 file (there was a reason I mentioned MP3 )

I've converted the file for you and anyone that couldn't open. Please take the time to check it out as I'd very much appreciate it. Again on Megaupload (sorry about the larger file size):

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I0IZ32H6

Michael

[Michaelmoo]

Well I might see what the supplier can do for me.

It seems to be increasing (as I install more programs etc). If it was just the traditional disk search groan, I wouldn't mind. But the clicking might really cause problems.

Although, I've run a SMART analysis and a disk check and found no problems. It's really a problem if they can't do anything until the hard drive actually fails me (don't want to wait until then).

[Vulcan]

@ Vulcan, I'm not playing the guilt card, please don't take it that way! This means a lot to me (I paid a good amount for this system) that's why I went through the effort.

OK

I've converted the file for you and anyone that couldn't open.

I've downloaded & listened to the MP3 (thanks for that).

Apart from the obvious human-triggered sounds as the mic was moved/touched at the start & end, everything else I hear from the disks sounds normal; normal spin-up; normal seek sounds; normal spin-down. IMHO what you're calling "clicks" are actually the nomal "ticks" which occur during seeks - especially if the disk has been configured for higher seek performance (read about AAM on (S)ATA disks for info on this).

As I explained before, this also fits with your result of no "clicks" when displaying a BIOS screen - thus confirming that the "clicks" are heard only with normal I/O (which doesn't occur when displaying a BIOS screen).

I've run a SMART analysis and a disk check and found no problems.

FYI there are many subtleties to reviewing SMART data, which can be missed by the less-experienced, but that's a whole topic on its own.

Given that your only reported concern is the disk noise, my view is that there is nothing abnormal audible in that recording. You could investigate AAM settings (e.g. using HDDScan) if supported by this disk, if you want to see whether the noise can be reduced (at the potential expense of seek performance). It could also be that the mounting of the disk in that chassis is increasing the apparent disk noise level (e.g. resonance), or simply the holes in the case front, as you suggested, allowing you to hear more of the noise which was always present anyway.

In short, I think you're worrying unnecessarily about imminent disk failure based on the noises in that recording. Of course, always make sure that you have backups, as any disk can fail without warning.

[Michaelmoo]

Thanks everyone.

So I was paranoid and went and changed the hard disk. Turns out the sound is very similar to the one I suspected was faulty.

Normal disk checking can sound much like a Geiger counter apparently.

Thanks for your help guys.

[Vulcan]

Normal disk checking can sound much like a Geiger counter apparently.

Yes indeed, so now you can stop worrying. I suspect (as I said before - which is also what you mentioned at the beginning) that the new, different, case is making it easier to hear the normal disk noise, and so it is "different" for you, despite actually being normal.