HDD clicking, not sure what to do.

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Oshimoto

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Hello,

I have been having some issues with one of my Hard drives, every so often it clicks and the computer freezes for a second and then goes back to normal. I have a feeling my HD is dying and was wondering if there a way to fix this. I am not sure which hard drive is causing the problem.

My Hard drive model and brand's are:
WDC WD5000AAKX-001CA0 (this one contains OS and some files)
ST1000DM003-9YN162 (this one contains games and most programs.)

I am running my hard drives through a hot swap bay, could that be causing the problem? or is it the hard drive itself.

I ran a test on them and everything was fine, but it never clicked while the test was running and they happen at random times so I can't time it with the test.

Thank you for any help you can provide!
 
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Unfortunately the only real way to figure it out is to dock them separately (i.e. one on the right side of you and one on the left) and listen for which one it comes from. And back up everything. Clicking is a defective or dying drive. If you haven't had the drives that long, check your warranties.

WD - http://websupport.wdc.com/warranty/warrantycheck.asp?custtype=end

Seagate - http://support.seagate.com/customer/en-US/warranty_validation.jsp

edit: If your entire system is stuttering when it clicks, my bet is on the WD. Seeing as your OS is on that drive. If it's only the program/game you're in that does it, I would say its the seagate. Don't ever guess though, make sure you've nailed it down to the right one.
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benftf

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Unfortunately the only real way to figure it out is to dock them separately (i.e. one on the right side of you and one on the left) and listen for which one it comes from. And back up everything. Clicking is a defective or dying drive. If you haven't had the drives that long, check your warranties.

WD - http://websupport.wdc.com/warranty/warrantycheck.asp?custtype=end

Seagate - http://support.seagate.com/customer/en-US/warranty_validation.jsp

edit: If your entire system is stuttering when it clicks, my bet is on the WD. Seeing as your OS is on that drive. If it's only the program/game you're in that does it, I would say its the seagate. Don't ever guess though, make sure you've nailed it down to the right one.
 
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Oshimoto

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I see, thanks for the info. I can take out one of them and see how my OS HD does and if it doesn't start clicking I know it's the other one. I have had the WD one for a long time, I think it came off of my last computer and I haven't had that one for close to 3 years. The Seagate one however, might still have a warranty on it, I'll check and see when I got it and see how long their warranties last.
 
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benftf

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Good news is, the clicking is faulty hardware, and more than likely not causing or due to any bad sectors, so your data should be fine. Wherever you do a backup to, or if you decide to image the drive, run a sfc via cmd to make sure your file structure is sound before just swapping over the image and taking off.

info on SFC (System file checker) - http://pcsupport.about.com/od/termss/p/sfc-command-system-file-checker.htm
 
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Oshimoto

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Ah, well that's somewhat bad news, I have a extra hd laying around somewhere that needs a wipe but I could use that. I was hoping I could open it up and some how fix it, or that it was the hot swap bay's causing the problem, but all good things must come to an end I suppose.

I have already backed up all the data I absolutely need, which turns out to be only about 5 GB worth, everything else can be redownloaded when I put in my new HD.

I suppose I could to a full HD backup, it would probably save me some time... hmm, I might do that while I still can.

Thank you for your help :)
 
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Oshimoto

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I haven't had any issues accessing any data, it just freezes for a second and continues on, so what you said makes sense. I'll be sure to run sfc before switching, I would hate to lose all my stuff if I can easily save it.

thanks :)
 
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benftf

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If it's only 5gigs, I would back up your drivers and reinstall the os, then just bring your data over via usb storage or something like that. Would probably be quicker, and more reliable than imaging.
 
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Oshimoto

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Yeah, probably would be quicker in the long run, I have tried dealing with imaging before, it always failed for me but I don't know if I was just doing something wrong.

Anyway's, thanks for the help, I guess I'll try and figure out which HD if failing and go from there. For all I know it might be the HD that doesn't have my OS on it, now wouldn't that be nice. lol.
 
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benftf

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Best of luck!
 
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Oshimoto

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Yeah, I don't really have anything with specific settings so doing a full reinstall isn't that big a deal.

But I don't think i even have to do that as my hard drive hasn't clicked ever since I removed the Seagate one so I think that is the problem. It saves me a lot of time but unfortunately it was my terabyte HD, my WD is only 500 GB. At least I don't have to go through the process of reinstalling my OS on a different HD.
 
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benftf

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If you said Your Seagate was newer, double check your warranty status with a link I provided to you earlier.
 
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Oshimoto

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I did that as soon as you gave me those links, unfortunately it wasn't under warranty still so that option is out, it would have been nice it just return it and get a new one but honestly I am not 100% sure how old it is. I think it's between a year and 2 years so I would think that it would be still under warranty since Seagate gives a 3 year warranty but maybe its just older than I thought.

I also had a old WD Green drive that also died on me but I always thought it was dead and that's why I never used it.

As for a new HDD is the Seagate Hybrid Drive ST1000DX001 any good? It looks pretty good and I read some reviews that were pretty positive about it but I just thought I should get as many opinions as possible. If this HDD isn't very good I'll probably get a WD blue or black, not sure which yet.

Thanks for the help!
 
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