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Seagate Barracuda clicking noise

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  • Storage
  • Hard Drives
  • Seagate
Last response: in Storage
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September 15, 2014 11:27:30 AM

I bought a Seagate Barracuda 2TB, 7200rpm, 64MB, SATA 3 a few days ago. Ever since I installed the HDD, it started making some clicking noises. I tested the drive with Hard Disk Sentinel and it passed all tests, including that 6 hours long one that checks each sector.
I uploaded a sample of the clicking sound:
https://app.box.com/s/w8etcxol6etbt97ikq7d (198.4 KB)
Some additional info that might mean something to the right person:
- at first (formated and partitioned empty HDD) that clicking sound could go on for as long as 30 seconds. Now it's less frequent and never longer than 5 seconds, usually 2-3 clicks
- doesn't make any other sounds when writing or reading
- firmware version is CC29 and I couldn't find an update

So, what's that sound? Is it normal?

More about : seagate barracuda clicking noise

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a b G Storage
September 15, 2014 11:41:08 AM

A clicking HDD is always a bad sign. Since it's so new I'd recommend RMAing it.
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September 15, 2014 11:45:34 AM

qazzi said:
try this instead of Hard Disk Sentinel. http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-... run all test. and if they all passed then the sound it's fine.


I also used SeaTools and it passed all the tests. But SeaTools doesn't give you numbers, like Hard Disk Sentinel. It only says if it passed or failed.
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a b G Storage
September 15, 2014 11:50:03 AM

Well maybe so but it will warn if your nearing the threshold. if it also passed. then it's fine. i also have a drive that does a lot of clicking sound (a WD caviar) and 4yrs on still working and clicking. if your not that confident about the result of the diagnostics you ran, have it replaced(ei RMA).
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a b G Storage
September 15, 2014 11:58:33 AM

I have a Seagate 2TB drive that I already had to replace once. The original one started clicking, then progressed to halting the system periodically, and finally stopped working altogether. In my experience, Seagate makes the least reliable drives in the market.

There was a study a while ago that backed this claim:

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/what-hard-drive-should-i...

In short, I advise avoiding Seagate, buy a Hitachi Ultrastar instead and forget about replacing it for a decade. Since you already own the drive, you might be glad to know their warranty usually works well if needed. I remember replacing at least 3 of their drives. The process was easy and one of them was replaced by a larger capacity drive.
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a b G Storage
September 15, 2014 12:44:35 PM

Hitachi HDDs aren't around anymore. That is, their 3.5" HDDs are branded as Toshiba now. I'll probably get one in a little while, their quality and reliability is reportedly preserved.

Regardless, if a new HDD clicks I really recommend RMAing it. It may work fine for a (long) while but why take the chance?
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a b G Storage
September 15, 2014 11:09:58 PM

Hitachi HDDs (now HGST) is owned by Western Digital. and also Toshiba's HDD are also from Western Digital.
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a b G Storage
September 16, 2014 3:46:46 AM

oops made a mistake there. yes your right they sold the 3.5 HDD Manufacturing to Toshiba. and the "Toshiba's HDD are also from Western Digital" is a wrong statement. there are only 3 surviving HDD manufacturer Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital. (Does not include SSD mnufacturer)
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