External HDD making ticking noise when reading/writing files to it?

d3lit3 · Jan 9, 2015

Hello TH gang! Hope you are enjoying the beginning of the new year.

Anyway, I had a question regarding the stability of my recently purchased external HDD. It is a 2GB AData HV620 (I believe it has a Toshiba drive in it). I know it's not very popular but it was big and bulky and I'm old school and don't trust those SeaGate Backup Slims with their extremely tiny size

, my logic was a sturdy and heavy external HDD would be less prone to failure.

Anyway it has been performing admirably so far in terms of how fast my PC plays stuff from it and my Smart TV recognizes it and streams videos/TV shows off of it quickly, my old WD Elements 1GB took a bit longer to get going, but I digress.

Now for my question:

When I read files or write files to the Adata external HDD it makes these intermittent 'clicking' or 'ticking' noises. This worries me because I am familar with the click of death, and my old drive didn't do so when reading/writing to it. Furthermore, I think it doesn't occur when streaming/reading from the HDD - or perhaps my TV just drowns out the clicking noise.

I tested it with HDDScan (Picture below) and I'm not sure what any of it means - I'm guessing green is good? Can someone with more know-how on hard drives please lend a hand? I would hate to see it fail, I already stored all my important data on it.

Thank you kindly and have a good day/evening.

Nuwan Fernando · Jan 9, 2015

Your hard Disk seems to be good. Some hard disks make noises when reading writing DATA or spinning up or down the platter. You are good to go.

Someone Somewhere · Jan 9, 2015

I don't see anything wrong there. Most likely, you're either hearing it loading and unloading the heads to save power, or it seeking data. Both are perfectly normal.

However, as with any HDD, it can fail at any time without warning. Always have a backup.

nimd4 · Jan 10, 2015

Someone Somewhere :

Uh-huh, "most likely", or actually - not (and it's failing, or starting to fail). If there's been a change in operation, since the purchase (well, a change in sound - right?..

), then you know exactly what's up! ;-$

Edit: Err a test, or tests, mean squat, btw. Even SMART data can -often- detect n0 error(s) & on the next cycle it melts; happened to me on ALL drives and models, including SCSI... It's just a matter of time, for you (unfortunately, IMO, it's the name of the game). Maxtor had been the absolute worst, iirc, lolz!.. Precisely (on the day / week, perhaps, lol) upon the warranty period ending - FAULTY (towers, hehe). 'Twas, them, 'Ultra-133-ATA' wons, hehe. =)

*except for some really-old, made for the Northern American market(s), Seagate HDDs (~40, 80GB); back-in-the-day, when there was still a distinction in components manufacture. (7,200 rpm ATA 100)

Someone Somewhere · Jan 10, 2015

It looks like the OP is saying the old drive didn't do this - the new drive has from the start. The old one likely didn't have as many power-reducing features. Other option is that the old drive had more sound deadening, or was programmed for quieter, slower operation.

Yeah, SMART data only sometimes predicts a failure. But if there's no SMART errors, and no erroneous behaviour (plenty of drives make noise while seeking), then there's no more indication that it will fail than any other drive.

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External HDD making ticking noise when reading/writing files to it?

d3lit3

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Nuwan Fernando

Nuwan Fernando

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Someone Somewhere

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nimd4

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Someone Somewhere

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