Caviar black "ticking" noise

[i6pwr]

I have the 1TB, WD1002FAEX drive and i'm having a "data ticking" noise, almost like a hard head parking prob...but not sure. Never had a black drive before but this thing is silent, never heard it spin up yet, as silent as my blue drives....wondering if this is another prob.

What it does is when there is zero activity, only my desktop opened, or any page for that matter, there is a repetitive ticking like data being transfered but only a few ticks, but every 3 seconds. Starts with a couple ticks along with the busy light momentarily lighting up, then the next couple ticks have no light and are about 2 seconds from the first tick.
Couple ticks with light, wait 2 sec, couple more ticks no light, wait 3 sec couple ticks with light, etc, etc. This will continue constantly.

When in BIOS, there is no noise and again, the 200MM fan in front of my sniper case is louder than the drive to give you an idea of how quiet it is.

I read of people stating how loud the blask drives are but this one is silent aside of the data ticks.

There is a pronounced thunk, but very light after the ticks end. Ran the WD diagnostics and passed the SMART and full scan.

Any ideas? Only the OS is on the HD so i'm not worried if it fails abruptly, have a replacement on the way just in case.

This is a brand new drive on a fresh build, MB is M4A89GTD PRO USB 3.

 

[treefrog07]

It sounds like the HDD is failing. Download and run WD's Data Lifeguard Utilities to check for problems - you can also get an RMA on the WD website.

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hello,

I agree with Treefrog, sounds like a HDD starting to fail.

Since it has your OS on it, consider cloning it over to the new HDD you have coming. That way you can continue where you left off, rather than reinstalling the OS, Service Packs, and Updates. Most HDD companies have a cloning utility on their accompanying CD, or you can download it.

Did you order the same WD Caviar Black 6 Gb/s drive for its replacement?

 

[i6pwr]

Yes it is the same drive.

As far as cloning, not sure of the procedure..never dont that. OS is Win 7 and from an OEM disc so may need to contact Microsoft, shouldn't be too much of a prob.

 

[i6pwr]

I wanted to follow up on this and say the drive is not making the noises anymore. Not sure what happened but really the only noises I get is a slight vibration that comes and goes like a sine wave every 3-4 seconds. That could be the 4 drives just resonating in the case but what's strange is when I set the PC to "Performance", the vibrations go away.

Only thing I can think is in the Perf mode perhaps the drives stay spun up and reduce the resonance?