Asus Hard Drive makes weird clicking noise

I've had this computer (F8VA-B1) for about 1 week now and a few days ago I noticed that the hard drive makes a "clicking" sound every few seconds (sometimes it's minutes). Everything else seems to be ok..no errors etc..Is this normal? Should I contact them? What would you do?

Thanks.

 

HDD's do make a "clicking" sound every time they access data. The more read/write going on the more "clicking" that happens. Unless it is different "clicking" outside of it's normal "clicking" then it's fine.

 

Is it constant or only when your using it?

 

if its audible over daily sounds......you might have a problem

if you can only hear it when it is in pin drop silence you might be okay

 

regular HD noises are quiet and intermittent. can't really describe it except it's the sound of data being accessed. very low on the noise threshold -- and some drives, like Samsung, make almost no noise at all.

if you hear an equally-timed "click ... click ... click" -- particularly when you try to open certain files (say, a graphic file of a few hundred megs), and your box hangs while the clicking continues -- back up your data and prep for evac because your drive is going DOWN.

that said, i'll bet it's probably the former, esp. if you've run diagostics.

 

I have this too, all things are fine though. Try copying large files over... you'll notice that there are no clicks because the head never stops (it's continuously writing files). This means you have the "normal" types of clicks.

 

I should have mentioned that it happens when I'm surfing the net...not necessarily when I'm trying to access the drive.

What diagnostics could I run to make sure it's not a problem with the drive?

 

Yep, me too (Exactly what happens with me) because it's cacheing small files, I believe. So it writes the small file and stops, thus making the click noise.

I have the WESTERN DIGITAL 320GB 5400RPM drive (WD3200BEVT) that has this too. Supposedly there's a fix for this on wd digital site
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...F9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1ub2lzZQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1

If you look HERE ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=273404) I've posted twice about trying to get the update to run but for some reason it won't recognize my hard drive when doing the update (Says the controller card may be incompatible).

 

That's normal when you're surfing the net. Download a large file and listen to it, before, during, and after.

 

I would really need to listen to the click to tell... but as I said on an earlier thread, if it's an intermittent, purring sort of noise then that's normal, it's the HDD reading/writing.

If it's a distinguishable loud click, then it's not so good, that's the head parking. It shouldn't do that too often (in fact it should only do it when it goes idle, I think).

And there are many other sorts of sounds... some of them normal and some of them not.

Could you upload a WAV file or something recording the clicks?

You can also check my Tips and Tricks there is an explanation on how you can check your HDD for faults.

 

That's a common "problem" (not really a problem), no matter if it's asus, dell, or your HD is seagate, hitachi,...
There are many threads on NBR, but there is one in particularly where there are ways to solve it. It's on Dell forum, but i don't know the exact link since i don't have here my bookmarks.
Also it's explained why this happens, and if it's the same click you won't find any errors on your HD.
I've got a new hitachi and does exactly the same click as my previous seagate.

EDIT: if you search for "clicking" on NBR you'll find many posts about this clicking sound. The one i wrote about (on dell forum) is the 4th.

 

Yep, that's probably the head park click. You won't find any errors but it may age the drive quicker than necessary.
But I'm not sure if the OP suffers from that. It may just be a mis-identified normal RW noise.