Asus UX32VD - "clicking" sounds from hdd

Since the beginning I'm noticing "clicking" sound coming from notebook's internal HDD. This sound is louder then usual, barely audible, harddisk operations. Every 5-20 seconds hdd makes mechanical, single "click" sound - regardless of hdd operations, i.e. it doesn't matter if I'm using hdd (copying etc.) or disk is idle. Sometimes it is ok for 1 hour, but then "clicks" are back.

Sound is quite annoying, especially when working in quiet environment. I guess it's the sound of hdd heads parking or similar sound from disk internal mechanics. I have other notebooks with mechanical hdds and no such problem. I experimented with power saving settings like disabling/enabling hdd autoshutdown etc. - to no avail. I did test hdd with HDTune - results attached.

Maybe there is some tool/program that disables some energy saving features that cause this sound. Or maybe it's ExpressCache related - ? Please help - thank you.

My configuration: UX32VD, 10GB RAM, HDD: HitachiHTS54505 + SDD: SanDisk i100, Intel i7. Win 8 64bit.

 

I hear this more commonly associated with Hitachi drives for whatever reason. To my knowledge, since head parking is done automatically, there is no modern utility to do it anymore. While the clicking probably is most likely no indication of impending failure, but rather a nuisance (which is usually the case), I don't think there is anything you can do for the mechanics causing it through software optimization or calibration of any kind.

 

quietHDD did the trick

 

Good find.

 

Cool but not sure if it affects performance or not. I just read the description and I would need to read more to really understand in a more complete way. I don't yet understand enough to know the implications.

 

Mm, it's the power-saving features. It's apparently supposed to be like that. I had honestly not heard a noise like that since a seagate 120Mb disk I had on my 386dx/33.. when the power went off, the reading head (<-singular) parked back.

..and with the way cache-misses and filestreams are done in Windows, you'd think they would program the power-saving to outside the actual program logic as well. Just make the reading heads power down whenever possible (i.e., the way the disk works is that every time there's a new place on the plate to read, the reading head powers off, the tiny string that touches the disk drops away, and then is powered again when it reaches the right sector (this is the clack you hear when it reads)), design silent mechanics, etc... But yes, I don't think it has anything to do with the "spin down disks" functions, it's got to do with firmware based attempts to idle the disk(read: spin the disk, but idle the reading heads) when no filestreams are active.. What I heard was that it was the arm with the reading heads on clipping back into some sort of idle mode (instead of just hovering over the plate with the reading heads lifted off it). ..not really sure how they've imagined this should save power.