HDD Clicking - Bashes head against brick wall!

I posted about my HDD clicking issue a few days abck, but I am still just as confused as before. I think I will speak to Dell tomo.

Basically, my HDD, when idle, makes access noises every 2 or 3 seconds. The noise sounds like normal HD access noise (like a watch tick), but in a quiet room it can be very annoying after a while. If it was not for the fact that the HDD light does not light up when the noise occurs, I would assume something was accessing the HDD every few seconds or so.

If I used HDPARM, I can kinda stop the noise by setting the drive to 254. TO be honest though, I'm not really sure what this is doing.

The issue is really annoying as a) everyone just says drive failure, but I don't think it is, and b) it seems to be HUGELY common. Some people say it is headparking, but why would a system park heads every 2 seconds?

Has anyone had this issue fixed by having their HD replaced? I cannot stress enough that the "ticking" is not loud and, unless you were in a quiet room you would never notice. It sounds exactly like access sounds, but just every couple of seconds. Its very annoying.

UPDATE: My system sounds JUST like this guys:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-r2gU5HBzU

 

Seriously the hdd light does light up, most computers do this random ticking every now and then but some hdds are more audible than others, have the laptop on in a dark room and watch really closely at the hdd activity light and itll clicker at about 1/4 brightness for a very brief moment

 

My HDD clicks constantly, and it drives me insane. I called Dell several times and they refused to send me another one, but I tried that HDD driver update from the Dell website recently and it seems to have dampened the clicking slightly.

 

Right, well, I could take no more of this clicking and I phoned dell. They have agreed to send me a new harddrive. Tech coming on wednesday....

Will be interesting to see whether this finally fixes the problem. Have no idea how I am going to get the time off work.

In my mind, a HDD that clicks every 2 seconds for no reason is not good. And I have sat in darkness, total darkness, looking for the HDD light to flash... but it does not.

I will report back the result.

 

oh, and are HDDs meant to sound like a small fan?

 

it should have a small winding sound to it while spinning up but not like a small fan..lol.

 

Well, Im gonna get the HD replaced and see if there is any difference

at the moment by hd seems to make quite a bit of sound. It always sounds like it is spining and .. oh well, lets just wait and see.

now I gotta somehow blag time off work

 

I believe that this issue is pretty much hit-or-miss. You never know when you will get a clicking drive. I don't think it affects the performance or durability of the drive in any way.

 

If the clicking stops when using HDPARM, then it's because the drive powers down when idle, hence the click. It's a good idea that everyone uses HDPARM anyway (and has it running on startup) to prolong the life of the drive.

 

how does HDPARM stop the clicking?? and is it able to run in 64bit W7??

 

Hi.

HDPARM works by adjusting the power management so that the hdd goes to sleep less or not at all, I think!

John.

 

if i install HDPARM in W7 will it work?