Seagate momentus XT 500GB clicking+buzzing noise

Hey all,

I put a new 500gb momentus xt into my rather new (~4 months old) Dell XPS 15 laptop. The old harddrive died, and I thought it might be time for an upgrade (the replacement HD will be used as an external drive).

Anyways, I've noticed over the past week that the drive makes lots of clicking and buzzing noises. The confusing thing for me is that sometimes it makes these noises and sometimes it doesn't. For example, earlier today it was making lots of clicking noises. I only used the computer for 10 minutes and then shut it down and went out. I got back about 30 minutes ago and turned on the computer, but no clicking noises.

Are these noises cause for concern? I'm extra paranoid about having the harddrive fail on me after the previous one failed and I lost all my data (although this time I'll keep a backup of everything!).

Another question I had was regarding the heat produced by the drive. When I first turn on the computer the temperature is in the mid 20s, but it slowly works its way up to about 50C and even as high as 50-57 with mild load (mild load is a few windows open, nothing heavy though). Are these kinds of temperatures normal?

Thanks in advance!

 

If you're not on firmware SD25 make sure to install it.

 

Those are dangerous temps! Although the drive supposedly is fine to 60 degrees celsius.

I think it is time to take your system apart, blow out all the dust - especially from the fan and intake/exhaust ports, possibly repaste the cpu/gpu heat spreaders and if the HDD still runs this hot then possibly exchange it for a new sample.

I would also consider getting a good quality notebook cooler like a Zalman NC2000.

Good luck.

 

I should have mentioned earlier that I'm on SD26 (the harddrive shipped with it).

I opened up the computer a couple of days ago and there wasn't a spec of dust inside. I'll try repasting the CPU and GPU as well as getting a notebook cooler.

What should be a normal operating temperature?

 

Normal (as stated by the manufacturer of each HDD/SSD) is from 5 to 55 celsius - Seagate states most of their drives as 0 - 60 celsius, but note they also list a maximum temp change per hour too of 20 degrees celsius.

See:
ST95005620AS Momentus XT 3Gb/s 500GB Hard Drive | Seagate


For actual use though, if the HDD/SSD temp goes anywhere over about 45 degrees I find ways to keep it there (or cooler).

Seems like you might have a bad TIM application on your chips (cpu/gpu) - I would download HWMonitor and see how hot they get before you open up your system for (minor) surgery.