WD2500BEVS clicking noise

Every now and then, the hard drive in my D820 makes a clicking noise, as if it's parking its heads (just a quick click-click, not the clickclickclickclickwhirrrclickclickclickclick sound of death.) Doesn't seem to affect performance at all, but it does sound rather annoying. Is anybody else having this issue, and has anybody figured out a solution?

 

How old is the drive and when did it start???

 

It's pretty much brand new - only had it for about a week, the problem started as soon as the drive was installed. The funny thing is, I had a similar problem with a 160 gig Seagate hard drive in my old Thinkpad T61. Sounds like drive power management issue, though I haven't been able to figure out how to fix it.

 

I have used WDs for years and love them but they are noisy and get more so as they age. Try to listen to some other WDs if you can and see if yours is unusually loud. I have one thats about 4 years old (3 1/2 " drive) that vibrates my whole desk in its external enclosure(I know its getting close to end of life). They do seem to get worse before they die (usually 4-6 years for me) so one that new would be a reason for concern. When they get loud i get more consistant with my backups

I would suggest contacting tech support and see if they can help or you can get a replacement.

 

I've had the WD2500BEVS for a couple of weeks and it is quiet (and also stays very cool). It replaced a Samsung HM250JI which had the slow data transfer rate problem but it also made the occasional noise similar to what you are describing.

One way to check for problems is to use the trial version of Active SMART or you can use WD's own diagnostic software. However, the noise may either be power management (as you suggest) or head positioning calibration.

John

 

Found it, finally - looks like it's a known issue. http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1414&p_created=1138984716&p_sid=Zq6uN4Hi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NSZwX3Byb2RzPTE5NCZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PTEuMTk0JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9Y2xpY2tpbmcgbm9pc2U*&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

Sweet, glad it wasn't anything worse.

 

thatdude - did you manage to get that fix to work? I have this disk too, and it's making irritating clicking noises when the laptop idles, as described in that bug report... however when I ran the utility, it said the disk did not need updating

 

I've just got my brand new Samsung HM250JI 250GB which replaced my old Samsung 120GB on my Sony VAIO system.
Everything is just perfect, but... it makes this kind of strange clicking sound which was described in the first post in this tread.
I've updated my HDD with the latest firmware available and it still makes this clicking sound from time to time.
I'll see, overall I am very glad with my new purchase.

 

That noise is what happens when you dont buy Hitachi.

K-TRON

 

Mine did the same. Went into the BIOS and switched it to Performance mode, problem solved. It may affect your battery life though.

 

To fix this problem, i need to run this program but i don't have a floppy...

Can I make an iso cd instead? How?

 

yeah how do you make a boot iso cd to run the utility? im @ a loss

 

Have you guys tried Performance mode in the BIOS yet?

 

yeah - didnt work