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Ive got a new laptop and the hard drive keeps clicking randomly and sporadically.
I've ran Check Disk and there were no bad sectors.
I've also tried HD Tune (and others) to check the health of the HDD and everything is ok.
Could the HDD still be on the verge of failing even though there were no bad sectors, as the HDD is basically new (3 weeks old)?
The clicking is getting really annoying.
Thanks!
Tom
Posted 2010-08-27T09:40:27.903
Reputation: 85
7
I'm not saying it is this, I'm just saying it could be.
There is such a phenomenon called the Click of death (Link to wikipedia page, with a sound recording) which precedes drive failure.
Generally it's a read / write error during seek (according to the Wikipedia page). It's caused by the read head hitting parts of the drive. There's a video on techwarelabs where someone explains it and shows you.
If it does turn out to be this, good luck!
Dom
Posted 2010-08-27T09:40:27.903
Reputation: 593
2
What laptop? What OS? I really don't believe that new HDD is failing so you should check power management options. Also, google for laptop HDD Load_Cycle_Count issue and check if it growing rapidly. If you use Windows try QuietHDD. If you use Linux tweak power management scripts.
firusvg
Posted 2010-08-27T09:40:27.903
Reputation: 151
I've checked the load cycle count and thats fine. It windows 7 64-bit. Toshiba A660-17E laptop. – Tom – 2010-08-27T14:59:47.683
I can't find what HDD is inside, but look out for HDD manufacturer's diagnostic software. Also, is S.M.A.R.T. enabled in BIOS? – firusvg – 2010-08-28T21:04:10.380
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is it a regular click, and is it even without file access (sitting idle) ? -- both of these conditions is a bad thing
if its loud enough to be annoying i'd say the drive is likely defective, get it replaced. Is it a cheapo drive ?
edit: the drive age matters little imho, I had a drive arrive dead just recently.
Sirex
Posted 2010-08-27T09:40:27.903
Reputation: 10 321
The click happens once randomly through-out the day (I use it at work). I've listened to the click of death sound on wikipedia and it doesn't sound like that (yet anyways) – Tom – 2010-08-27T14:58:03.507
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New laptop? Stop diagnosing, start warranty claim.
JRobert
Posted 2010-08-27T09:40:27.903
Reputation: 6 128
0
Many laptops have a diagnostic suite that ship with them that will do an advanced test on the drive. You can lso determine what drive the maker uses and grap their specific tool Western Digital and Seagate have these on their site.
Many warrnty claims folks will want this test done before they will do much.
That should confirm or eliminate a failure.
Dave M
Posted 2010-08-27T09:40:27.903
Reputation: 12 811
Just watched the second video and thats the click it makes. The video was quite helpfull. I'll try and adjust the power settings. Thanks. – Tom – 2010-08-27T15:15:22.110