[The Mad Mule]

This Hitachi hard drive I bought only a few months ago has recently been doing some...light, but clunky "ticks." Just now it did it for half a minute steadily, and FF did seem to freak out for a moment (as if it was trying to minimize even though I never told it to), but other than that initial hiccup the computer was still responsive as normal.

SMART data came back normal too. And sometimes (very rarely) it does this kind of loud "pewwwww" sound, as if it were shutting down, but my computer still runs, so I don't know what shenanigans it's trying to pull.

Any other way to try and figure out what it's trying to do, or should I start backing up my data right about now?

This is the hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145275

Many thanks for the replies!

 

[Lord Xeb]

What kind of clicking is it?

Pick on from this list and post it:
http://www.datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php

 

[BIGGUN]

Id assume so if I were you and backup everything.

 

[Murlocke]

If a Hitachi starts clicking theres a very good chance it's gonna die. They are known for this, and in the future I would avoid Hitachi. They are one of the lesser reliable drives. They tend to be cheaper than the more mainstream brands, and there is a reason for it.

Right now the only hard drives I would buy are: Western Digital, Samsung, and Seagate. I haven't bought anything but Western Digitals for the past 5 years.

 

[sLowEnd]

Depends. My HD clicked a couple months back, but it stopped and hasn't clicked since.

 

[raisethe3]

Agreed. You never know when it will die/or be gone soon. There's no specific date/time. It can be while you're surfing the net, or gaming or even before you read this post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIGGUN Id assume so if I were you and backup everything.

 

[The Mad Mule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Xeb What kind of clicking is it? Pick on from this list and post it: http://www.datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php

Woah that's a neat website. All those noises made me cringe though.

Under the Hitachi/IBM, my hard drive doesn't sound like any of those.

Here, I made a video with the noise; it's really more like a soft tapping now that I listen to it again.

(The video should work privacy setting-wise, please tell me if it doesn't)

http://www.facebook.com/v/378914083233

 

[GeneralCuster44]

I would say yes...anything that makes a weird noise out of the blue there is something wrong. Which will probably lead to it messing up. So yes back up everything and get a new one

 

[metallicamaster3]

Western Digitals I'd have to agree with are definitely the most reliable.

This has got me worried though

as my sig rig has a 500GB Hitachi (same as yours) and my server has a 1TB Hitachi

.

I sure hope they're good with RMAs. Oy - I guess everyone who has a Hitachi should back up everything as soon as there's a single symptom of a failing drive?

 

[BreakDown]

if a hard drive makes noises that didnt do before, beware, it could die off.

it could be that the needle is lsightly hitting the plate, and this can cause it to break.

i woudl back everything up and buy a new one, since hard drives are not that expensive.

edit: i cant see your video since i dont have facebook

 

[metallicamaster3]

Video doesn't work, by the way.

 

[The Mad Mule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneralCuster44 I would say yes...anything that makes a weird noise out of the blue there is something wrong. Which will probably lead to it messing up. So yes back up everything and get a new one

Well, ironically I also have another hard drive in this laptop (Seagate) that has been clicking every time it spins down, and I still use it as a music server, and it's still going strong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by metallicamaster3 Western Digitals I'd have to agree with are definitely the most reliable. This has got me worried though as my sig rig has a 500GB Hitachi (same as yours) and my server has a 1TB Hitachi . I sure hope they're good with RMAs. Oy - I guess everyone who has a Hitachi should back up everything as soon as there's a single symptom of a failing drive?

Well, this is my laptop and not the desktop...I need to change my sig again.

But yeah, now I don't know why I bought the Hitachi over the WD model...either it was on sale or it was known to have faster speeds than the WD in some benchmarks. Talk about buyer's remorse kicking in late.

 

[The Mad Mule]

Sorry for the double post, but I changed the privacy settings, sooo it should work now. The bad part is that now everybody on Facebook can see my hard drive potentially failing.

 

[BreakDown]

i think that noise could be one of the "engines" not working properly...

there is really no solution to a broken hard drive because its as expensive to fix it, than to buy a new one. sometimes even more.

 

[Lord Xeb]

Your drive is dying bro... D: Backup your data and put in a new one.

Usually that kind of clicking is destictive when it comes to a bad head... Your drive may not die tomorrow, the next day, the next week. But will die.

 

[The Mad Mule]

Bummer, and this is right before two midterm essays are due, and then I'm away for Spring Break.

Yay for netbooks I guess.

+REP all around for making me face the music...and the soft clicks.

 

[24hourdata]

A clicking drive can be caused by a few reasons. Most likely you have a failed head assembly. This is an expensive recovery because you need an exact matching drive for parts and the heads have to be changed in a clean room. You could also have an issue with your PCB, Service Area, or Firmware. All of these issues require a Professional Data Recovery Firm. Professionals will give you a Free Quote and a No Data, No Charge policy.