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Author Topic: hard disk clicking  (Read 2785 times)

Offline T6

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hard disk clicking
« on: March 30, 2011, 11:07:14 PM »
there was a post talking about hard disks parking heads constantly if i remember correctly

i am not experiencing that but i do hear a strong sound constantly coming form the hard disk, not as strong as sudden turn off of the laptop but it is making me wonder why it happens

the hard disk is doing fine on linux and windows so for the moment i discard a possible hardware problem

ideas on what can i do to determine the reason and a possible solution

this is a toshiba nb255 netbook with a toshiba ata mk1665gs running kde4.6.1 updated with kernel 2.6.37.4 a64
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Offline ThirdOfSix

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2011, 12:46:07 AM »
Even if the drive is still working and you are not getting any system errors, it does not mean that it has no hardware problem

If it were mine, I would install gsmartcontrol and run it every day for a while and see if any of the parameters that it is checking are increasing.

The newer drives can cover up a lot of problems without letting the system know until they can do no more. And then they die.

I don't remember whether you said it does it in both window and linux. If it does, that would indicate hardware.

Recently, I was getting an odd clicking on start up or shut down on my old main machine that has three hard drives. I couldn't figure out which drive was doing it. This went on for a couple of months but wasn't a real bother since I usually leave it running. Mostly, it was just a nuisance because with my hearing aids, I can not tell where sounds are coming from.

Anyway, this went on for a long time until I realized that that was my only machine with a working floppy drive.  Yep... it was the floppy drive and was apparently a normal action.

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Offline bicol_willem

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2011, 12:51:10 AM »
Clicking?  Back-up your files!
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Offline Texstar

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2011, 12:58:32 AM »
Quote from: bicol_willem on March 31, 2011, 12:51:10 AM
Clicking?  Back-up your files!

Right on! Do it now before it is too late.

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Offline Webt

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2011, 02:47:54 AM »
+1 I lost all the photos of my mum's 90th birthday party because I ignored the clicking. And of course the shop I'd bought the drive from (an external seagate) didn't want to know, it was within warranty so they replaced it but wanted £99 to see if they could retrieve the photos - no guarantees.
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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2011, 03:48:20 AM »
Clicking or ticking?
Don't try to take it on an plane - security might think it's a bomb!  :o
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Offline sling-shot

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #6 on: March 31, 2011, 05:30:01 AM »
I have been hearing clicks from the left side to my touchpad on my HP Mini netbook with a 250 GB hard disk since 2 months. Nothing has happened yet... yet.....?
This was definitely not there for about a month in the beginning and is very random. Also heard only in a silent room.
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Offline AS

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #7 on: March 31, 2011, 05:47:33 AM »
Hi T6,

Quote
ideas on what can i do to determine the reason and a possible solution


The first idea is BACKUP, if you don't have already done.

If your hard-disk/system support S.M.A.R.T.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.
you can try to check the hard disk status, install smartmontools from synaptic, mainly you can use 3 commands:

smartctl -l selftest /dev/sda  # will show the result of already performed tests
smartctl -t short /dev/sda    # will perform a "short" non destructive test (2 minutes)
smartctl -t long /dev/sda     # will perform a "long" non destructive test (approx, 1 hour depending on several factors)

see also man smartctl.

AS
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Offline Dragynn

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2011, 07:01:53 AM »
The "click of death" T6, have had 3 different HD's do this just prior to meltdown. Back it up brother.
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Offline AndrzejL

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2011, 07:12:58 AM »
Quote from: Texstar on March 31, 2011, 12:58:32 AM
Quote from: bicol_willem on March 31, 2011, 12:51:10 AM
Clicking?  Back-up your files!


Right on! Do it now before it is too late.


It's not that sort of clicking guys. I had it here in the past. It's kind of "Ziummm Cling" sound - like the drive is parking the header. There was a post from akirafactor in the Tips and Tricks and the fix was connected to adding hdparm with some options to the /etc/rc.local file.

The thread was removed. I was searching for it sometime ago to test it on one of the friends hdds. Was long time ago. Disk is still working away with clicks ;) and btw - machine is brand new.

Andy

Edit: Looks like akirafactor moved all his tips to one thread and removed the smaller ones.

Not sure is this the one but... hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
« Last Edit: March 31, 2011, 07:19:01 AM by AndrzejL »
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Offline coffeetime

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2011, 07:14:24 AM »
Failing hard drive sounds

Test with Gsmartcontrol.
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Offline Zane

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2011, 02:13:33 PM »
Tick or click? Always Backup....Always. 8)

 My old 03' WD 10,000 rpm Raptor HDs made a loud grinding sound on writes right out the Box,
but after a few thousands hours they still keep on Tickin'!  ;)
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Offline T6

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2011, 04:05:02 PM »
thanks for all the replies!! this forum is definitively a great place full of great people  :D

"This was definitely not there for about a month in the beginning and is very random. Also heard only in a silent room"

that is what i hear, a very soft sound but probably it has been there forever, can't be sure, certainly it was there before the 4 feet tall hit i gave to the machine last week

i don't know if it is a normal operation noise or not, when i put my headphones i can't hear it, even without music playing

just tested in xp and i could hear the sound but considerably less times, i think it is a normal sound but can't be sure

i assembled a external hard disk with a samsung sata 2.5" and a empty external usb enclosure, it has its own noises too but very different ones

i can loose almost everything i have on this netbook  except two folders i'm backing up now but i'm sure i can't use the warranty because the hits i gave to the unit can be seen easily

time will tell, for the moment it is performing very well

i will do the tests mentioned and report back
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Offline T6

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #13 on: March 31, 2011, 04:10:39 PM »
i just put real attention, the hard disk is stopping itself completely, os is doing ti but resuming too fast, it sounds like a powersave feature or something related

is this related to that hdparm command or am i mixing stuff?
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Offline T6

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Re: hard disk clicking
« Reply #14 on: March 31, 2011, 04:16:18 PM »
just tried this

[root@netT6 john]# smartctl -t short /dev/sda
smartctl version 5.38 [i586-mandriva-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF OFFLINE IMMEDIATE AND SELF-TEST SECTION ===
Sending command: "Execute SMART Short self-test routine immediately in off-line mode".
Drive command "Execute SMART Short self-test routine immediately in off-line mode" successful.
Testing has begun.
Please wait 2 minutes for test to complete.
Test will complete after Thu Mar 31 17:16:50 2011

Use smartctl -X to abort test.
[root@netT6 john]#

it returns nothing or where can i see results?
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