60GB IBM (ATA100) "clicks"

[Flyboy]

All right. I've read some horror stories about the 60Gb IBM's high mortality rates lately. I just bought one of these- like 10 days ago. Right now it seems to run great...BUT every now and then I hear it make a "click--dee--click" noise like it sounds when you shut it down. It does this for no apparent reason, and occurs rather randomly. I've never heard a drive make noises like this. Is this normal? Or is this a forshadow of inevitable hardrive failure?

 

[OldBear]

Clicking is normal. My 60GXP 60gig has been doing it for almost 10 months.
If you have "smart" enabled in BIOS, it will check itself when it is in idle.
It is the older 75 series that have had some troubles.

<font color=red>Remember...</font color=red><font color=blue>You get what you pay for. All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

 

[Flyboy]

Whew [--wipes sweat from forehead--]...

Thx man...I was beginning to worry. Mine isn't the 75 series.

 

[OldBear]

Then in my opinion you have got one of the best quality
drives around.

<font color=red>Remember...</font color=red><font color=blue>You get what you pay for. All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

 

[Flyboy]

Thanks again.

I can't believe I was so concerned to get a ATA100 drive considering the sustained transfer rate is only 40Mb/sec. What a waste. Why even go to ATA133? Pure marketing hype I guess.

 

[Lars_Coleman]

Because the 133 spec is the only thing that is getting you over the 28bit LBA. You need it to have a 48bit LBA and to use any hard drive over 127GB.

<font color=red>People and hard drives are like bandwagon fans and sports!</font color=red>

 

[jihiggs]

isnt the clicking after the drives shuts off just the read heads snapping to the rest zone?

i went to the tomshardware forums and all i got was this lousy signature.

 

[btvillarin]

More information on S.M.A.R.T. can be read here. It was very informative, since I barely knew what it was all about:
<A HREF="http://www.pcmech.com/show/harddrive/158/" target="_new">http://www.pcmech.com/show/harddrive/158/</A>

<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/btvillarin" target="_new">My Website</A>-<b>reorganized</b> & updated everyday<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by btvillarin on 02/01/02 02:50 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[OldBear]

Yes. That clicking is the heads "parking".

<font color=red>Remember...</font color=red><font color=blue>You get what you pay for. All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

 

[OldBear]

I perfer to enable "smart" about once a month to let it
do its checking for a day and leave it off normally.

<font color=red>Remember...</font color=red><font color=blue>You get what you pay for. All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

 

[Flyboy]

Hey thanks dude, I've been wondering about that S.M.A.R.T. option...you just gave me the extra "push" I needed to finally check it out.

 

[Flyboy]

Really? I thought the ATA100 just referred to maximum transfer rates (100Mb/sec). You said the 133 spec. Are you referring to ATA133? Do you have a link? I'm just not sure I buy this yet (no offense intended).

AHHH...found a link:
<A HREF="http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/std.htm" target="_new">http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/std.htm</A>

Sorry I doubted you. But this is for the 133 standard. I don't think ATA100 is similar. It only addresses greater throughput, right?

Hmmm....

 

[Lars_Coleman]

I found some linkage for you :::

<A HREF="http://www.littlewhitedog.com/reviews_hardware_00034.asp" target="_new"><font color=green>Littlewhitedog.com review</font color=green></A>
<A HREF="http://www.maxtor.com/products/UltraATA133/default.htm" target="_new"><font color=green>Maxtor's website</font color=green></A>

If you want a 160GB IDE hard drive you aren't going to get it with a standard ATA100 controller. You have to have the ATA133.

<font color=red>People and hard drives are like bandwagon fans and sports!</font color=red>

 

[Flyboy]

Thank you!

 

[oskarfr]

My IBM disks only "click" when I shut down and then it does it about 3-4 times. It also clicks when I empty the recycle bin. Then I disable system restore and it goes away when I empty the bin! I have A7v (ATA100) mobo and XP pro. When I had WinME it only clicked once when shutting down.

Are you sure it's normal.

oskarfr