[SOLVED] HDD croaking noise

[FirePenguin]

Hello,

My WD Black 2TB had started to make some noticeable nonrhythmic croaking and clicking sounds while reading/writing. WD Dashboard software says the drive health is good but I don't necessarily believe it. I uploaded some recordings of the noise: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ipk6fn37kligq0m/AACEJg3hE9PA8mWxg97Rpyqma?dl=0

Is this a normal noise or should I replace the HDD? It is not that old... only 4 years old, so I'm still in warranty period.

Thanks ahead!

 

[boju]

Send the audio to WD and see what they say. Noise like that, or any loud audible noise really, coming from a mechanic drive isn't normal. You have backup yeah? First things first.

 

[CountMike]

Hello,

My WD Black 2TB had started to make some noticeable nonrhythmic croaking and clicking sounds while reading/writing. WD Dashboard software says the drive health is good but I don't necessarily believe it. I uploaded some recordings of the noise: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ipk6fn37kligq0m/AACEJg3hE9PA8mWxg97Rpyqma?dl=0

Is this a normal noise or should I replace the HDD? It is not that old... only 4 years old, so I'm still in warranty period.

Thanks ahead!

Check and post picture from https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/
or
https://www.hdsentinel.com/download.php

 

[FirePenguin]

Yes, @boju, I have a backup. I've just sent a mail to WD.

@CountMike here is a Crystalmark test (it was done in a SATA II system, but I guess it is fast enough for HDD's):

 

[CountMike]

Yes, @boju, I have a backup. I've just sent a mail to WD.

@CountMike here is a Crystalmark test (it was done in a SATA II system, but I guess it is fast enough for HDD's):

Not bad score but you need to run Crystal Disk INFO, not MARK. to get report on details of health. If that doesn't show any obvious physical errors it's possible that there's something wrong with file system or it's very fragmented. Run chkdisk /f and defragment it. HDDs can be come noisy if they run into file system errors or have to look for file fragments etc.

 

[Bob.B]

Yes, @boju, I have a backup. I've just sent a mail to WD.

@CountMike here is a Crystalmark test (it was done in a SATA II system, but I guess it is fast enough for HDD's):

Your hdd is too full.
Time for some work in that area.

 

[FirePenguin]

Not bad score but you need to run Crystal Disk INFO, not MARK. to get report on details of health. If that doesn't show any obvious physical errors it's possible that there's something wrong with file system or it's very fragmented. Run chkdisk /f and defragment it. HDDs can be come noisy if they run into file system errors or have to look for file fragments etc.

Oh sorry, here is the right screenshot:

I'll also try to defragment it as you suggested

 

[FirePenguin]

Your hdd is too full.
Time for some work in that area.

Is it normal for an almost full HDD to start making those weird sounds? (It has 9GB free)

 

[Bob.B]

Is it normal for an almost full HDD to start making those weird sounds? (It has 9GB free)

Once it gets too full the OS will have to search all over the disk for little chunks of space to write new data to.

This leads to a lot of r/w head movement.....sounds/noise.

 

[scout_03]

do a files clean up and defrag also you could the wd software to test your drive ,

 

[USAFRet]

Is it normal for an almost full HDD to start making those weird sounds? (It has 9GB free)

Yes.
You have about 0.5% free space.

The read/write head is having to do a LOT of extra work.

 

[FirePenguin]

@boju, WD support just sent me a general mail with info about HDD noises and said that I can replace an HDD with bad sounds only if it fails their software's tests... but mine passes them...

Running chkdsk and making more space in the drive helped a lot, and the croaking sounds are less frequent now.

Thank you all for the answers and help!