[SOLVED] HDD of new Laptop clicking, normal sounds or clicking of death?

[Flori4nK]

Audio File (Original):
https://instaud.io/3TjK
Audio File (Louder):
https://instaud.io/3TjO

Hello! I got a new Notebook (HP Pavilion Gaming 15-cx0402ng) about 2 weeks ago. The drive is making very quiet clicking noises while it’s working or shortly after it stops being used heavily, I’m not entirely sure, but the HDD LED is blinking when it happens.
I’ve already run multiple SMART tests (short and extended), but it always passes.
Could those just be calibrating noises?
There’s no scratching and I’ve noticed no impairment whatsoever. Before getting this laptop I had a Desktop Computer, so I’ve never been so near to the hard drive and the clicking makes me nervous. I’ve already backed up important data.
Sometimes it clicks every few minutes, sometimes it doesn’t for hours or days and sometimes it does it with an interval of just a few seconds

I just noticed that the clicking mostly occurs when the HDD is on low workload. Could it be the heads parking after performing a small operation or is the clicking too frequent for that?

Hard Drive Information:
https://pastebin.com/87wA10gc
Full Smart Test Output (Result: PASSED):
https://pastebin.com/0H0v0fRZ

 

[mdd1963]

Some spinning drives make more noise than others, and, it's possible you are just hearing random reads/writes that all systems do in the background...(in case that theory is wrong, or the drive ever hard fails, then for general data safety/protection, always keep your important data files backed up, if not on an external drive, there are numerous free web storage locations with free accounts eligible for between 2-10 GB, typically...)

As most laptops come with 5400 RPM drives that rival watching paint dry when used as OS drives, if you get an SSD of equal size, 500 GB or 1 TB, (Crucual MX500 is nicely priced at $69 and $110, respectively), your clicking sounds will be gone, and the laptop seeming 3x faster, booting in 1/5th the time, etc...

If you are comfortable removing the laptop's drive, and install it and the new SSD in a desktop with Macrium Reflect installed, it can be perfectly cloned within 30 minutes or so... (Did one for a client with a Toshiba laptop just yesterday, now boots or shuts down in 4-5 seconds)