Question about a rather clonky HDD

spat55

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Alright so i did a homebuild about 3 months ago. I put a 1TB black caviar western digital in it. thing is even when just streaming videos it clonks, now the last desktop i've had was a windows 95 and that was clonky. The 1TB WD has always been like this from new so is it normal?
 
Solution
Best of luck! Remember though, any error scans you run may or may not give you accurate results. Granted you'll get all your test results off the SMART test which can show you errors on the drive, but it won't tell you if there is a mechanical failure or not. Since we've already established that a mechanical error is present, it wouldn't hurt to run the diagnostics, but you should call WD anyway.

spat55

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My western digital isn't. as soon as i load anything it is clonk clonk clonk. Dont really know wherever i should be worried or not, the noise is annoying me but I am more worried of it packing itself up.
 

Orlean

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Nov 28, 2011
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I have a 4 year old WD 1TB black drive that has 9453 power on hours on it and I have no click/clonk noise when it's being used. May want to contact Western Digital and have them replace it for you.
 

majhi

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Aug 18, 2012
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Remember that hard drives are mechanical; they have the spinning platters, etc. These are moving parts that have to be very very precisely aligned so they don't interfere with each other. If you're hearing these noises, that means the mechanical components are doing /something/ to hit each other. Also remember that your drive is spinning at 7200RPM which means if something does go wrong, it can do so very quickly.

I'll second rolli59 and say RMA!
 

majhi

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Aug 18, 2012
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Do you have another hard drive available? Back up all your data to that and then transfer it back when your new drives arrive. Sometimes you can literally copy and paste games from HDD to HDD and still have them work as long as the drive letters stay the same (I've done it a few times). Did you get Max Payne 3 through Steam?
 

spat55

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Yep £15 on the weekend, still haven't played it as i mostly game on my PS3, need to finish the games on it for all the new ones coming out. Should i check it for errors? Like use some software to look?
 

spat55

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I dont have a spare HDD but i could buy a cheap 500gb for a spare for when i fill my others up.
 

majhi

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Best of luck! Remember though, any error scans you run may or may not give you accurate results. Granted you'll get all your test results off the SMART test which can show you errors on the drive, but it won't tell you if there is a mechanical failure or not. Since we've already established that a mechanical error is present, it wouldn't hurt to run the diagnostics, but you should call WD anyway.
 
Solution

majhi

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Option #1: I know I personally have a lot of spare hard drives lying around gathering dust... perhaps you have a friend like that? Then you just throw in the drive, backup all your data, and you're golden.

Option #2: If you (or a friend) have an external hard drive, backup to that.

Option #3: Get a USB transfer cable. I personally own this one (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GIGNVC/) and I'm rather pleased with it. That way you can directly transfer your files onto your laptop.


As I mentioned previously, the test /does/ say it's fine, but again, your problems are mechanical and that's not something a SMART test can see.
 

spat55

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I might have someone with a old HDD laying around, or i could buy one from ebay second hand just to last me for a month, do i send it back to amazon or WD?

EDIT: I do like your idea of a data transfer cable could buy one, still i might just get myself a new decent HDD so that when my 1TB gets full i can use that one.
 

majhi

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Use one you've already got if you go that route. Using what you already have is always the easiest route to take. If you're gonna buy one, like you mentioned, just buy a new one if you're going to eventually buy one anyway. Might I suggest an SSD while we're on the topic?

The data transfer cable is nice. I use mine often for transferring files back and forth on my desktop and netbook. Easier than a flash drive, but that's just my opinion. The one I linked you has a built-in directory manager so it's super easy to just drag and drop from folder to folder.

Again, best of luck to you (never had to deal with WD's RMA crew) and thanks for the best answer!