I fairly recently switched an older Seagate 4TB external HDD with an 8TB one on my Windows 10 desktop's USB 3.0 slots (either on the back or front panel, I notice the same issue). It worked fine for a month or two, but now I hear a clicking sound every second or so that's louder than normal disk usage sounds. The clicking only occurs when I'm not using the disk (e.g. playing a video file or running a scan). I've ran both the short and long generic and fix all tests on Seagate tools to no avail. SMART stats are fine.
I currently have the drive plugged into my MacBook Pro that I've been using for a few hours now and the drive is idle and NOT clicking. So I now suspect I have some issue with my Win 10 desktop. This is strange since I have two other Seagate external drives plugged in with no issue. I could even run three with my older 4TB. Maybe it is a USB power issue? The 8TB draws more? I'm not sure since all my externals have their own power supplies.
I will try running the desktop with only the clicking drive and see what happens. I could also try using the integrated video or reinstall my older video card (a GTX 680) and see if that changes things, as I upgraded to an RX 480 (that should draw less power than my previous) in recent time and could be related to this HDD issue. I'll update as I find out, but let me know of other things I should check and possible solutions.
I currently have the drive plugged into my MacBook Pro that I've been using for a few hours now and the drive is idle and NOT clicking. So I now suspect I have some issue with my Win 10 desktop. This is strange since I have two other Seagate external drives plugged in with no issue. I could even run three with my older 4TB. Maybe it is a USB power issue? The 8TB draws more? I'm not sure since all my externals have their own power supplies.
I will try running the desktop with only the clicking drive and see what happens. I could also try using the integrated video or reinstall my older video card (a GTX 680) and see if that changes things, as I upgraded to an RX 480 (that should draw less power than my previous) in recent time and could be related to this HDD issue. I'll update as I find out, but let me know of other things I should check and possible solutions.