Solved HDD click sounds

Sheikh · May 25, 2025

Hi there!
my laptop has a 1TB HDD WD10SPZX WD Blue which sounds strange after partitioning.
if I don't create any partition, head will not sound until 900GB of writing.
if I create some partitions, it will sound all the time even without writing anything, especially in startup.
no one can hear it, but I can because my room is so quiet.
I know that a disc is orbiting, and a head is moving but how can I solve it?
I think if I create a 900GB partition it won't sound anymore but I need a better solution.
(HDD is wiped with PartedMagic)

thanks

glasskuter · May 25, 2025

While all HDDs are not completely silent, my rule of thumb with one that develops any abnormalities in the sound it makes is to exchange it as soon as possible with an SSD. I don't care how a drive is or is not partitioned, loud clicks and grinds is warning you there is a problem with the disk.

Sheikh · May 25, 2025

glasskuter said:
While all HDDs are not completely silent, my rule of thumb with one that develops any abnormalities in the sound it makes is to exchange it as soon as possible with an SSD. I don't care how a drive is or is not partitioned, loud clicks and grinds is warning you there is a problem with the disk.

Thanks you dear glasskuter.
It has this sound from the first day. after 5 years, S.M.A.R.T is normal, and every HDD health monitoring software shows a 100% health message. so, there is no hardware issues. I think it's an HDD design problem which causes this head clicking sound.
it's not my main storage I have a Samsung NVME SSD for my windows and this HDD as my secondary storage to save everything.
after writing on outer sectors, it starts to sound strange! from 0 to 900GB it's silent

Scannerman · May 25, 2025

Sheikh said:
Hi there!
my laptop has a 1TB HDD WD10SPZX WD Blue which sounds strange after partitioning.
if I don't create any partition, head will not sound until 900GB of writing.
if I create some partitions, it will sound all the time even without writing anything, especially in startup.
no one can hear it, but I can because my room is so quiet.
I know that a disc is orbiting, and a head is moving but how can I solve it?
I think if I create a 900GB partition it won't sound anymore but I need a better solution.
(HDD is wiped with PartedMagic)

thanks

You may wish to go into your BIOS and check to see if SMART is activated. As glasskuter has already stated, if your hard drive is consistently making clicking or grinding sounds this is an indication that the hard drive is on its way out. Yes, some of these drives will operate for years before completely bricking but any data or content that you value should be written to a different drive. No matter how you partition the mechanical drive the condition is physical and your data is at risk. What is likely happening is the head alignment is less than perfect. Even one bad cylinder can produce this issue. Sometimes you can get around this doing what you have already stated, by not making any additional partitions BUT the drive is still flawed. Popping it in a USB enclosure can help some times if you wish to use it as an external drive. The best course of action is to replace the drive in your laptop.

Scannerman · May 25, 2025

Sheikh said:
Thanks you dear glasskuter.
It has this sound from the first day. after 5 years, S.M.A.R.T is normal, and every HDD health monitoring software shows a 100% health message. so, there is no hardware issues. I think it's an HDD design problem which causes this head clicking sound.
it's not my main storage I have a Samsung NVME SSD for my windows and this HDD as my secondary storage to save everything.
after writing on outer sectors, it starts to sound strange! from 0 to 900GB it's silent

Okay, I was typing my response before you entered your reply to glasskuter. It's a WD BLUE so likely an SMR drive. Again, I'd advise pulling it and using it as an external drive if you want to use it at all. Have you checked it with Crystal Disk?

spapakons · May 25, 2025

If you are familiar with LP records, think it like a deep scratch. While the record might play, eventually you will damage the pickup head. In the case of a mechanical hard disk the scratch worsens every time the head passes and eventually either that point will be unreadable or you will damage the respective head. In any case replace the disk as soon as possible and backup all data while you still can.

gunrunnerjohn · May 25, 2025

I don't care what S.M.A.R.T. shows, when a hard drive is making clicking sounds for no apparent reason, that's a red flag for me. I've had hard drives on my computers since 1978 when they cost half what a car cost. My lifetime experiences tell me that odd noises from the drive is bad news virtually every time you hear them!

Sir_George · May 25, 2025

Sheikh said:
Hi there!
my laptop has a 1TB HDD WD10SPZX WD Blue which sounds strange after partitioning.
if I don't create any partition, head will not sound until 900GB of writing.
if I create some partitions, it will sound all the time even without writing anything, especially in startup.
no one can hear it, but I can because my room is so quiet.
I know that a disc is orbiting, and a head is moving but how can I solve it?
I think if I create a 900GB partition it won't sound anymore but I need a better solution.
(HDD is wiped with PartedMagic)

thanks

Way back when, the clicking sound of a HDD was known as "The click of death." See the post below for more info;

What is the Click of Death?

If you have owned a lot of hard drives, you are likely to have experienced the Click of Death. In this post, we answer all your questions including causes of the Click of Death, how to fix the drive a

www.techbuyer.com

spapakons · May 25, 2025

The clicking sounds on a mechanical hard disk is like the pickup needle skipping on an LP disc. It always means the disk has some problem. Doesn't matter how severe it is, backup your data and replace it ASAP. Also I have seen cases that the disk doesn't click but it's a lot slower than new. If you check the health in such disk you will see it is very low. Needless to say anything lower than 90% should alert you. Imagine health such as 20% or even 0%.

gunrunnerjohn · May 25, 2025

A one TB hard drive should be cheap to replace.

antspants · May 25, 2025

gunrunnerjohn said:
A one TB hard drive should be cheap to replace.

For who? A student, someone on a pension, a couple with two jobs, a person with a 6 figure salary?
The cost of something is 100% relative to a persons income and their ability to afford. There are members here, that I haven’t minded helping, who can’t even afford a $15 Windows Pro key from StackSocial.

cheaterslick · May 25, 2025

antspants said:
The cost of something is 100% relative to a persons income and their ability to afford. There are members here, that I haven’t minded helping, who can’t even afford a $15 Windows Pro key from StackSocial.

Well what's the cost of not replacing it?

One will have to weigh which one is the lesser of the two....

Winuser · May 25, 2025

Sir_George said:
Way back when, the clicking sound of a HDD was known as "The click of death."

That was the very first thing I thought of when I started reading this thread. I'm surprised that the drive is still working 5 years later.

Scannerman · May 26, 2025

Winuser said:
That was the very first thing I thought of when I started reading this thread. I'm surprised that the drive is still working 5 years later.

I have an old Toshiba klunk-drive that I gave to one of the girls because it still functions. On startup it clicks like no tomorrow. On system boot it stops. It is as though it won't stop clicking until the OS finds it. SATA II, I think. Must be close to 14 years old. She keeps it in a little black box and calls it Charlie. She feeds Charlie anything she likes but can afford to lose. She insists that Charlie is a family heirloom and cannot be callously disposed of. Besides, she argues, she has a pet allergy and this is about as close as it gets. I suggested that Zero, our pet gecko, should be sufficient but she says that lizard is her sister's and Charlie is older than Zero. There's just no arguing with a 14 year old geek girl who has taken a fancy to an old mechanical hard drive.

Scannerman · May 26, 2025

antspants said:
For who? A student, someone on a pension, a couple with two jobs, a person with a 6 figure salary?
The cost of something is 100% relative to a persons income and their ability to afford. There are members here, that I haven’t minded helping, who can’t even afford a $15 Windows Pro key from StackSocial.

'Tis a fact. It's tough times around the globe for sure. Nonetheless a 1TB hard drive these days is relatively cheap. (Especially a mechanical drive.) It's the shipping that gets expensive. Myself, @ 1TB I'd likely stay away from a mechanical hard drive and look for a deal on Amazon. I can't rightly say how many WD Blue mechanical drives I've seen fail within the first year of purchase so I'm inclined to agree with Winuser that it's amazing it even lasted 5 years. IMO they are among the least reliable drives ever sold in Canada.

spapakons · May 26, 2025

Here in Greece a new 1TB mechanical HDD is about 55-60€, around the same price of a 480GB-512GB SSD Not really "a fortune", but not everyone would be willing to spend this money for his PC (lowest salary is about 650-700€). However you can also buy a refurbished HDD for half the price or less. A refurbished is not the same as used. Used means you buy it from a friend or other person without Warranty. Refurbished (aka second hand) means you buy it from a shop and while it is used the shop provides some months Warranty. It might be 6 months, it might be 1 year, but it is better than 0.

thecaretaker · May 26, 2025

From what I remember reading about a portable audio mini-disc I had (remember them), the clicking noise is when the head has a problem reading the data on the disk and it (slams) moves the head quickly to the park position in order to realign the head which it thinks may be out of alignment. But more often than not, it is the disk surface which is damaged or the disk has become magnetised. Several passes over the same spot (repeated clicks heard) sometimes is enough for the disk to read the data. It's a sign you really need to replace the disk.

MachineLanguage · May 26, 2025

Order a replacement

PerpetualCycle · May 26, 2025

Hi,

Sometimes clicking noises are normal. HDD make a clicking noise when retracting the heads. Away from the disk. I have had Western Digital drives do this periodically. They had/have? a scheme where they frequently withdrew the heads to lubricate them. Not saying this is what is happening with yours - just putting that out there. Also the heads make clhattering noises in normal opreation as they move rapidly from place to place.

The heads on a hard drive are not like a needle scratching a record. They float on a cushion of air above the platters that is created from their spinning at high speed. If they touched the platter once your drive would be toast.

How long has it been since you noticed this? I would make a backup of your data as soon as possible if you can.

@Scannerman, the drive chatters a lot when booting because it is accessing a bunch of small files the OS needs that are scattered about the drive so the heads move a lot to read them.

altae · May 26, 2025

I also recommend replacing the HDD. Get a one or two TB SDD instead. In my opinion HDDs nowadays are only an option for sizes of 4 TB or more. Below that I'd always get an SSD.

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