Seagate Barracuda LP 5900rpm owners: please help

[Mastakilla]

Hi all,

I just bought 4x Seagate Barracuda LP ST32000542AS, 2TB to put in a RAID 5
Before even trying this, I wanted to thoroughly test each drive individually first.

That is when I discovered that all 4 make clicking noises while idling

I created a topic about this here with a lot of details:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=250597

It also contains 2 videos where you can hear the clicking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LVwDSgwHpo
It has all 4 HDs attached (so I didn't have to wait some minutes for the first click to happen)

clicks at:
0:55 (quite loud)
1:39 (not so loud)

And here is a 2nd, longer video of a single HD making click noises:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4W97j6erms

clicks at:
2:18
2:51
3:24
4:28
5:00
6:32
7:08

random access read test of HD Tune Pro as a reference of noise at:
8:37

Since xtremesystems is perfect for technical questions and overclocking related stuff, but spcr is better on the silent front I decided to ask this question here:
Can somebody please check his HD and confirm that this HD does actually exist without clicking noises?
Because all 4 HDs have the same problem, I'm kinda starting to fear this is an issue by design. In that case a replacement, wont help very much...

Thanks!

[Pierre]

I happen to own one such drive...
...I've indeed heard clicking noises coming from this drive, but they're not at all loud, nor are they prolonged for as long as 4 sec as you described in the other thread you linked at...
In fact at the beginning I think I heard it more often, now it seems either the frequency has decreased (with the drive idling) or I've got used to it (which isn't very likely however, I just don't want to discredit that option)...

Some other users here complained about stops/hangs when transferring data, but I have no such problem...in fact transfer (writing) speeds are high (for such a drive) and rock steady so far...

I am not sure this is a discrete problem, maybe more a "feature" of such quiet/green/low power orientated drives...

I haven't been getting any problems using the drive, smart data seem fine, the drive has passed several hardware tests (seatools, hd sentinel), so what can I do more than stop worrying (yet not leaving anything to "faith", but to regular testing) ?

[Mastakilla]

for some of the drives it is indeed not very loud, but for others it is sometimes actually quite loud and easy to hear even through music playing at normal volume

and there is indeed of course those 2 times that it clicked for a couple of seconds, which certainly isn't normal (but I do not know which drive that is and figuring that out will probably take a looong time - it hasn't occured for hours now)

The problem is that I got to request an RMA really fast (before those 8 days since arrival pass) so I don't really have time to figure out which ones are the really bad ones and which "could" be "ok".

edit:
it just happened again!
I rebooted and this time it kept on clicking for about 10-15 seconds (with sometimes a second of silence in between)
I was also able to identify which drive it was...
It wasn't as loud as before, but still it certainly wasn't normal and that drive is definitely broken

the problem is that that doesn't mean the other drives are ok

anyway: i'm re-running some tests on that drive, to see if Seatools can now actually see the issue...

edit:
it now keeps on clicking almost all the time... I guess that drive will die very soon...

[Mastakilla]

anyone else perhaps who is certain NOT to have any clicking on these HDs during idling?

[themaster1]

I have some reading for you: see here

[Mastakilla]

I have some reading for you: see here

thanks for the link!

I'm having trouble though figuring out what the relation is with my HD issues?

it is a completely different HD
it even is a different generation of HD (2008 250-500GB vs 2009 2TB?)
mine is an internal HD, not an external one. So there is no enclosure or interface that can be crappy...
mine doesn't have light to unplug that could solve all my issues...
mine doesn't get hot...

So I'm not sure what you want me to notice in this link...?

edit:
just figured out that in the bottom there a few comments about more recent Seagate products... Reading through those now...
edit2:
still couldnt find much relevant in the thread :/
edit3:
I did find out that Seagate actually has a support forum... Thanks for that

[themaster1]

Yeah no real connection although in these external enclosures, Seagate has put "regular internal hdd's". I have 2 such enclosures with 500 gb Seagate ST3500830AS. (7200 rpm) drives (since 2008). As everybody who bought them got problems perhaps yours is problematic in the same fashion.I must confess though, since i removed my drives from their respectives enclosures they work like a charm connected with a sata cable. Still, they get hot real quick without a good ventilation.(and i mean dangerously HOT)

[Mastakilla]

The HDs are on there way back for replacement now... Hopefully the replacements dont have the same issue

I've also made following thread for this issue awhile ago:
http://forums.seagate.com/t5/ATA-and-Se ... lse#M19505

This thread is now also getting quite some usefull info and tips on the issue (could come in handy if someone has similar problems)

[bozar]

I've had those clicks before, when I'd mounted my drive in a himuro, disappearing with time though because they are gone now. Are you experiencing extreme slowdowns in periods?

[lm]

I'm on my second warranty replacement. The first 2 sucked out of the box. This third one makes annoying loud noises every once in a while EVEN WHEN IT'S NOT MOUNTED BY THE OS but at least seems to work.

I've never been disappointed by any of my several drives before these ones.

[Klusu]

You have mentioned ICH10. Have you tried to connect drives to another MB or controller?