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I recently bought a used HGST drive to backup all my files from various smaller drives. Once I finished copying everything to it I only then realised that it makes sort of short regular read/write sounds.

I looked on Resource Monitor and Process Hacker and windows is not reading or writing anything to the drive. It does it when it is sitting there doing nothing.

I have even tried unplugging the SATA cable and only leaving the power cable attached and it still does it.

Needless to say, if I spin the drive down it stops.

I am worried the drive is defective and the noise is very annoying.

You can hear it in action here (I have recorded it several different times so be sure to listen further in as it might be clearer): Regular Click

Is this normal?

Also just after booting the PC I went to record the noise and I heard the drive making this noise (You might have to turn up the audio, it's louder in the latter half): Fast Clicking

It's made this sound a couple of times now.

Is the drive dying? Should I send it back?

This is the SMART test details:

SMART Results

Greenonline
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Malcolm B
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1 Answers1

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The interpretation 0f S.M.A.R.T. data is well explained at ZAR. Simply put, compare the Normalized field with the corresponding Threshold field; on a good HDD, Normalized should be greater than Threshold. Also, Failed indicates gross failure beyond the Threshold.

Since all S.M.A.R.T. data seems good, I'd not be concerned about the noise. If the sound bothers you, try mounting the HDD in a different slot, or mount it upside-down. That should not affect the lifespan of the HDD, and might change the noise level... or not.

DrMoishe Pippik
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