How Much ''clicking'' Is Normal From A Hard Drive?

I just bought a new internal hard drive wd purple one ( WD30PURX).

The hard wasn't making much or any noises when it was being formatted but when i started writing data on it it clicks every 7 seconds. Now normally when a hard drive makes some minor noise i don't make much of it but this one i can actually hear enough for me to pay attention to it.

I have other ( smaller) hard drives and they don't seem to make this sound , i do hear the regular writing sound one would make but no clicking like this drive.

The hard drive i bought is new so i figured if its not normal in new hard drives that i might as well return or exchange it so i don't potentially lose data i will put on it.

Likewise if anyone has any recommendations for a 3TB internal hard drive ( desktop) id welcome suggestions because it seems larger hard drive have a more likely failure rate

 

Unless you have an open case computer or your case is right next to your ear you should not hear the drive.
Gently touch the drive, can you feel the clicks or just a little vibration?
Run the WD diagnostics.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/western_digital_dlg_diagnostics.html

 

ill run a wd diagnostics in a couple of hours

However this is still outside my desktop case , all other internal drives i have inside i tested outside prior to putting inside my case and i couldn't really hear the clicks on them like this one.

Also this will be my 4th hard drive inside my pc and my hard drive temperatures average about 38-43 C ( and even lower right now because its about 58 F inside ). The only thing keeping my desktop ''cool'' is the case vents and a big CPU cooler no other fan inside.

Adding a 4th hard drive and i plan on putting a video card in there as well will increase the heat so i think i should ad another fan but while pulling the hot air from the inside out help? Because the way the hard drive caddy and the side case is designed on my pc i can't seem to install a fan blowing directly at my hard drives.

 

Um, clicking is definitely not normal. You say you can hear the regular writing sounds, and those are fine, but clicking... clicking is not good. Back up your data and look into your return/replacement options.

 

FYI My 80 GB IDE HDD is 11 years old. And there's no clicking noise coming from it.
Return it.

 

The drive you bought is a surveillance hard drive. It is to be used in surveillance units that are on 24/7 and constantly being written to. Perhaps that noise is normal for a surveillance hard drive.

 

I ordered a WD purple 2tb from Amazon a week ago and I'm still waiting for it. If I get it in fairly soon, I'll install it in a surveillance DVR and post back on noise levels. No review I've read on them mentions a clicking noise though.

 

We have 3 Samsung surveillance units here and none are audible outside the case. I have not opened the cases, so I only know they are 2TB drives.

 

just an update:

I ran a western digital tools test everything cleared

When it cleared i installed the hard drive inside my pc , and well i can't really hear anything anymore so i decided to keep it.

Maybe it was just the dock that caused the slight noise but then again i never had an issue with it before or maybe it was the fact that its a surveillance drive and they make a bit more noise?
The only thing i kind of hear slightly is a feint vibration from the case from a new fan i installed because i only had 1 fan in the whole case ( for the cpu) and well with 4 total hard drives ( NON ssd) i figured i would want to keep them cool.

Right now with the fan they hover around 33-36 C sometimes even 26-29C because of how cold its been in the house

 

If the HDD is clicking very loudly you might want to replace it asap, and if you have any files back them up immediately. A very loud clicking noise may mean that the heads inside the drive can't position correctly and thus unable to read the data. If you search youtube for "HDD Click of Death" you can get an idea of what it sounds like and can compare them to yours.

 

Just to follow up, My WD Purple HDD does not make any usual noise at all. In fact it's very quiet.

 

Well here is what i did i was skeptical about the drive and didn't want to risk it so i RMA with WD

Western digital took care of the whole thing within just 4 days. I am currently using the replacement drive however this one too has a similar noise. At this point i just decided to keep it because well i need it and i don't want to go back and forth finding another drive.

Its probably normal for these drives to just have that noise , i was hoping the other one was just defective but the replacement one has the noise too. All tests and extended tests passed even multiple ones i ran using like 4 different software.

The noise is not terrible but its enough for me to notice what i dislike is the fact that the other 2 drives in my system do not make this noise at all not even while writing. When they begin to read files off the drives i can hear them turn on a bit but this model i was given the option for choose another model and i did which was a WD30EZRX i can't believe this one had the same noise too but since noted above all tests passed i guess ill just keep it.

When it reads data i can slightly hear it, when it writes data to the drive i can hear it notably. Isn't a ''green'' and 5400 rpm drive suppose to be quieter than a 7200 rpm drive?

I wish they made a 3 tb 7200 WD10EZEX drive, because i currently have a 1 tb model of this and it doesn't make this noise.

I know i am probably being OCD about the noise but the fact my other drives don't have it is driving me a bit nuts.

If i switch the color of the drive would it make a difference in terms of the noise? because i see WD30EZRX also comes in blue but then again its under the same model line as the one i currently got that makes this noise.

I know if i ask what drives others have that are ''quiet'' i would probably get subjective replies because well everyone seems to be different in terms of hearing and what is tolerant to their ears. I guess i care enough about the noise in mine to post this.. i would deal with it during the day because of the surrounding noise by my house but when i am going to sleep and if i leave the pc on writing data then that's where it gets annoying.

 

I have solid state drives... nothing subjective about the complete lack of noise from them.

 

I don't think ssd would be ideal as a drive where data is constantly being erased and re written but in either case if you see a 3 TB SSD this year for $80 let me know ( which is the amount i spent on this WD 3 tb drive)

I was considering buying this SSD but it was a couple of dollars too expensive

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Internal-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B00BKFYLXG

 

The vast majority of SSDs are far more reliable than HDDs ever were. And since I don't need 3 TB of storage space, that particular price tag is unimportant to me anyway.