New Seagate 1TB HD with Clicking Noise

Hi All,

I am working on creating a master backup, archive, drive with *all* my data. Long story short: I started with a 500GB Seagate 7200.10 with bad firmware. It was replaced by 7200.11 that failed after is was loaded with all well organized data. Costco was good enough to return both drives and I bought, also from Costco, a Seagate 1TB 7200.12 . I have a Tyan K8W S2885 mobo with a 160GB IDE drive and a 320GB SATA drive connected at sata 1 on mobo. I am transferring data from data partitions (as opposed to OS partitions) on both IDE and SATA to archive.

Transferring data has been done from Ubuntu and Window$. After 48 hours of working on normalizing all data, the new 1TB 7200.12 drive started to make a clicking noise like its failed predecessors.. It was the bottom of a stack of the three drives, so I figured it was overheating, and I pulled drive out of case and set it, connected, outside computer box. The clicking stopped, but after being connected for about 36 hours it started clicking again. When the drive is clicking, like its 7200.10 and 7200.11 predecessors, the desktop (whether linux or win) hangs temporarily after clicks an runs super slow. Mouse and keyboard both hang after clicking noise.

After it first clicked, I powered down and I put the jumper to limit drive to 1.5 MBS. This helped, perhaps. When it started clicking again, I moved drive from SATA 2 plug on mobo to SATA3 plug.

Since this problem has been going on for a year (since first 500G 7200.10) I have talked to a few friends about my troubles. The most plausible suggestion for my backup heartache is that big writes are killing drives. Basically, when I transfer 20-90GB of data from existing data partitions to archive drive the large writes to archive drive are physically damaging new archive drives. My own opinion is that heat from extended use are frying drives.

It is also possible the problem is caused by some electrical problem from power supply. I have been having similar problem with WD Passport USB drive. It is disappearing from drive display randomly and clicking when plugged into PCI USB 2 card. I have notice previously that devices plugged into PCI USB card produce error saying the USB lacks sufficient voltage. My conclusion, amateurish as it is, that power supply may be problem is drawn from voltage problems on USB drive producing similar clicking sound.

The sound is a short "ffffT-CLICK" sound, which at its worst repeats every five seconds but often repeats every 30 to 90 seconds.

Are drives defective? Am I handling them wrong? Am I missing something basic?

Ideas? Thanks,

K

 

Have you run a diagnostic test and under the circumstances I would run several times especially when you say HD gets warmed up over a period.. reading on your drive seagate says that only 2 plates are used in a 1TB. I have been running a Samsung Spinpoint 1 TB for a while now and have no probs moving very large folders like 700 gig, The Spinpoint has 3 plates ...

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/

 

Thanks Toke,

Here's a recap: the clicking noise was drive powering up and down over and over. The drive survived but the motherboard did not. New motherboard and all good. USB 2 card had failed and perhaps that was the problem that killed MOBO. Frankly, its all a mystery to me.