Good info. I thought the question was “too vague” to post- - -how does one describe “a clicking noise?”===but thats what I have.
Adict–the clicks occur while the harddrive is reading or writing so it might be some sort of starting or stopping issue (if so, why not all the time instead of every hour or so??) but I don’t think it is to stop and save power (but who ever knows for sure==except maybe a shop technician standing over my shoulder?)
gamma–hdtune installs but gives me a “hard freeze” on trying to run the program. Hard freeze is my just made up term for task manager not being able to stop the program or freezing itself, so that I have to turn the computer off and restart it using the power button. Every diagnostic program that does make a report shows everything to be working–eg, aida, belarc, symantec, check disk, and seagate diagnostic. Over the next few days, I plan to run check disk in the “fix errors mode” on restart AND try to learn how to find/read the event log to confirm what check disk finds.
As an aside, for some reason on my system, many diagnostic tools don’t seem to work for some reason–hdtune, speedfan, (use of dual monitors too) come immediately to mind. Don’t know if these issues are all related, but I feel kinda hamstrung from time to time.
d3x==drive failure is certainly my concern, but I don’t want to create a problem that isn’t there. My fear is that the clicking noise on its own doesn’t mean anything (to me) until it “does” something and that is what I see happening now–the cursor freezing and now that I am paying attention, I see other programs momentarily stalling for 1/4 sec during the “click” sound ((the click sound is actually more of a heartbeat type sound with a small click then a louder click in two phases very quickly==not a thunk). I don’t notice any bad effects from this click–everything still seems to work. Now, if it clicked with no associated operting issues, I would have no worry. But obviously, if it clicked “all the time” then my system wouldn’t work at all?? So, I think I do have an incipient/very early failure warning—or not? If the frequency of the clicking increases, I will be motivated to isolate the drive(s) that is doing it, which will be a pain.===Come to think of it, my “old” computer with a six year old hard drive does NOT make any clicking sound at all. I have a mix of Seagate and Maxtor drives. Right now, I’m thinking the click noise is coming from the Seagate(s) as that oldest drive is a Maxtor. ((I hope NOT to find out if their warranty actually works??))
Mr Brownstone–I’m running 7 harddrives plus removable tray etc==all my connectors are in use. Once a year I go thru computer cleaning for dust and attaching/reattaching all connections==I don’t know if this helps or hurts but it is a routine I have adopted. The air here in Sacramento is relatively “dry” but metal and corrosion are a fact of life. I’m hoping that connecting/reconnecting all connections is enough of a cleaning to keep everything shipshape.===but next cleaning, I will rotate the connections and see if there is a change in the noise pattern.
My Conclusion–I’m thinking I am hearing the “earliest” indication of ultimate hard drive failure on my Seagate drives==but it may be a known operating characteristic that is “within standards?” I’m going to send Seagate an email and ask their advice/put them on notice. Will report back if anything to tell.
Thanks for all the great feedback. /// bobbo ((and always—other ideas??))
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Its been the one that always had problems, and had to get checked on bootup for errors every so often so?!?