Clicking Noise issue *resolved*

[iafzal3]

Can someone please describe the problem?

I do have some light tapping noise when my HDD running (blue light going crazy). Is this suppose to be when there is no HDD activity and is the noise similar to HDD running?

Does this also fix the tapping noise during HDD activity?

[deadsimple]

Can someone please describe the problem?

I get significantly loud regular hard-disk noise. On top of that I get a very distinct and annoying "tink" when the drive is idle for a bit. Both noises are reduced with this fix, to the point where I don't even hear/notice the drive anymore even during normal disk activity.

[iafzal3]

I don't remember noticing this type of noise and I have the Toshiba HDD. I do notice annoying activity noise like light high freq. tapping when ever the HDD light is on.
So I guess I do not have the same problem as some others are using this for a fix.

[dicecca112]

I get significantly loud regular hard-disk noise. On top of that I get a very distinct and annoying "tink" when the drive is idle for a bit. Both noises are reduced with this fix, to the point where I don't even hear/notice the drive anymore even during normal disk activity.

Good description, that was exactly what mine was doing

[k2theman]

I realize this may sound like an odd question, but how loud is loud & how often is from time to time?

I heard a very loud "tock" (more like a "tock" then a "click", anyways) twice during the course of the evening and I figured it had to be coming from the speakers 'cause it was too loud to be coming from the HDD, but now I'm wondering since you wrote "loud"... . Once I heard it I tried to "trace" the noice, but like I said, it only happened twice throughout the whole evening, so I had no chance to localize the sound...

HDD is relatively quiet during operation and aside form this loud "tock" I can't complain about any other noise eminating from my M1330.

How loud...noticeable by other people near me in a classroom at my university. Not deafening, but noticeable. Hard to describe the sound, but it was definitely mechanical; I'm all but certain it was the hard drive head stopping.

How often...seemed to be random. I might have it once every 5 minutes during a 30-minute stretch, then not hear it for an hour. Probably tied to my use; it tended to stop more often when web surfing (low HDD activity).

I did have a similar click sound on my old Acer laptop. I never really pursued the problem as it was occurred at a much lower frequency than it did on my Vostro, but I'm sure that it was the disk stopping as well.

Note that general hard drive access is fine; obviously there is a reasonable amount of sound, but it's not more than any other drive/computer that I've used, desktop or laptop.

[motc]

Have someone with the Western Digital Scorpio HDD (for example WD1200BEVS) tried this:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....i=&p_topview=1

?

[traveller]

...definitely mechanical; I'm all but certain it was the hard drive head stopping.

Thanks for the reply & info

Sounds like what I noticed with my M1330 + Samsung Spinpoint. I can live with the noise so long as we are certain it's not a failing HDD... (we are certain, aren't we...? )

[traveller]

I did a couple of drive health checks ... did a couple of battery longevity tests ... checked back with Seagate...

Hey,
thanks for taking the time to go through the battery of tests (pun intended) and posting your findings

If I can figure out how, I'll rep you big-time

[simplest2007]

Thanks for the solution!!!

I have two questions:

(1) I had the similar problem on Thinkpad T61 with 160G
5400RPM seagate HDD. Can I use the solution for a
Thinkpad?

(2) Do I need to keep NHC running for making the niose
dissapear? I wonder if NHC will set something for once and
then the OS can just read and use it.

[deadsimple]

(2) Do I need to keep NHC running for making the niose
dissapear? I wonder if NHC will set something for once and
then the OS can just read and use it.

Running NHC (and then closing it) once per boot will keep the setting active. The fix will be lost when you reset, or sometimes when you hibernate.

I investigated registry fixes, but gave up.