Difference between revisions of "Problem with hard drive clicking"

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===Possible cause===
 
===Possible cause===
  
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Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] and [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] - included SAMSUNG MP0804H) can unload heads very often, and they can produce a noticeable click when doing that.  Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be
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Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can unload heads very often, and they can produce a noticeable click when doing that.  Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (hdparm -B) even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode" and will do so
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very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (hdparm -B) even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode" and will do so
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every time AC state changes, and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4).  Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually thus producing the clicks.
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every time AC state changes, and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4).  Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually thus producing
 
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the clicks.
 
  
 
===Tracking down the cause of the clicks===
 
===Tracking down the cause of the clicks===
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  # hdparm -B 254 /dev/hda
 
  # hdparm -B 254 /dev/hda
  
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which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least agressive setting.  So far, that has solved my problem with the disk clicking on my G41, with a HTS548080M9AT00 drive.  That, I presume, is an Hitachi.
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which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least agressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often.  The drives '''are''' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads (200k unloads are typical, Hitachi drives tolerate about 600k unloads).
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Update: I now use -B 255.  The clicking seemed to return in some circumstances with 254.
 
  
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These commands have immediate effect, and need to be re-issued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, and after hotswapping.  '''You have to reissue the -B commands every time the ThinkPad BIOS might have tried to override them'''.
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Does this require a reboot to take affect? [[User:RyanTMulligan|RyanTMulligan]]
 
  
 
===Possibly no solution?===
 
===Possibly no solution?===
  
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I have a Thinkpad X41, which has a 60GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) harddrive, with the clicking problem (even in Windows). The problem is indeed caused by the harddrive parking the heads when idle, and the Load_Cycle_Count SMART statistic can be seen increasing when the clicks occur.
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====Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00)====
  
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Any hdparm -B settings did not seem to help, so I checked the harddrives specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60  hitachigst.com]). Setting the APM mode off (hdparm -B 255) sets it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as hdparm -B 254), and even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.  
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On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard-disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the above solution did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard-disk unloading the heads when idle, and the Load_Cycle_Count SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.
  
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{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific harddrive model (Hitachi C4K60), there may be hope for other Thinkpad models with different harddrives.}}
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hdparm -B settings did not seem to help, and a check of the harddrives specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60  hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (hdparm -B 255) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as hdparm -B 254).  In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.  
  
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{{NOTE|A week ago I had to replace my original ''Hitachi 80GB'' drive (''IC25N080ATMR04-0, Thinkpad R51 1830-DG4'') due to a rapidly increasing bad block count and resulting file system failures on ''gentoo linux 2.6.16''. I'm not sure about the actual reason for the drive failure, but maybe the drive could no longer stand this summer's heat.
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{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with -B 255.}}
  
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For there was no time to do in depth investigations, I quickly bought a ''Samsung MP0804H 80GB'' drive from the nearest computer shop, transfered data and system files to the new device and so successfully ''revived my beloved notebook''. I was just starting to relax when the drive began to emit annoying ''clicks'' every 5-10 seconds when idle.
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====Samsung MP0804H 80GB====
  
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Since this is a known (''ThinkWiki'') problem I tried all the ''hdparm'' settings
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On this drive, the ''clicking noise'' can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using
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suggested here, updated the ''BIOS'' and the ''Embedded Controller Software'', adjusted the ''BIOS Power Management Settings'', ... but without luck until tonight ... when I found out -- by pure luck -- that the ''clicking noise'' can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using
 
 
  # smartctl -o on /dev/hda   
 
  # smartctl -o on /dev/hda   
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Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it. It's surely unreasonable to suspect that disabling SMART was by intention, i. e. to hide the fact that the drive performed 15.539 load cycles (out of 600.000) within only one week?
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Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.
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The drive had already performed 15.539 load cycles (out of 600.000) within only one week.
  
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Note that enabling SMART (-s on) without enabling ''offline tests'' -- which is what I did immediately after observing the ''clicks'' -- did not solve the problem for me, but made it quite clear that the drive was ''badly in need of some care''.}}
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Note that enabling SMART (-s on) without enabling ''offline tests'' -- which is what I did immediately after observing the ''clicks'' -- did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was ''badly in need of some care''.
  
 
===Another Possible Solution===
 
===Another Possible Solution===

Revision as of 21:22, 19 May 2007

Many users have reported a problem with hard drive clicking, particularly with Hitachi Travelstar 5K80 series which currently ships with new T series Thinkpads. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle. Some users report that defragmenting their drive helps. Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level, and/or set power management settings.

Some other users report that nothing they try has solved the clicking problem. It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. Since the problem is so prevalent, if it turns out to coincide with high drive failure rates then Hitachi has another major drive quality problem to deal with, after the Deskstar 75GXP problem.

IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

Possible cause

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi Hitachi Travelstar 5K80, Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can unload heads very often, and they can produce a noticeable click when doing that. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (hdparm -B) even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode" and will do so every time AC state changes, and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually thus producing the clicks.

Tracking down the cause of the clicks

Using "smartctl -A", it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

Possible solution (Linux)

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Try turning off power management for the drive; that should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off: 

# hdparm -B 255 /dev/hda

You can also try 

# hdparm -B 254 /dev/hda

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least agressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. The drives are prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads (200k unloads are typical, Hitachi drives tolerate about 600k unloads).

These commands have immediate effect, and need to be re-issued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, and after hotswapping. You have to reissue the -B commands every time the ThinkPad BIOS might have tried to override them.

Possibly no solution?

Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00)

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard-disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the above solution did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard-disk unloading the heads when idle, and the Load_Cycle_Count SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

hdparm -B settings did not seem to help, and a check of the harddrives specs (available in hitachigst.com) verified that setting the APM mode off (hdparm -B 255) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as hdparm -B 254). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

NOTE!
This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with -B 255.

Samsung MP0804H 80GB

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling automatic offline tests using 

# smartctl -o on /dev/hda

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15.539 load cycles (out of 600.000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (-s on) without enabling offline tests -- which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks -- did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

Another Possible Solution

IBM, when notified about this occurance, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

External links

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