Problem with hard drive clicking

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Revision as of 13:43, 10 August 2005 by 84.9.134.190 (Talk) (→‎Possible solution (Linux))
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Many users have reported a problem with hard drive clicking, particularly with Hitachi's 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 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. So far, that has solved my problem with the disk clicking on my G41, with a HTS548080M9AT00 drive. That, I presume, is an Hitachi.

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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