Amilo M1437G - hard disk "click" sound

[azertyx]

After a short period of staying idle, the hard disc makes a sound like it's turning off...i hear a "click". This is repeated every 30-60 seconds and it's incredibly annoying. is it normal behaviour? It's a Amilo M1437G laptop with a 120 GB Seagate hard disk (ST912082 1AS)

[mattster]

hi, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but a clicking harddrive usally means its on its way out, i would stongly recommend backing up all your data on the clicking drive as once they go they are not accessable (apart from paying a mint) if your laptop is under warenty you should be able to get a new drive, if not i would strongly reccomend you getting a new one,

[kwaq]

Download some software which shows actual S.M.A.R.T status, for example SpeedFan:

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

and check what is going wrong...
And, as Mattster said, be prepared to change your drive...

[Arlin]

my brand new lifebook e8020 does that click since the very first moment i turned it on. the hard disk was absolutely empty. if thos click means the hdd is on its way out, does it mean that fujitsu-siemens are using junk parts for their notebooks?

[azertyx]

all test are OK even they from seagate itself

[Andy Tran]

The hard disk will often make a clicking sound when it is accessing data. This sound can be avoided by defragmenting your disk. This will prevent the hard disk from working too hard to get data. This should help.

If you hear a clicking noise you have never heard before, try scanning the total disk surface because the hrad drive may be trying to access data it cannot get to.

If your hard drive is old, the drive head may be having problems moving accross the disk.

You can also run a disk health scan from the disk manufacturer website (seagete). This scan will tell you if there are any problems with your hard drive

[Arlin]

well, this explanation makes a lot more sense. i will try that, but i am still puzzled: it made te click ever since i pluged it in the first time, 10 minutes after taking it out of the box. the disk was completely empty.

all tests went perfect. no errors. during extended test, temperature went from 40 to 46 celsius. which is the max safe temperature?

[mattster]

The hard disk will often make a clicking sound when it is accessing data. This sound can be avoided by defragmenting your disk. This will prevent the hard disk from working too hard to get data. This should help.

If you hear a clicking noise you have never heard before, try scanning the total disk surface because the hrad drive may be trying to access data it cannot get to.

If your hard drive is old, the drive head may be having problems moving accross the disk.

You can also run a disk health scan from the disk manufacturer website (seagete). This scan will tell you if there are any problems with your hard drive

sorry m8 but i have to stongly disagree there, do a google for clicking harddrives you will find its down to the platters being on ther way out, if a hard drive is fragmented it will work overtime but should deffinatly not click. im a computer engineer and have swapped countless laptop/desktop and server harddrives due to clicking noises leading to faliure.

[Zaether]

I've had several harddrives going out on me over the years and almost every time there is an clicking noise just before it breaks down.
If you ask me; it is a pretty sure sign that you should backup your data and be prepared to buy a new one.

[oxygene]

Dear engineers in that case these clicking noises are "normal" for some notebook hddrivers from Hitachi or Seagate due to "parking heads" for saving power. IBM or DELL published new HDD BIOS for their notebooks to correct it. But still FS do nothing... I owe 40GB Hitachi disk. And clicks are almost every few minutes. Even the notebook is quiet, hdd doesnt feel you relaxed watching film greetings.

P.S. DEAR FUJITSU SIEMENS,
This is very major problem if you instead of silent work you must hear this strange HDD clicks. Please contact HDD manufacturers to create new bios for some hd drivers you sell. Please HELP!!!

Please users; write down your HDD name plus notebook name, I start first.

LIFEBOOK C1110, HITACHI 40GB, DK23EA-40

[Andy Tran]

Poorly manufactured hard disks will usually make clicking sounds when idling or when they are tured on. If your hard disk uses a CSS (contact start stop) method of idling or activating, the sound may be coming from the stiction generated by the disk head and the disk surface.

Download the Hitachi Fitness Test from http://www.hitachigst.com. This program will create a bootable diskette. When the disk is inserted into the drive when the computer is turned on, the computer should automatically boot from the disk. The disk will check the hard disk for any physical damage and will leave a deposition code after the disk check is complete

Hope this has been a help.

[oxygene]

We are talking here about good condition disks!!! Mainly "clicking" means that short, your HDD will be dead, but IN THIS CASE "clicking" is responsible for a quite different matter...
From web: "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."

[oxygene]

Some nice chat;

Please wait for a support representative to respond.
You are now chatting with 'Dan'
Dan: Thank you for contacting Hitachi GST. How can I help you today?
simon: hey, could you tell me if there is any new firmware for dk23ea-40?
simon: i mean i want to reduce clicking noises
Dan: There are no firmware updates for the DK23EA drives. What type of clicking do you hear? Is it constant or does it follow a pattern?
simon: when computer is idle there are some clicking noises
Dan: This only occurs when the drive is idle?
simon: i found it is normal but ... it makes you crazy
simon: yes
Dan: This drive is a Hitachi Legacy drive so it never had the Idle Time Function like our newer drives have on it.
simon: parking heads for battery savings...but it is every few minutes
Dan: My guess is that something is wrong with the drive. Did the drive always make this noise?
simon: so.. what can i do for stopping this noises?
simon: yes always...
simon: i found on forum that this is normal
Dan: How long have you had it?
simon: and for example IBM relesed new firmware for hitachi hdd
simon: from new
Dan: For some of our drives, there is an idle time feature which keeps the heads from staying in one place for too long. But this drive does not have that function on it
simon: it was once in service but thay say it is normal
Dan: The IBM drives had it for the last several generations and the new drives we make have it. It is the moving of the head and writing to the error logs that make the noise. The tell tale sign for it is that the noise will only happen when it is idle, and it is at a timed sequence. (Every 1 or 10 minutes)
Dan: For the IBM and never HItachi drives, there was an update and it would quiet it down.
simon: but my is Fujitsu Siemens
Dan: But this drive should not be doing it and it is not normal for it to make these noises.
Dan: I guess I am confused by that statement. What do you mean that it is a Fujitsu Siemens?
Dan: Did it come in a Fujitsu laptop?
simon: I have FS notebook
simon: with Hitach hdd
simon: FS LifeBook
Dan: If the drive came in a Fujitsu laptop, they can put custom firmware on the drive.
Dan: In this case, they may have added this feature to it.
simon: so I must connect FS?
Dan: You would need to contact Fujitsu for the update though since it would be specific for them.
simon: is there any iniversal firmware for this drive?
simon: universal
simon: i dont think that FS will help
Dan: We do not have any updates for the generic drives. Even if we did, it would not update a drive that came with a different system. In fact, if you try to update an OEM drive with a generic code level, it would render the drive unusable.
Dan: Any updates on that drive would need to come from FS.
simon: strange, but OK
simon: even it is hitachi drive....
simon: thanks! i will try contact FS and see what happen
Dan: Yes. FS purchased the firmware rights to the drives in their system. They can then put their own code on it which is incompatible with our code. But their code is designed to help make the drive more compatible with their system.
Dan: You are welcome and good luck. Thank you for contacting Hitachi GST.
simon: bye

so we must contact FS directly!

[dj4dan]

I have a Amilo M1437G
My hard drive also makes a clicking noise when ideling. My Laptop is brand new, i got it on Fryday, 2 days ago. When running Notebook Hardware Control 1.10, a error message keeps showing.

"WARNING! -> S.M.A.R.T reported problem on Hard Disk"

What does this means....

[ulyses]

My m3438g harddisk have same problem in notebook hardware control.I think it's a bug.Because I haven't got any problem without that.And click sound is reminds me wery bad thinks.You may check it with the following programs; Hddregenerator,Seagate disk wizard...If you have some bad sectors they will find and fix if you lucky.