Click sound is it normal?

I have wd elements external hdd 3.5inc. When it’s not working, there is a click sound every 5-10 seconds, is it normal? I bought 2 pieces of 8 and 10 tibs, the situation is the same in both. I changed cable. It is connected to usb 3.0 but the status has not changed. is this a normal situation?

Normally, the computer storage drives are quiet and steady, but in case of any physical damages or logical corruption, they can begin to make noise. Some type of clicking noise are due to software or driver issues, some of them due to hardware issues, and sometimes due to mechanical faults of the hard drive.

Most of the times there are 4 probable causes for clicking noise of a hard drive:

  • The insufficient power supply is a very common cause of noise in the hard drive. It mostly happens when you have connected multiple devices (including the HDD) to a single port.

  • Physical depreciation of the hard drive which results from either simple issues or damage such as a physical shock or trauma.

  • A hard drive may be failed due to the faulty data cables, or incorrect drivers installed.

  • A crashed hard drive.

Subsequent fixes people have used to overcome the issue are:

  • Check whether the hard drive is getting enough power or not. You can do it by plugging the power adapter directly into the power supply.
  • Replace the data cable with the new one and turn on the drive. Now, if it does not make any noise, then the data cable might be faulty.
  • In case the drive still makes noises, then there is a high possibility the drive is failing and needs to be replaced.