Hi. I have a 2TB WD RE-4 GP connected to an eSATA controller. It sounds like there’s a LOT of activity going on whenever it’s idling. The funny thing is that there’s no LED light activity at all from the eSATA docking station, as it is when the disk is actually in use. So it’s not the OS doing anything. Doing something as simple as opening a folder on the drive stops the activity for a little while. When copying a lot of files to it, it sounds like it’s doing much less than when it’s idling.
I have a lot of other WD disks I use connected to eSATA, and none of them act like that.
I’ve used the Lifeguard software to check it. Unfortunately it seems I’m not able to see the S.M.A.R.T info via the controller.
you won’t see the smart info unless the drive connected internally to a pc. also, if it’s esata, you sure your pc isn’t indexing or house keeping the drive?
OK, I connected it internally and got the S.M.A.R.T data. Everything looks fine. But it behaves the same way as when I connected it to the eSATA docking…
You are not the only one experiencing this. There have been some posts about the issue in the past, but I don’t think a solution has been found. However, my Caviar Black has been doing this every now and then for 1½ years, and it still has no bad sectors or anything. So I don’t think it’s a serious problem, just annoying. The drive might be doing some “housekeeping” while it’s idle, which is why the noise ends if the drive is accessed.
