I have a WD 4TB Elements external HD that is only 5 months old. I have only used it for 2 months due to health problems. I put about 300 GB of family photos and video’s on it when it started making this loud clicking sound. I unplugged it safely and tried to use it again but the clicking started right away. Also, is this drive a SSD or a mechanical drive? I just assumed it was a SSD due to the small size, therefore it shouldn’t make any noises. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank You.
Hi mackyman,
You should run a Quick Test and Extended Test to check the health of the WD Elements using Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool on Windows.
If fails, contact WD Support to replace it under warranty policy.
https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?h=p2&ID=940&lang=en&p=110
Hello
I bought one last year and it clicks on my desktop, but not on my laptop.
I could not use it on the desktop at all (even though I had originally copied aber 1Tb last year)
I have bought a powerd USB hub (about £10) and since then it has worked perfectly for over a month now.
Problem solved - not enough juice from my desktop USB.
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. There are numbers of different hard drives clicking sounds for different reasons. 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.
You can try the subsequent fixes to overcome the issue:
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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.
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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.
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In case the drive still makes noises, then there is a high possibility the drive is failing and needs to be replaced.