No word back yet. I actually have a direct line phone # too. Just called but got voicemail, but I will try again in a bit. I left him an email that basically said that there’s still much confusion on the PWL topic and that there really needs to be “sticky” post or FAQ on this periodic noise from PWL.
As far as your issues, I honestly think it’s routine and I wouldn’t bother sending the drive back, but that’s me. I have 8 of them and they all do it (my machines are in a rack in a computer closet so I can’t hear them). I have seen a few other threads online. Just search “WD PWL” or some variant and you’ll find some info. One guy mentioned that he had several drives from different manufacturing dates that all do it. So unless the sound is an annoyance, I’d probably just let it go.
New drive arrived with same Firmware as listed above. So far no 5 second seeks or ticks. Time will only tell as it took 20 days for it to show up before.
So far I am only hearing normal head movement sounds like my other drives.
I will post back if this changes as I am now in a new 30 day replacement window if needed.
My new drive is def. not making the same noises.
dswv42 just had 2 of the 4TB Golds replaced due to my findings and he is currently running diags on both but said the new drives have a totally different sound…
Here is a link to our posts on the forum: https://community.wd.com/t/hard-drive-idle-sounds/199915/9
I just viewed that “Post 6” video and my drives definitely don’t sound like that. Mine sounds like a short little (normal) head-movement sound…It just happens every 5 seconds when the drive is idle.
I have a Gold and it doesn’t make this noise. But that’s a different line of drives. The ones I documented were 4tb Black drives.
I’ll try to contact Level III guy again today…
Thanks, Hopefully the Level III guy will shed some light on the issue.
In my case the 1st 4TB Gold was doing the 5 sec ticks but none of my Black drives are doing it.
2 2TB Black
3 3TB Black
So far the replacement 4TB Gold drive is not doing it.
Why in the world would tech support not just say what the problem is with the thumping noise, instead of letting me run a test that takes over 8hrs for a 4tb drive?
Obviously the guy in tech is either new, or wants to avoid their customers complaints. I have the Be Quiet Dark Base Pro 900 Case with Silent wing 3 fans and Noctura DH-15 Cooler which comes with excellent and very quiet fans.
Also I have tinnitus and still hear the bloody noise thump… thump… thump as if someone was in my backyard hammering on something. Not impressed as all my drives over the years (since window inception) have been WD when purchasing new drives and none of them made this stupid sound.
I just purchased two 6TB Black (WD6001FZWX drives and experienced the same periodic head cluck sound about every 5 seconds. Over the years have owned a lot of Hitachi and HGST drives and not experience this behavior. Called and found it was evident that the tech support does not read this blog and had me do all kinds of test with different enclosures, computers, and cables. Find it hard to get to use to in my “quiet” creative computer room with its barely audible cooling fans in the background.
I get the 5 sec clicks too, the cause was the smart tool hddhealth. i install it to see how much temperature the harddrive get. and then i notice later this clicks with my wd
-red. I try boot my win on a small win 10 64 usb install and here was no click hear. so i disable in services the start of hddhealth for a test and i notice no clicks, maybe there are other smart check tools for drive health that cause clicks on some WD drives. I have many WD drive but only the WD red do click. the click is hear so constant because i use a system ssd. the WD is only for images videos and downloads. mostly it do no access
4tb black - I am so sick and tired of the “chunking” noise every 5 seconds or so. Its annoying as heck. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Banging…Head movement noise…chunking noise.
I just created an account here to comment on this.
I just got a WD Black 4TB and I get this constant dull click.
I have used WD for many years due to issues with Seagates. This is the first WD drive I have not liked at all. Performance with this drive is obviously primary and a more constant noise or noise of just accessing would be OK to live with for performance advantage but this constant dull clicking is unbearable. I haven’t even formatted the drive and may not be doing so. I may be returning it.
I just tried decoupling the drive from the case by resting it temporarily on some rubber feet. This kills the noise. If you touch the drive you can feel it jerking every five seconds.
The bottom line is that you can’t screw this drive to a case without some vibration reduction chassis. I’m going to get something to dampen it.
Well, I’m coming up on 2 years with these drives (8 of them in two 4-drive RAIDS) and they all still work great (I’m sure I just jinxed it). They still make the noise, but since my computers are in a dedicated ventilated closet, the noise doesn’t really affect me.
Your idea about using vibration-dampening mounting hardware is smart. I would think if you can eliminate that noise transferring to your case, it would be barely audible.
I was never able to get hold of the Level 3 tech support guy again, btw.
I know. I’ve had so many Seagate drives fail in RAIDs, I just started keeping similar sized-WD drives on hand because I knew it was just a matter of time before I’d have to replace the Seagates. And one by one, the Seagates always failed. I think I’ve only had one WD go down in the last 10 years. And if this PWL thing extends their life, then it’s worth it in my situation.
