WD Black 4TB HDD Makes Clunking Noise Every 5 Second

WD Internal Drives Desktop & Mobile Drives
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I rec’d this past Saturday, 31 Aug 2024, a WD Black 4TB from an online reseller. It is brand new in the original box and sealed anti-static bag but it was manufactured in Sep 2023 in Thailand.

I installed it on Saturday and noticed that very annoying clunking sound occurring every 5 seconds when the drive is in idle mode which I now know from researching online is the Preventive Wear Leveler (“PWL”) “feature”. WD should be able to implement the PWL “feature” in a much more soundless way. Time for their engineers to put their thinking caps on and hearing aides into their ears and improve their PWL “feature” design". Or make the action frequency user adjustable or to shut it off somehow.

What I found that worked for me to make the annoying sound acceptable in my desktop computer was mounting the drive upside down on some stick-on rubber boots and not mechanically attaching it to the desktops tower’s drive rack with screws. For whatever reason the clunking noise was not as loud when the drive was mounted horizontally upside down. It is still doing the PWL thingy every 5 seconds (when I touch the drive case I can feel it) but when I put the side panel of my tower computer back in place, I now cannot hear it outside the computer. I ordered a more professional 3.5" to 5.25" drive slot mounting bracket with shock absorbers to be able to physical secure the drive better for the long term. But having it just setting there in the one drive bay, upside down, using rubber boots to isolate it; the annoying sound is no longer hearable outside the computer. Just passing along my solution.

P.S. I have another older WD Black 4TB hard disk drive installed in the same desktop tower computer which was manufactured in Feb 2022 that never exhibited this clunking noise “feature” that the newer one made in Sep 2023 exhibits. Both the older one and the newer one are initialized as data drives and only used actively when doing backups of my critical data on my main C drive which is an SSD . Either they did not have PWL active in those made back in Feb 2022 or it was a much, much quieter implementation. Go figure?

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Hi @cfkerchner
Have you opened a Support Case? If not opened, for more information, please contact the WD Technical Support team for the best assistance and troubleshooting:

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there are good things to resolves

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I found an even better solution. I purchased and installed a anti-vibration and anti-noise mount for the drive and the WD Black disk drive clunking PWL “feature” noise every 5 seconds is no longer hearable outside of the desk top computer. This is the mount I purchased and installed. It works great: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B096TN7FQG/genealogicalrese/B09P8HS8NG I have registered the drive for the WD warranty. And since it works well other than the clunking “feature”, I will keep using it. Now if someone here is from WD and thinks I should get it replaced anyway, do let me know.

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No, I have not opened a Support Case with WD as of yet. I just registered the drive with WD for the warranty. I found an even better solution to dampen the noise transmission to the computer case and thus to my ears. I purchased and installed a anti-vibration, anti-noise, shock absorber mounting bracket for the drive drive and the WD Black 4TB hard disk drive “clunking” or “thunking” PWL “feature” noise every 5 seconds is no longer hearable outside of the desk top computer. I have now registered the drive for the WD warranty. And since it works well other than the clunking PWL “feature” (which with the shock absorber bracket I can no longer hear outside the computer case), I will keep using it. Now if someone here is from WD and thinks I should get it replaced anyway, do let me know. This is the anti-noise HDD mount I purchased and installed. It works great: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B096TN7FQG/genealogicalrese/B09P8HS8NG

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anti-vibration and anti-noise mount, nice toy and a waste of money.

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Rubber feet seen with some chassis almost completely eliminate hard disk acoustic problems