I have a problem with my new HDD - it keeps making a tapping or knocking sound when idle, about every five seconds. Some Google research has revealed this comment by WD in a .pdf:
The ‘noise’ heard is due to a feature used to prevent disturbances in media lube due to prolonged dwelling at a single location. This is common for HDD suppliers as a preventive activity for reliability. Normal operation typically forces seek away and the seek noises heard are expected. During moments of idle, there is less activity and the unexpected sound is more noticeable (Approximately every 5 seconds). Directly attaching the drive to a metal chassis can amplify this occurrence to make the hard drive more audible.
I think this is probably the problem. Now, this sound is very irritating to me, and I’d like to turn it off. I’m wondering how I can make the HDD stop doing this, or, if possible, exchange it for another HDD that does not have this feature. Is such a thing possible?
