I’ve installed a Red Pro 6 TB HDD (WD6002FFWX) into my machine. It formatted fine, and the Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics Quick SMART Test came back “Test completed successfully.”
But for extended periods it makes a loud thump/click every few seconds, even when the drive is idle and nothing is being copied to it or from it. I’ve never had this happen with a harddrive before, and it’s irritating enough that I’ll probably end up returning the drive if I can’t find a solution before my return window is up.
Sounds quite similar to the issue I am having with my drive which I just posted here. Take a look at the video and let me know if the sound is the same WD (new) Blue 6TB recurring buzzing noise
It’s possible it could be the same sound; unfortunately, most basic video recording tools are designed to record voice and deemphasize background noise, which makes it difficult to get a good recording.
Here’s what I’m hearing (again it sounds louder in real life than in the recording):
Turning off APM using a tool like CrystalDiskInfo does NOT solve the problem. Putting the drive into standby mode using Drive Power Manager DOES solve the problem momentarily, but as soon as the drive goes back to active status the clicking starts again.
Have you found any solutions to your issue? I just replaced a 6 TB Red Pro with this issue, but the thud noise persists. Like you, tests show the drive is fine.
Unfortunately, no. After a week without a response from Western Digital, I ended up returning it and getting a lower capacity Seagate drive that runs silently.
I just purchased 4 Red Pro 6 TB (WD6002FFWX) HDDs all made in Nov. 2016 and they all have this exact problem. When using the drive, the HDD is reasonably quite for a 7,200 RPM drive. When idle however, there is a loud click every 5 seconds. I have tried connecting the drive via USB: same problem. I have even tried just powering up the drive with no data connection and the click persists…every 5 seconds…
I have monitored the drives SMART information and the click does not correspond to head parking. This suggests to me the drive is seeking every 5 seconds for something regardless of any operating system command. The problem is this click is very loud (much louder than any noise it makes during normal read/write) and is very obnoxious.
I too would be interested in any solution for this strange behavior. Do WD Black drives or standard WD Red drives also do this?
I do not suspect this is the same problem. When listening to your video, that sounds like head parking to me. This is a sharper noise I would expect with a sudden seeking movement and SMART status confirms it is not head parking on the Red Pros.
May I ask if your 6TB Red Pro had this issue from the beginning or was the noise something it developed after a time? Was your replacement drive a refurbished drive from WD or did you get a new replacement?
The clicking noise was a sign of dying off a hard drive. You must take the backup immediately without any further delay to save from any data loss in future or you can check below mentioned common fixes.
Try plugging in hard drive with another USB port.
Try connecting the hard drive to another computer
Try to interchange your old connector with a new one.
David, I think I’ll follow those instructions because I have the same symptoms as everyone else.
Does anyone know what I have to search for to replace this laptop hard drive? All I can tell by looking at it is that its SATA 500GB 5400RPM, but I don’t need the same size / speed. I just want to know what the model# part# serial# are, and where I can get one cheap (ebay, newegg, etc)
