WD7500BPKX Clicking Noise (Software Solved) (Updated)

[NMan]

Hi, I have edited this post as I found a software solution for the annoying bug.
This is an issue with most WD drives I have read, but can be really bad depending on the batch your drive comes from.

The clicking or clunking noise is from the drive doing a LCC (parking heads) and is a power management (APM) issue and needs to be a configurable firmware fix from WD for those who want it. I have used Hard Disk Sentinel to disable APM or set to 254, LCC is now a 0 per day, which is what it should be considering WD Black drives are for performance. As you can see from the image, LCC has stopped, the first day was without any adjustment, 2-4 was with WD3IDLE and 5 with APM disabled.

It is a big issue, as it is only suppose to park the heads when the hard drive is not is use for the allocated time, 8 seconds in my case.

You don’t need the software to stay in memory as once disabled, it stays disabled until the drive is powered down, so a simple run of the software will stop it.
I found QuietHD/WD3IDLE do not work correctly, only Hard Disk Sentinel.

I have no idea why a hard drive needs to park the heads at regular intervals when there is obviously no sign of a power save needed.
I am going to look into making a small startup program to do this. Annoyed I have to do anything at all, last time I buy WD drives.

Please fix WD.

[ArMak]

Hello there,

Thanks for sharing this with he community, hopefully this can help other users with similar issues.

[Dwiekopy]

I have the same problem. But it started happening when I upgraded to windows 10. Some firmware disabling APM would be nice. This clicking noise is irritating but is it bad for HDD and performance?

[NMan]

Just an update to this issue, after more than a week of using Hard Disk Sentinel you can see the LCC has basically stopped. Yes, you have to run HDS at least once, as the drive will reset to normal when powered down. I have 2 of these drives, just look at the LCC, in one day, less then a few hours of use, the second drive had almost hit 1000 LCC. The next few days was with WD3IDE, which only slowed the LCC. I have HDS running all the time now or at least once every session.

I am still waiting to here back from WD about a firmware fix, as I don’t need APM and the excessive clicking/clunk is annoying.

Keep in mind that these a WD Black drives, announced as performance drives, with an 8s Head Park timer.

Does the excessive head parking damage the drive, well yes and maybe no. Excessive head movement will eventually damage the head and/or the platters, especially when it is being parked all the time. The area marked in red here is where the hard drive heads park, off the platters (which is why you hear the click/clunk), which if done excessively like every 8s, has the potential to damage the heads. This area is for parking heads when the drive is not powered up, to keep platters from being damaged in transit or by shock, say like a drop onto the floor.

The idea of using this area to safeguard laptop users from damaged drives because of movement is fine, but 2.5 drives are well known to be used in desktop environments these days as space can be an issue. I am using a 6 Bay 2.5" Icy Dock station which houses all my 2.5" (3xSSD and 2xWD Blacks) drives, as I have a water cooled setup and could not use the internal drive bays.

All I ask, is that WD release a firmware fix for power users. How hard is that, if software can do it.