New Ext Seagate from OCUK making loud clicks from new

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juno_first

juno_first

juno_first

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I bought an external USB 1TB Seagate drive from OCUK last month for storing HD films.

From when first turned on its made a loud repetitive clicking noise which I thought was normal for this drive because it was new & it read data without a hitch. This noise is not a normal sounding HDD click!

This clicking noise is getting worse now & it clicks every hour or so without provocation & mostly if 2 different files are accessed at the same time.
When this clicking happens the data read speed can slow down a lot.

Does this drive sound faulty & should I take it back to OCUK (lucky I only live 10 miles away), although they've have stopped selling this drive now :confused:
If I take it back should I leave the data on it so they can test it?

thanks

Link to recording of clicking noise. (27kb WAV)
 
ok i'll try that tool.
Yeah the drive still works over usb.
I wonder if the drive would behave if installed internally?
I take it then its not a good idea to return it now, unless it gets much worse
 
Check the firmware revision of the drive. A certain revision number of Seagate drives are known for clicking/clunking noises.
 
The drive is model: ST310005EXD101-RK
The 'D' in the model name means it has the newer BIOS.
Ive also done the firmware check on Seagate site using its serial & there were no updates.

Someone else on the Seagate site forum has exactly the same problem as me, indicating it may need a firmware update or its a common design fault with the drive.
LINK

According to data recovery companies, the 1TB Seagate Baracuda accounts for 35% of the drives they receive.
One guy even put 6 of these drives in RAID & 5 failed over 6 months.
Maybe thats why OCUK stopped selling them?

Oh, Ive had 4 Hitachi 80G Deskstars in RAID for 4 years & they've never missed a beat :D
 
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RIGHT, this drive has finally gone down.
Now I cant even watch a SD film off it as every 5 seconds the drive clicks & video pauses for a second.
Although it passes the Seatools test huh?
Im going take it back OCUK on Monday, am I likely expect any resistance? Should I leave the current data on the drive?
ta
 
juno_first said:
RIGHT, this drive has finally gone down.
Now I cant even watch a SD film off it as every 5 seconds the drive clicks & video pauses for a second.
Although it passes the Seatools test huh?
Im going take it back OCUK on Monday, am I likely expect any resistance? Should I leave the current data on the drive?
ta
Click to expand...

They'd take it back anyway if it's clicking - sign of impending doom. Up to you if you leave data on it, I always wipe my drives if at all possible (if necessary - returning one drive from a RAID5 array for example, I don't bother wiping it!)
 
Yep i can only make it this friday when im off, just hope it clicks when they test it lol.
Hmm i will format it as a mate has the same data on his ext drive.
Just wondering if they replace it then what with as they dont sell it anymore, though Im no fan of Seagate heh heh.

lol at your sig, if a fiesta LX gets nicked & then recovered with a ST badge on the back they may not cover it lol.
 
juno_first said:
Yep i can only make it this friday when im off, just hope it clicks when they test it lol.
Hmm i will format it as a mate has the same data on his ext drive.
Just wondering if they replace it then what with as they dont sell it anymore, though Im no fan of Seagate heh heh.

lol at your sig, if a fiesta LX gets nicked & then recovered with a ST badge on the back they may not cover it lol.
Click to expand...

:eek: nightmare. I'll have to try to remember not to let a low-badged car I actually own get nicked in case. :p
Mocking aside, I actually hadn't thought about that before, worth knowing :D
 
Well, I dropped the drive at ocuk on Fri & they said call back on wed.
Theres a £11.50 charge if its not faulty, so I hope they understand that when an external drive bursts into a clicking song every 10 minutes for no reason & cant even play an SD film without pausing, then its faulty.

The only other seagate i had 4 years ago broke after 1 month & now this drive has gone up the creek. Is it my luck or is seagate poo? As im dubious about a possible replacement with another seagate. Im ok paying more for a better drive, but which one? A drobo would be nice but for how often I access the drive maybe a good solid external will be ok.
Oh I cant use a WD external drive as if its left plugged in the USB on boot my BIOS resets (but the seagate did not do this). If the BIOS resets I have remove 1 stick of RAM to correct the BIOS too. GRR.
 
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juno_first said:
The only other seagate i had 4 years ago broke after 1 month & now this drive has gone up the creek. Is it my luck or is seagate poo? As im dubious about a possible replacement with another seagate. Im ok paying more for a better drive, but which one? A drobo would be nice but for how often I access the drive maybe a good solid external will be ok.
Oh I cant use a WD external drive as if its left plugged in the USB on boot my BIOS resets (but the seagate did not do this). If the BIOS resets I have remove 1 stick of RAM to correct the BIOS too. GRR.
Click to expand...

How very odd. Have you tried disabling legacy USB support or whatever that option is, in the BIOS?
 
If it passes the seatools test I'd be very surprised if OcUK will exchange it (speaking from experience) I didn't pay the 'not faulty fee', rma'd the drive and sold the replacement
 
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Yeah it passes seatools but then clicks & keeps pausing a SD video.
As the clicking is happening more often & new clicks are being added to the 'click' then its obvously going to go down 1 day.
Will ocuk refund the 11.50 when it does go down, sheesh.

If it cant play a simple video then its not fit for the purpose intended, simple as that.
 
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I think it depends on who you deal with at OcUK, sometimes very helpful, other times.....

My latest harddrive purchased 3 weeks ago has 2 ata errors on it already but it passes the hitachi harddrive fitness test so I'm not even going to try taking this back.

Good luck with your return
 
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Well, as expected when I went back OCUK the engineer said he had it playing vids all day & it never made any loud clicks or stuttered the video, so I had to pay £11.50.
The OCUK engineer then advised me to remove any nearby electrical devices that may be interfering & if the drive is still faulty then call Seagate as its covered by the onsite warranty. Did this advice cost me £11.50?

As it happens I keep my xbox360 10cm away from the drive & upon removing this, the clicking stops!

BUT...

I recently bought an identical drive from a local supermarket (£10 cheaper with same firmware) & when this same drive gets within 30cm of the OCUK drive, the OCUK drive has a 'fit' & clicks non-stop, but the newer drive never clicks!

Ive now had to wrap the OCUK drive in kitchen foil which seems to stop the clicking, so I can position the new drive near to it (due to limited space).

Its obvious the OCUK drive has a fault & I don’t know whether to just live with a drive wrapped in kitchen foil, or take it back OCUK & tell the engineer how do his job, or call Seagate?
I get the feeling if I take the newer drive back the supermarket with a fault, it wont cost me £11.50 & I would get a replacement drive.
Im wondering whether report the OCUK testing charge as a scam to trading standards?
 
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