# hard disk frequently clicks when idle, SMARTCTL output

## hefe

I have a bad feeling about this.

I'm talking about my (November 2007) recently bought brand new laptop. Its hard disk which is a WesternDigital frequently makes a clicking noise. This noise is different from when it spins up or down i think (hard to test because the drive is silent besides the clicking).

The noise occurs about three times in a row with 10 seconds interval. Then the drive is silent for about 5 minutes or so...

Maybe this clicking belongs to the drives thermal calibration (saw it on WD site, but they talk about 15s interval).

What is the reason to spin down a drive, if it gets accessed the second after i spun it down?

Could this be a wrongly configured powersaved/laptop_mode?

Maybe someone with the sam drive could compare his smartctl output to mine?

I dont fully unterstand the output... is it 107°C (which is damn hot) or 40°C (which is okay)? 

```
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   107   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       40 
```

thynk you for every help on this

```
 # smartctl --all /dev/sda

smartctl version 5.37 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen

Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===

Device Model:     WDC WD1600BEVS-07RST0

Serial Number:    WD-WXE807H52813

Firmware Version: 04.01G04

User Capacity:    160.041.885.696 bytes

Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]

ATA Version is:   7

ATA Standard is:  Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated

Local Time is:    Mon Apr 14 08:56:56 2008 CEST

SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.

SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===

SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:

Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity

                                        was never started.

                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.

Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed

                                        without error or no self-test has ever

                                        been run.

Total time to complete Offline

data collection:                 (6780) seconds.

Offline data collection

capabilities:                    (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.

                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.

                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new

                                        command.

                                        Offline surface scan supported.

                                        Self-test supported.

                                        Conveyance Self-test supported.

                                        Selective Self-test supported.

SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering

                                        power-saving mode.

                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.

Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.

                                        General Purpose Logging supported.

Short self-test routine

recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.

Extended self-test routine

recommended polling time:        (  87) minutes.

Conveyance self-test routine

recommended polling time:        (   6) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16

Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE

  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0

  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   184   183   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       1783

  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       477

  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0

  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   100   253   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0

  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1165

 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0

 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0012   100   100   051    Old_age   Always       -       0

 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       275

192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       30

193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   171   171   000    Old_age   Always       -       88671

194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   107   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       40

196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0009   100   253   051    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1

No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1

No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1

 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS

    1        0        0  Not_testing

    2        0        0  Not_testing

    3        0        0  Not_testing

    4        0        0  Not_testing

    5        0        0  Not_testing

Selective self-test flags (0x0):

  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.

If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

# cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy

max_performance

# mount | grep sda

/dev/sda5 on / type ext3 (rw,noatime,commit=360)

/dev/sda6 on /opt type ext3 (rw,noatime,commit=360)

/dev/sda7 on /var type reiserfs (rw,noatime,commit=360)

/dev/sda8 on /usr type ext3 (rw,noatime,commit=360)

/dev/sda9 on /home type ext3 (rw,noatime,commit=360)

/dev/sda10 on /usr/portage type reiserfs (rw,noatime,commit=360)

/dev/sda11 on /mnt/halde type ext3 (rw,noatime,commit=360)

```

EDIT:

After a bit of searching (which i should have done prior to opening this topic) i found this:

WD Support

Hence the affected drive is indeed a "Scorpio" i am going to try the supplied patch. Seems as if the firmware of the drive is buggy.

Has anyone else successfully applied this patch? I will report back, on success. On failure i may be unavailable *G*...

EDIT:

Finally i managed to boot into a dos floppy (without a floppy drive)... but the tool says that the update is not applicable.

My drive's version is shown as 04.01G04...

I am out of ideas now...

maybe i need a good backup strategy... to be prepared for the drives dead (which is a good idea either)

----------

## eccerr0r

It's probably due to head unloads to save battery power in connection to whatever's using your disk at the time.  Can try:

hdparm -B 255 /dev/hda

and see if that stops it from unloading (though it will increase overall power consumption.)

----------

## zouzou85

hi,

I have the same issue. 

and  *Quote:*   

> hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda/

 

does solve the issue temporarily.

smartctl says i have an unknown device.(can't check right now, or post the output, not near my lappy)

but that definitely increases the load on cycle of the drive.(it was 28 loads in 10 mins at one time).

still haven't figured out what the problem is tho.

----------

## Cyker

The drive might be measuring temp in fahrenheit (I know it says celsius but it's probably lying...).

My brother has a fujitsu 2.5" SATA drive which would continuously click while the lappy was on in WinXP, despite all the powersaving stuff being set correctly so it might be a 'feature' of the drive...?

----------

## eccerr0r

The numbers in Value, Threshold, Worst are "normalized" numbers, and the "raw" value is a direct reading from the drive.  NONE of these numbers can be directly correlated to an actual temperature, but the "raw" value is usually closest.  The RAW value is also manufacturer-defined, so the units on that is unknown.

----------

## hefe

Disabling Advanced Power Management with

```
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
```

makes the clicking go away.

Is probably a good setting for running on AC.

----------

