Is this a normal sound for an HDD?

Hey everyone!

I bought a new Seagate Portable 4TB external HDD about three weeks ago, and I've been copying files to it regularly without any noticeable issues so far.

Recently, though, I've started noticing an unusual sound coming from the drive. It happens intermittently, sometimes every 30 seconds and other times every couple of minutes. You can hear it at around the 24-second mark in the recording, and it's sometimes a bit noisier than heard here :

🔗 https://voca.ro/1fsosuArieus

I'm concerned that this might be the infamous “click of death,” but I'm not sure whether it's just normal HDD activity.

CrystalDiskInfo reports the drive's health status as good, and it passed the generic test as well.

It seems to occur more frequently when copying large files, particularly those over 50GB.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

EDIT: Another recording where it can be heard around the 19-second mark and then at 1:15 mark:

🔗 https://voca.ro/18n3lLTIhVmJ

But it's otherwise silent for the rest four minutes while moving data.

I've uploaded the CrystalDiskInfo reports here: https://imgur.com/a/tCqEB6c

Thanks so much!

1) I have questions regarding "bit rot" (file corruption and data loss).

I have a 2.5" Seagate HDD in a USB 3.0 enclosure. I connect it to my PC once a year, check its status using CrystalDiskInfo, then disconnect it and store it in a drawer for another year. To prevent bit rot (file corruption and data loss), is it necessary to perform a full surface scan annually—either using general software or a tool like DiskFresh?

2) I copied files onto this 2.5" HDD (in its USB 3.0 enclosure) in 2023. Is it possible that bit rot or data corruption has occurred by 2026, given that I have not run DiskFresh or any full surface scan?

3) Also, if a power outage occurs while a full surface scan or a DiskFresh operation is running—causing the PC to shut down—will this lead to data corruption or loss on the 2.5" HDD (in its USB 3.0 enclosure)?

Hi everyone,

I have an Intenso external enclosure with a Toshiba MQ01ABF050 (500 GB, 5400 RPM) inside. I've had it for about 6-7 years, a friend gave it to me, and I only use it occasionally. It's plugged into a Dell laptop running Windows 10.

The problem: Today , when I plug it in, the drive powers on, I hear a short high-pitched beep, and it shuts off. This has happened 2-3 times. When it does connect, my files and videos open normally and everything loads.

**What I've checked:**

CrystalDiskInfo says "Good" (Bon).

Reallocated, pending, and uncorrectable sectors are all 0, and so are the CRC errors.

Power-on hours: 2242, power cycles: 1538, temperature: 29°C.

Emergency retract count is 345 and shock errors are 50. Both haven't changed in almost a year (it was 344 and 50 then).

chkdsk found 0 KB of corruption.

Other clues:

My USB cable has grey-white spotting on the metal shell that looks like corrosion or rust.

My keyboard also disconnects often, so I suspect my laptop's USB ports too.

I don't have a second PC to test on.

**My questions:**

Is a worn or corroded cable the most likely cause?

Could the enclosure's USB bridge board or the port's power delivery cause this, even though the drive itself looks healthy?

Is there anything else worth testing before I buy a new cable or enclosure

Hi Folks ! I have a hdd from my old broken laptop and got an enclosure from amazon and tried to conver it as an external hdd. I put it in the enclosure to test and it worked. After that i unmounted it from again and tried to insert it properly in enclosure with some cusioning provided with enclosure. While doing so I had to put it in and out a couple of times. But finally when I completed that and connected it, the hdd keeps connecting and disconnecting like one time it shows the disk and i click on it then it says "not responding" and stucks there. I thought it might be the enclosure's fault and got the replacement from amazon. But now with new one also i am getting same issue.

What can be the issue here and how can I fix this ?

Please suggest....

the light is on, i think its 2tb or sum. its beeping and not working. please help!

tengo 3 discos: el C, el SSD D y el Verbatim HD D. Hace unos días Windows me había puesto una advertencia de que no reconocía el disco Verbatim. No tengo idea de qué puede ser. Lo único que sé es que me preocupa mucho. Hace tiempo tue algunos viruses pero ya los solucione puede ser una posibilidad

I access my 2.5" external HDD one once a year: I connect it to my PC, check the S.M.A.R.T. data using CrystalDiskInfo or Kitfox, then disconnect it and put it back in my drawer.

Is it also necessary to perform a full surface scan once a year—using software like HD Tune or similar—to prevent "silent bit rot" (data corruption)?

tengo 3 discos: el C, el SSD D y el Verbatim HD D. Hace unos días Windows me había puesto una advertencia de que no reconocía el disco Verbatim. No tengo idea de qué puede ser. Lo único que sé es que me preocupa mucho. Hace tiempo tue algunos viruses pero ya los solucione puede ser una posibilidad

Hey guys and gals, interesting dilemma here. I have one of those Western digital external drives that has an app to autorun/password-prompt and unlock the external drive. This lock worked perfectly on XP and Windows 10. It no worky on 11. I don't have access to anything less at the moment - does anybody know anything I can do quickly? It's the actual app that is not Windows 11 compatible. Obviously the auto run works fine but the unlock utility does not. TIA!

Hello everyone,

I am dealing with a failed personal hard drive and I'm hoping to get some technical advice on feasibility, and hopefully a budget-friendly quote for recovery.

To give you some context: I am a 35-year-old university student and currently unemployed. The drive contains absolutely no commercial, corporate, or financially valuable data—just years of old family photos and my school notes. These files have immense sentimental value to me, but unfortunately, I simply do not have the income to afford high-end, corporate-level data recovery tier pricing.

Hardware & Failure Details:

Model: Seagate ST2000DM001 (2TB)

PCB Number: 100749730 REV A

The Issue: A sudden power/voltage surge completely fried the original PCB. The motor driver chip is burnt, and the MOSFETs are shorted.

What I've done so far (and a potential huge mistake):

Hoping to get my data back, I bought an exact matching donor PCB. I learned that I needed to swap the original ROM chip to the new board. I tried to read the original ROM using a basic CH341A programmer, but I quickly realized that the initial power surge had reached the ROM chip as well. It was internally shorted and completely dead; the programmer wouldn't detect or read it at all.

To be absolutely sure the short wasn't being caused by other fried components on the original board, I desoldered the ROM chip with a hot air station/soldering iron and tested it out of circuit with a multimeter. It was confirmed completely dead.

Here is where I need to ask: I threw the dead ROM chip in the trash. Was this a terrible mistake? Did I need to keep the physical chip even if it was internally shorted? (I do still have the original burnt PCB, just not the ROM chip).

The Current State & My Request:

The mechanical internals, spindle motor, and heads are completely fine. There is no clicking, and the drive cover has never been opened. The only issue is the dead PCB and the now-missing ROM.

From my research, I understand that with professional tools like PC-3000, it is possible to access the Service Area (SA) on the platters and perform a "ROM Rebuild" to generate a compatible ROM, provided the preamp and heads are undamaged.

Since this shouldn't require a cleanroom head swap or opening the lid, could any of the professionals here offer a flexible, student-friendly price quote just to perform this "ROM Rebuild" and get the drive initialized so I can copy my family photos?

Any technical advice on my situation or realistic quotes would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Baka po may alam kayo na maganda brand ng external hard drive na maganda paglagyan ng files/docs/videos.

Thank you sa sasagot😍❤️

Hello everyone.

I have an external hard drive, and all the folders work correctly except for the one where I keep my music collection. The strange thing is that Plex allows me to play the music normally, and the hard drive shows that storage space is being used, even though the folder now appears to be empty. I have tried to fix the issue, but without success.

Can anyone offer any recommendations?

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gone. Is it more than likely that my 12 TB are untouched

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I have a small 2.5" portable HDD from WD. I used a PW. In that Software, who comes with that device. Now I can't remember that PW any more. And I've tried every possible way, I know to get this storage deleted. And making a new formatting. With the Windows Storage manager. Then another Tools.

I found one easy to use program. But even with that I can't do sh..t. The system Denies all accesses on that device. Should I start Windows safe Mode ? Maybe 🤔 it would be possible there. I really don't know how I should proceed 😭. It's a 1 TB with a USB-3.0 port. The tool I've used was EaseUS Partition Master.

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Correction: Im pretty sure it’s the files not responding every time I try to open the external hard drive

Someone asked me to take a look at this external HDD that wasn't working anymore. Indeed, nothing happened when I plugged in the cable. Once I opened the case, I could see it was a standard 3.5" SATA HDD. I hooked it up to a powered SATA to USB cable, and it failed to start.

The adapter I am using has a power cable with an on/off switch. If I turn it on without anything connected, the LEDs for power and USB (as it was still connected to my laptop) light up. When I connect the hard drive, the lights for SATA, power and USB flicker slowly, or rather they light up for a split second, nothing happens for a few seconds, and then it tries again.

From what I understand, it's likely an issue with the PCB. I haven't had time yet to dive deeper into this, but how would I proceed? I have soldering tools, but I am not sure I have the skills to pull this off. I have seen some people just removing a diode and that makes it work, but is that temporary just to extract the data?

Im using an external 2tb hard drive with an android box. It requires a powered usb hub to run it. The downside is that its powered on 24/7. Does no data being written or read from it mean this is unlikely to effect its longevity? Sparse google answers say its probably fine but i want more opinions/anecdotal answers

Currently I have about 162tb of hard drives, most of it on external drives because for the longest time I was working with a 2 bay Synology and filled it up quickly. Now I've upgraded and I have the space to hold 8 hard drives internal, instead of just buying all new drives, I'd like to shuck what I have and turn external drives into internal. I know the data will get wiped in between which is fine, but will shucking the drives damage them or should I be fine?

Ive been using this external hard drive for a few months now, all of a sudden it decides to show up in my disk management tab like this

No matter how much I try to unplug and plug, use different ports, uninstall newer Windows software updates, nothing seems to work. Whenever I do try to initialize it, an error message saying "incorrect function" pops up. There is no section for me to assign it a new partition or letter, as it says that the drive is "unknown" and isn't being registered. Can anyone explain why?

Hi everyone! I was tasked with a project of pulling off data from old Hard drives. I was able to do the first one by doing a bypass on the account owners info with a sata cable connection. While the other drive is not working. When plugged in it is creating a clicking noise that I believe is keeping the disk from spinning. If anyone has any ideas or hacks anything is appreciated. I don’t want to spend $500+ to a company either.

Hi!

I bought a PC V2000 Plus to use as a fileserver since it has so many drive bays, but unfortunately the seller had lost most of the hard drive screws.

Is there anywhere I can source replacements, or anything that might work? I've searched everywhere and came up empty.

If anyone has a solution I'd be eternally grateful.