Arch Linux

archman-cro

Member

From: Croatia

Registered: 2010-04-04

Posts: 943

Website

Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

I'll give you a link for a dead topic in which a user explaines a problem similar to mine: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=39450

I'll also write some similar stuff here.
It's been almost two years or so since I get these now-and-then clicks from the hard disk drive. Some say that the noise is produced when the head is parking. But the noise here comes when the disk performs a read or write too. Also comes when it's idle, sometimes.

Here are some of the "stats" for the drive.

APM_level    = 254 (hdparm -B, also tried 255, but it feels the same (maybe the drive doesn't support a full APM off?)

smartctl info:
Model Family:     Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 series
Device Model:     HTS541060G9SA00
Serial Number:    MPBCL5XGK9GSJT
Firmware Version: MB3OC60P
User Capacity:    60,022,480,896 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   7
ATA Standard is:  ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 1
Local Time is:    Thu Jan  6 11:45:05 2011 CET
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

smartctl -H:
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

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     0x000b   100   100   062    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       2844
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   253   100   033    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       6408
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       33 (0, 4)
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   063   063   000    Old_age   Always       -       16461
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       3695
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x000a   100   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       143
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   054   054   000    Old_age   Always       -       469554
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   189   080   000    Old_age   Always       -       29 (Lifetime Min/Max 2/68)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

I guess that the "Load_Cycle_Count" is still in "boundaries" of 600000, so it's ok. (although the HDD is 5+ years old).
Should I switch to hdparm -B 255 and test further, even though the clicks apear anyway?
(I'm also considering to buy a new drive soon, definitely an SSD, since this one is probably dying.)

Cheers!

zippy

Member

Registered: 2009-02-01

Posts: 54

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

Sometimes in different machines i have to actually turn off spindown also ( hdparm -S 0 /dev/sdX ) or 255 wont work by itself. Also, make sure laptop mode isnt overriding anything you set manually.

archman-cro

Member

From: Croatia

Registered: 2010-04-04

Posts: 943

Website

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

I don't use laptop mode tools at all. Can that be a problem?

Last edited by archman-cro (2011-01-07 22:03:05)

Skyalmian

Member

Registered: 2009-06-28

Posts: 121

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

I think you're safe. I have this "problem" too with a HITACHI Travelstar 7K500 HD20500 IDK/7K 500GB and do not use laptop mode tools at all as well. Now and then it does a clicking marathon and has been since not long after I first got it in April 2010. I've noticed that there is a pattern to the clicks when they occur. (They also tend to occur when nothing is really happening on the system.) The first few times the clicks happened I always backed up every time, but the drive is fine even today. In December after switching to kernel26-git from the [nightly] repository I noticed an upswing of clicks that disturbed me, but it was short-lived, perhaps a kernel issue that was correctedly quickly as I was updating every other night.

Last edited by Skyalmian (2011-01-07 22:17:32)

archman-cro

Member

From: Croatia

Registered: 2010-04-04

Posts: 943

Website

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

What a coincidence. I have a Hitachi Travelstar too.
Here is a further information about the disk (in the first passus).
One thing that's interesting is that they claim that the clicks appear while the disk is idle. Well, here it appears when it's reading/writing mostly. Not when idle.
This, or similar to this, is definitely a known issue of Hitachi hard drives.

I've also tried using the script:

#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
        newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
        if [[ $newval != $lastval ]]    # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
        then
                date
                echo $newval
        fi
        lastval=$newval
        sleep 30    # or some other interval
done

and upon clicks the count does not increase.

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,696

Website

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3

These can be a redflag for bad sectors.  You might wanna run badblocks over the entire drive from a live CD.

Might be easier to run a long test with smartctl first...

Last edited by graysky (2011-01-08 10:37:20)

---

CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

archman-cro

Member

From: Croatia

Registered: 2010-04-04

Posts: 943

Website

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

Already ran smartctl (extended):

Extended offline    Completed without error       00%     16485

Also, seems like "hdparm -S 0 -B 255 /dev/sda" doesn't prevent the clicking.
Graysky, tnx for the advice, I'll be reading about Reallocated_Event_Count!

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,696

Website

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

@op - on an older machine, I have bad sectors that need to be repaired:

# smartctl --all /dev/sda
smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Caviar Blue EIDE family
Device Model:     WDC WD5000AAKB-00H8A0
Serial Number:    WD-WCBSYA357420
Firmware Version: 05.04E05
User Capacity:    500,107,862,016 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is:    Sat Jan  8 05:53:51 2011 EST
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:  (0x85)    Offline data collection activity
                    was aborted by an interrupting command from host.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      ( 121)    The previous self-test completed having
                    the read element of the test failed.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:          (11160) 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:      ( 131) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:      (   5) minutes.
SCT capabilities:            (0x3037)    SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

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     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   197   158   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       3141
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       45
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   094   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       4712
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       43
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       40
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       45
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   111   105   000    Old_age   Always       -       36
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       2
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
Warning: ATA error count 264 inconsistent with error log pointer 1

ATA Error Count: 264 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
    CR = Command Register [HEX]
    FR = Features Register [HEX]
    SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
    SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
    CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
    CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
    DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
    DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
    ER = Error register [HEX]
    ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 264 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4571 hours (190 days + 11 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 51 60 81 e0  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00816051 = 8478801

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 00 00 27 60 81 00 00   3d+20:58:56.146  READ DMA
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:56.138  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:56.133  SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

Error 263 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4571 hours (190 days + 11 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 51 60 81 e0  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00816051 = 8478801

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 00 00 27 60 81 00 00   3d+20:58:53.639  READ DMA
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:53.631  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:53.626  SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

Error 262 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4571 hours (190 days + 11 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 51 60 81 e0  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00816051 = 8478801

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 00 00 27 60 81 00 00   3d+20:58:51.134  READ DMA
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:51.127  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:51.121  SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

Error 261 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4571 hours (190 days + 11 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 51 60 81 e0  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00816051 = 8478801

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 00 00 27 60 81 00 00   3d+20:58:48.627  READ DMA
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:48.619  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:48.614  SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

Error 260 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4571 hours (190 days + 11 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 51 60 81 e0  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00816051 = 8478801

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 00 00 27 60 81 00 00   3d+20:58:46.123  READ DMA
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:46.115  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 00   3d+20:58:46.109  SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed: read failure       90%      4712         8478801
# 2  Short offline       Completed: read failure       90%      4570         8478801
# 3  Short offline       Completed: read failure       90%      4570         8478801
# 4  Short offline       Completed: read failure       90%      3540         8273697
# 5  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%       734         -
# 6  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%       527         -
# 7  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%        31         -
# 8  Extended offline    Interrupted (host reset)      70%        16         -
# 9  Short offline       Completed without error       00%        16         -

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.

Last edited by graysky (2011-01-08 10:54:37)

---

CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

archman-cro

Member

From: Croatia

Registered: 2010-04-04

Posts: 943

Website

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

I don't have any so far, it seems, even though my Reallocation count is 33/3.
Meh, I guess I'll go with an SSD this year and use this HDD as external.

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,696

Website

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

@op - on an older machine, I have bad sectors that need to be repaired:

Mine turned out to be fine after I ran e2fsck, then rsync'ed the data from them to another partition, then filled the first two partitions with zeros with dd, then copied back the data.  Now I get no bad sectors at all... dunno if that was due to the dd or to the e2fsck -ckv /dev/sda{1,2} but it's all good now per smartctl's tests.  My drive didn't make a clicking sound though...

Last edited by graysky (2011-01-09 00:03:28)

---

CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

archman-cro

Member

From: Croatia

Registered: 2010-04-04

Posts: 943

Website

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

Ok, thanks for the info.

Skyalmian

Member

Registered: 2009-06-28

Posts: 121

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

No errors indeed:

[skyalmian@alcyone ~]$ smartctl -a -d ata /dev/sda
smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Hitachi Travelstar 7K500
Device Model:     Hitachi HTS725050A9A364
Serial Number:    091102PCE400VLG2NPMC
Firmware Version: PC4OC70E
User Capacity:    500,107,862,016 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 6
Local Time is:    Sun Jan 16 17:24:26 2011 UTC
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:  (0x04)    Offline data collection activity
                    was suspended by an interrupting command from host.
                    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:          ( 645) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:              (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    No 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:      ( 131) minutes.
SCT capabilities:            (0x003d)    SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

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     0x000b   100   100   062    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   186   186   033    Pre-fail  Always       -       2
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       931
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   084   084   000    Old_age   Always       -       7230
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       346
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       48
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   001   001   000    Old_age   Always       -       1248345
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   141   141   000    Old_age   Always       -       39 (Min/Max 21/51)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
223 Load_Retry_Count        0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      7143         -
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7141         -
# 3  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      4492         -

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.

[skyalmian@alcyone ~]$ smartctl -H /dev/sda
smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

[skyalmian@alcyone ~]$ 

archman-cro

Member

From: Croatia

Registered: 2010-04-04

Posts: 943

Website

Re: Clicking noise from a laptop HDD

Dunno what to say about this anymore. Maybe the best way would be to consult a mechanic.