My harddrive is making a clicking noise after I copy files. Is this a sign of my HD dying? This noise only started after I installed OSX 10.4. Please note the eMac is now almost 4 years old. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. Peace out.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
HD Clicking Noise
- Thread starter firststrike101
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
General light clicking is normal while the hard drive reading/writing. Hard clicking, or clunking sounds are NOT normal. Do you notice any slow downs, or pauses while using the computer? It may be a sign of the hard drive dying, and if so, its just a coincidence that your HD is dying after installing Tiger. Installing an OS has no bearing on a hard drive failing.
I guess it would be a hard clicking since I've never heard/noticed it click like that before. Looks like I'll either be getting a external HD or a new Mac, must convience the wife first though, lol.
So now what kind of HD can I get to replace the one that is dying. I know I could get a maxtor HD, cause thats whats in there right now, but would a western digital work. Mainly cause its on sale right now. It says its mac compatible on the box but will it work with my 700mhz eMac? I am willing to do the surgery myself and I found a how-to site thats very good with pics so thats not a problem. Also, I guess I would need to carbon copy my drive now, so would it be possible to use my iPod as the drive to carbon copy too? Thanks for the help.
anyone know where I can find a good parts bin?
There's nothing terribly special about a HDD - it either works or it doesn't. Many Mac parts come from the same parts bin that is used by everyone else. Doublecheck the interface (e.g. EIDE, ATA-6) and drive dimensions (it's probably 3.5", right?), and then make sure that your replacement is compatible with both. I've had very good luck with Hitachi/IBM drives, although my father prefers Western Digital. As long as you're going to open it up, go with a 7200 rpm unit.
firststrike101 said:
There's nothing terribly special about a HDD - it either works or it doesn't. Many Mac parts come from the same parts bin that is used by everyone else. Doublecheck the interface (e.g. EIDE, ATA-6) and drive dimensions (it's probably 3.5", right?), and then make sure that your replacement is compatible with both. I've had very good luck with Hitachi/IBM drives, although my father prefers Western Digital. As long as you're going to open it up, go with a 7200 rpm unit.
firststrike101 said:
Depends what "clicking noise" actually is, but as you probably know 10.4 includes spotlight, Apple's new super-duper search feature. After you install 10.4, spotlight creates a search index of everything on your hard drive. From that point forward, the index is updated on the fly, in the background. If you are copying files, it's probably safe to assume that spotlight is updating it's index to reflect the copied files. At least you might hear some sort of HD activity on and off while that's going on.
As a safety check, you can also launch disk utility and click on your hard drive. At the bottom, you should see the HD's S.M.A.R.T. status. If it says "verified" the drive should be okay.
VanNess said:
My GFs iMacs HDD was making a clicking noise and S.M.A.R.T verified it as okay, the drive still died that week.
Thanks everyone. I ended up doing surgery and I put a 250GB western digital in and its seems to be working just fine for now. Altough I did lose everything on my old drive from June 05 through now. No biggy I guess.
firststrike101 said:
Usually, a clicky noise from a HDD is bad news. then the clicky turn into a grindy sound...
A old trick that *might get some of your data back.. Put the HDD in the freezer for a 1/2 hour. then try to get your data off it. The idea behind this is, after the metal shrinks, the drive might work until it gets hot again, then by by.. I used to work for a Hardware manufacturer, one of my jobs was data recovery, and this was a "last resort" trick that worked sometimes. I actually was told this by a tech @ Seagate. This usually gave me enough time to Ghost the entire disk to a new one.