Hi, a while ago i asked about the periodic knocking noise after each 4 seconds of my freshly bought 4 TB HDD WD4003FRYZ. We came to the conclusion that this was a reason to return the disk to the seller. "Click of Death" et.al.
I did and got a replacement disk. That one knocks less loudly, more like every 6 seconds, sometimes double-knocking, sometimes skipping a 6 seconds cycle. After more discussion with involved people, the term "Preventive Wear Leveling" came up. This feature seems to be old, but to now have been intensified with the excuse that nobody hears it knocking in a server room. Some quite unhappy Western Digital users can be seen at https://community.wd.com/t/periodic-noise-from-head-movement-wd-black-4tb/183096/2 One of those posts finally has a link to a company statement: https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16309 "Normal drive sounds include: ... Occasional drive clicks occurring at 4 or 5 second intervals, and the drive is functioning normally and passes diagnostics" Now the discussion of my HDD tends towards giving it back for the reason of neither warning of this feature and of the feature's effects being not the same from individual drive to individual drive. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- So my next question to recent HDD buyers: What 4 TB HDD should i want for best reliability and no noises when idle ? Any recent experiences ? Have a nice day :) Thomas