HDD Clicking when it seem to be working too hard

[Atinkler]

My A110 for a while now has had HDD clicking issues which had me thinking it was about to die but this has now been going on for months .. so yes it could be a slow death but it's not getting much worse.

when I'm watching content via the HDD and I hear the disc whizz up .. say when a NZB starts scanning or when another process happens like a jukebox scan then the HDD starts clicking and after 10 sec (max) the video freezes and I have to hard re boot.

I've scheduled NZB downloads to happen outside peak times now which maybe has prolonged the life of the disc (if it is dying) but I before I go off and a) buy a new PCH b) buy a new HDD c) buy an external HDD or d) work out how to use my Readynas to store it on and run Oversight off ... then I'd like to know if is the HDD dying or if it's something else.

Anyone have any ideas?

Actually one other thing.. it did happen this evening and no process should have been running in the background apart from maybe an Oversight scan or something very basic.. definatley NO downloading or heavy CPU activity.. and this does happen every few days now.

Thanks in advance guys

[halfelite]

sounds like its dying I had a drive click for 2 months and the day before i was going to back it up it died.

[accident]

I'm surprised it's working at all but yes this sounds like the drive has finished it's life. The only way to know for sure is to exhaustively drive test (you'll find software to do this on your manufacturers website and it's the first step to an RMA if it's under warranty still). But that destroys the data so you need to move anything you care about elsewhere first if possible.

[Pernod]

I also agree that the HDD is likely failing. Plug it into a PC and run something like the free Acronis Drive Monitor to check it's S.M.A.R.T. parameters. If this indicates any parameters failing then proceed to the manufacturers drive test for possible RMA. I've RMA'd two drives in the past couple of months and found Western Digital to be excellent by sending a replacement within days of receiving my failed drive.

[Atinkler]

guys thanks for the advise!

OK so it's going then......

Now I need to work out priorities - I'm moving in a month or so .. so cash flow isn't technology flowing

Does anyone know if I can connect a readynas to the PCH DIRECTLY and then use filemode to transfer over to the NAS?

OR

The other option is I say f@ck it and get a A210... buy 2 TB HDDs to upgrade my NAS and then use one of the 500GB from the NAS into the A210

Hmmmmmm decision decision

[Mar_1910]

I am also intrested how to copy content from hdd on Windows7. Can I connect it throug some usb and copy content from it?

[Mar_1910]

I downloaded ubuntu livecd and after installing on usb stick i run my computer over linux and could access all files from hdd.

[technob]

I recommend checking your hdd health , there might be a problem with your hard drive. Clicking sound in a hard drive generally indicates a dying hard drive.

[gvt100]

(01-06-2012 12:18 PM)Mar_1910 Wrote:  I am also intrested how to copy content from hdd on Windows7. Can I connect it throug some usb and copy content from it?

Ext2fsd can be used to copy from the pch hdd to windows 7. it works well..