Fix Western Digital Hard Drive Noise Issues

Identifying and troubleshooting Western Digital hard drive noise issues

There can be several reasons why a WD drive may be making a clicking noise:

The drive is not getting enough power to fully spin up;
The drive has failed;
Occasional clicks during data access;
Hard clicks during a head park operation (shutdown or sleep mode);
The data cable is faulty, or incompatible;

WD internal drives

Please follow the instructions below to check a WD drive for damage:

Turn off your computer system;
Disconnect the data cable from the drive making noise (Do NOT remove the power cable);
Turn the computer back on;
If the clicking noise persists, your drive maybe defective and needs to be replaced. Otherwise, continue to step 5;
Replace your data cable. If the problem returns, this could be a system hardware related issue. Please contact Seagate System or Motherboard manufacture;

WD My Book external drives

Note: The My Book unit will not power up until both power, and data cables are connected to power source and powered on computer.

Please follow the troubleshooting steps below:

To test if the drive is getting enough power, plug the power adapter directly into a wall outlet;
Use the original USB cable to directly connect the drive to a USB port on the computer, ideally to a USB port on the back;
Use the original USB cable to directly connect the drive to another USB port on the computer；
Use the original USB cable to directly connect the drive to a USB port on another computer；
Try another USB cable；
If the clicking noise persists, your drive may be defective and need to be replaced；

WD My Passport external drives

Note: The USB cable is used for both data and power, it is possible that a faulty or incompartible cable can cause the drive to click.

Please follow the troubleshooting steps below:

Use the original USB cable to directly connect the drive to a USB port on the computer, ideally to a USB port on the back;
Use the original USB cable to directly connect the drive to another USB port on the computer;
Use the original USB cable to directly connect the drive to a USB port on another computer;
Try another USB cable (18 inches or less);
The computer may not be supplying enough power through the USB port. The purchase of a supplemental Power Booster Cable from the WD Online Store may resolve the issue;
If the clicking noise persists, your drive may be defective and need to be replaced.

WD My Cloud drives

To test the internal hard disk drive(s) in a My Cloud device:

Launch the Dashboard;
Navigate to Settings > Utilities > Disk Test, and perform a Quick Test, and Full Test;
To test if the drive is getting enough power, plug the power adapter directly into a wall outlet;
If either disk test fails, or if the clicking noise persists, the My Cloud device or the internal drive may be defective and need to be replaced;

Note:

My Cloud devices with multiple internal hard disk drives, can have their hard disk drives removed and tested as internal drives by following the steps under WD internal drives.

A WD drive can also be tested by WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics.