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External USB hard drive makes noises when the computer is turned off

rated 0 times [ 1] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 1714 / 3 Years ago, sat, october 16, 2021, 5:47:59

I have an external USB hard drive of 500GB. I can't tell what model it is exactly, as nothing specific is written on it and I don't have the box anymore. I use it as a backup disk. It works absolutely fine when the computer is turned on: no problems with writing or reading, and everything is done in dead silence.

However, if I turn the computer off and the disk is still connected, it stays on and makes clicking noises. For that reason I only connect it when I need to back up or restore. Does that mean there's a problem with the disk, or with some preferences in the system itself?

Or something else?

Disk Utility claims that SMART data is "not supported", so I don't know how to test it.

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pardsea

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2 Years ago

answered 3 Years ago tonhorn · Accepted Answer

If you can not access the S.M.A.R.T data of your external drive then most likely the USB controller of your USB-drive does not support SMART commands. This may be overcome with

smartmontools

a tool collection designed for testing and reading SMART data that also work on external USB drives.

There also is a GUI for smartctl GSmartControl

After installation these applications need to be run as root, e.g. from a terminal with

gksu gsmartcontrol

enter image description here

In case you encounter errors you may have an imminent disk failure ahead. If not, then you may only have a poor noise protection from your external drive case, resp. a drive that makes some noise on idle.