Clicking Target Drive

There are a couple of reasons why a hard drive may start making a rhythmic clicking sound. Either the drive has failed or the drive is not getting enough power. If your drive is clicking follow these steps.

  1. If your drive is a small portable drive, then it gets it's power from the USB port. Make sure that you are plugging the drive directly into a USB port on your computer and not through any type of USB hub or extension cable.

  2. If you are connecting to a desktop or tower computer sometimes the front side USB ports do not provide enough power for a hard drive. Try connecting the drive to a USB port on the back of the computer.

  3. If your computer is an older laptop, then your USB ports may not be powerful enough to use a portable drive. Try the drive in a newer computer or a desktop computer to see if the issue is a power issue or if the drive is failed.

  4. If the drive is a larger style external drive that has it's own power supply, then either the drive is failed or the power supply is faulty. If the drive started clicking within 30 days of receiving it from DriveSavers, please give us a call to troubleshoot at 800-609-2301. If it is longer than 30 days, most drives have at least a 1 year warranty from the manufacturer and you should contact them for assistance.

  5. If after trying all the possible power options the drive still clicks and does not work, then the drive has most likely failed and will need to be replaced.