Hey everyone, I'm really stressed out about a situation with a hard drive I just bought. I ordered a 4TB Barracuda from Amazon to store some family files and videos, hoping that a larger drive would be more reliable. However, when it arrived, the box was pretty damaged and the drive was only wrapped in a thin layer of bubble wrap with no extra protection, which made me nervous right off the bat.
I carefully installed it and copied around 350GB from my internal SSD. After about an hour, I transferred another big file from my 1TB internal HDD, totaling about 752GB. Halfway through that second transfer, I started hearing strange clicking noises, which I know is a bad sign. After the transfer finished, I noticed that my PC showed 753GB used, but my utility software only listed 322GB. I rebooted and saw a "repairing disk" message, but after that, I only saw the 322GB again, which freaked me out.
I'm worried that Amazon might refuse to take it back, especially since it arrived in such poor packaging, and I'm also concerned they might send me a replacement in the same flimsy condition. I really need this sorted out before I leave for vacation in 7 days, so I'm hoping for some advice. Can this drive be fixed? Will I be able to get a replacement shipped before I return this faulty one?
2 Answers
Returning it should be no problem. Amazon usually makes returns easy, especially if the product is defective. I'd recommend trying to format the drive first—who knows, it might become usable again, but if it still clicks, just send it back. For future purchases, consider getting a drive from a retail store so you can inspect it right away, or maybe even venture into SSDs for faster performance, though keep in mind they're not great for long-term storage.
It sounds like your hard drive is toast. Clicking noises usually indicate physical damage, so there's likely no fixing it. My suggestion is to order a new one ASAP and then return the broken drive. That way, you'll get the new drive faster. Just double-check that you bought from Amazon directly; sometimes third-party sellers can send used or refurbished drives and mishaps like this can happen.
In your case, it looks like you did buy from Seagate on Amazon, but if the packaging seemed off, that can definitely raise some red flags.
I did buy from the Seagate page on Amazon with tons of positive reviews! But it felt like it was repackaged, and some of the tape had Italian writing on it. I've ordered from Italy before, but now I'm wondering if I got a refurbished one instead.
SSDs are really fast, but for bulk storage, HDDs are still more reliable. If an SSD fails, you’re in trouble with data recovery. I chose HDDs specifically to keep my data long-term since it's easier to retrieve if something goes wrong.