I just bought the 500GB WD MyBook Pro edition and I connected it to a notebook via FireWire400 cable. The drive appears to work fine but I am concerned about the sounds it makes. When starting-up, it makes that whining sound which I consider to be normal but after it spins-up it makes 3 or 4 weird clicks (app. half-second interval between the clicks). After that the drive is quiet - I can only hear that it rotates.

BUT whenever I access any data on the drive (including listing the folder or creating new folder) the drive again makes those 3 or 4 clicks. Whenever it clicks, the blue circular display on the front side of the drive dims and iluminates one segment of the outer circle. However, when I start copying files - I tried to copy 700 MB folder of pictures, the sound only appears when it starts copying - it is quiet during the actual copying.

Can anyone tell me whether this is normal for the drive or is my drive faulty?

Thanks for your responses

I have the same WD 'Book' as you listed.

Mine doesn't make any clicking noises as you have stated. I run mine using the faster FW800, so I presume if there were clicking as per standard on these ext HDD's it would definately show.

You should be able to return and exhange for another from the store you bought it at.

Back it up *now*

Take it back.

The "clicking" noise is the read/write arm exceeding tolerances and hitting its stops. This leads to rapid failures.

More info - google for "click of death", or go here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death

I agree. I have the low end model of the 500GB MyBook and it is VERY quiet - even when it first boots up. Return it and I would even go as far as to tell the vendor that you are having problems copying data to it.

I have had the same problem with a 250GB MyBook, WD25001032. The drive have been running perfectly for almost half a year and then started to give those strange clicking sounds. It took less then a week for the drive to breakdown and become totally useless. I have lost all data on this drive and it is no longer accessible from the OS. Does any one know if there is a cure for this to recover the data before claming a new drive on warranty?