When I turned on my computer yesterday, the hard drive was making a clicking noise. So I decided to leave it off for a night to let the hard drive cool down. After I woke up this morning, I turned on my computer again to check the condition. To my surprise, the clicking sound is gone and I can login to my Windows.

Shortly after I backed up all my data, I downloaded Western Digital Diagnostic Tool for Windows and ran a extended test on the drive. The test came out ok.

Should I replace my drive? Or is it ok? Can a faulty SATA controller cause the hard drive to make clicking noises?

Thanks all.

Open the case and make sure the power and drive cables are on the drive securely. If you can move the drive to another hard drive bay that the drive can cool better then you should be fine. If the SMART isn't warning you of impending failure and the Western Digital says the drive is working properly then you shouldn't have a problem.

I agree with Bill.

Once satisfied the hdd is ok, it could be worth defragging the hdd.

It could be the heads were having to seek all over the place to find some info and this was the source of the clicking noise you heard.

However do make sure you regularly back up your hdd. I try and do this on a weekly basis to a second hdd in my pc. External usb hdd's are very cheap now, here in the UK.

Good Luck - Keep us Posted.