I definately agree. I use a stethescope to listen to the ipod and
compare the sound against a known good ipod. Like oldturkey
says....rhythmic clicking is a bad drive because there is only
1 moving part in any ipod....the drive platters and read/write heads.
Normally, you can hear the platters spin...sounds like a whine.
You can tell it's a spinning thing from the sound it makes.
So if the sound is different - toast it is.