Alternative explanation: some sectors are unreadable due to checksum errors (caused by improper powerdown). Repeated read requests sounds like ticking because the head will be seeked every time.
Writing all 1's or 0's to the drive causes those sectors to either be rewritten or reallocated.
The fact it's 1's and 0's wouldn't have an impact anyway - all drives use data whitening techniques anyway.
Writing all 1's or 0's to the drive causes those sectors to either be rewritten or reallocated.
The fact it's 1's and 0's wouldn't have an impact anyway - all drives use data whitening techniques anyway.