Noisy Hard Drive

[tseavoy]

I imagine there are some computer literate people out there that may shed some light on my symptom.

Just today, my computer hard drive is making much more noise than before. Periodically there will be a noise (er-er-er-er-er) probably happening when the drive is being written to.

Is this the portend of a drive failure? Should I quickly buy a new drive and copy the old drive to it?
My computer is a fairly old PC running Windows 98.

Tom on Marrowstone

[TB Roye]

Tom

I doesn't sound good. I have had the same problem and usually it ends up in a new HD. Might be a good Idea to get one and start backing up you files

Tom

[Uncle Cracker]

Don't wait... Get a new one now, and use Norton Ghost or something similar to transfer your files while you still can. A noisy drive is telling you it's gonna croak.

[cgallery]

Periodically there will be a noise (er-er-er-er-er) probably happening when the drive is7 being written to.

Backup critical files to a flash drive ASAP.

Then go out and purchase a replacement hard drive.

Replacement drives (retail ones sold in at places like Best Buy, as opposed to OEM drives sold at corner computer stores) often come with some imaging software that will copy the contents of your old drive to the new one. When you go to Best Buy or the like, tell them you want a replacement hard drive that comes with some software that will image your old drive to the new one.

If you can't find one that includes imaging software, post-back and I'll point you towards some open-source solutions.

[DaveS]

So... yes, get your data backed up.

But.... I'm betting it is the cooling fan.

There are at least 2 in your PC - one on the CPU, and one in the power supply.

If a hard drive made a noise like that, it'd already be gone.

Audible sounds of impending hard drive failure:
(1) clicks
(2) very high pitched whine
(3) beeping (believe it or not)

[sparkeyjames]

DO NOT WAIT BACK UP NOW TONIGHT. Do not wait till tomorrow it may be too late. I pitch drives that even slightly start making a different noise than when I first put them in. It's your data only question is how important is it to you?

[BobSch]

Be on the safe side and copy your important files to a flash drive or write them to a CD or DVD. BEFORE YOU REBOOT THE COMPUTER! Even if it's not the drive, you can't be too safe.

[pelligrini]

Good info on backups.

Are you sure it's the drive? Do the noises correspond with any HDD indicator lights on your case? Drives usually don't make periodic noises like that.

I'm with DaveS on this one, I would bet it is a fan. Could be a fan one one of your bridges, or a video card fan, case fan etc.

[sparkeyjames]

Good info on backups.

Are you sure it's the drive? Do the noises correspond with any HDD indicator lights on your case? Drives usually don't make periodic noises like that.

I'm with DaveS on this one, I would bet it is a fan. Could be a fan one one of your bridges, or a video card fan, case fan etc.

Are you willing to bet your data on it? When I have strange noises in my computer my first thought is BACKUP then after that's done open the case and have a look. I have had drives that sounded fine right up to the end and others that made racket for a week or two then bit the dust. The MTBF rate is a lie.

[tseavoy]

Thanks guys.
I just ordered a new hard drive from Amazon. I will use the old drive as a secondary drive until it quits. The last time I replaced the drive I used a program called xxcopy, run through DOS. It replicates the old drive bit for bit.
I really don't think it's a fan. No squealing noise, no fan vibration noise. More like an increased disk access noise, which I usually hear.

Tom

[DaveS]

The MTBF rate is a lie.

State your source.

I do this for a living, and I can assure you that we go to great pains... grrrRRRReat pains to get our MTBF numbers.

Having said that, as a drive guy, I have said it many times, there are two types of drives - those drives that have failed, and those drives that will fail.

If you have 5 years on a drive, you are on borrowed time.

I have worked with literally thousands of drives, and I can tell you that once a drive sounds "different", or "funny", it is gone, gone, gone.

With the exception of the whine (motor bearing going out), clicking (head armature having trouble tracking and whacking into the rails, and a noise that sounds like beeping (servo entering last ditch error recovery), there is usually no noise associate with drive failure.

In older drives, you could hear thermal calibration happening more often when a drive started to get iffy, but those days are gone.

[sparkeyjames]

Sorry I should have made the joke more clear. It's a take off on a line from the game Portal "the cake is a lie". Also I have only ever had a few drives survive to its FULL MTBF for me most of the time they always fall well short. And usually just after the guaranty expires. So in short I'm my source. Been playing with hard drives since the mid 80's.

[DaveS]

Sorry I should have made the joke more clear. It's a take off on a line from the game Portal "the cake is a lie". Also I have only ever had a few drives survive to its FULL MTBF for me most of the time they always fall well short. And usually just after the guaranty expires. So in short I'm my source. Been playing with hard drives since the mid 80's.

ok... sorry, I'm a little testy these days. Darn recession.

If you truly have drives wear out prematurely, I'd check the temperature inside your boxes.

Heat is the #1 killer of drives.

Really big hammers are #2.

[DaveS]

Does it sound like any of these?

http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php

Most of these sounds are made by drives that are no longer functional.

Still, it is interesting to hear them all in a row like this.

[sparkeyjames]

State your source.

I do this for a living, and I can assure you that we go to great pains... grrrRRRReat pains to get our MTBF numbers.

.

Then what happens when you give those numbers to the marketing guys?
You know the guys that make spin a way of life.