Not sure if this is the correct forum .... if not, I'm sorry - just tell me and I'll move it.

When it's very quiet, I can here my HD accessing files even though it's idle (at least it isn't running any appls). PC seems to be working OK ... but I'm concerned about the HD 'wearing out' (PC - & HD - are 6 years old ... DELL Dimension 4300 - running XP Home, SP2 with 1 GB of ram).

Heard it over the past couple of years (at least) and defragging makes no difference (HD is 20 GB total ... partitioned to approximately 9.5GB for "C" and 9.5 for "E"). Defragged 2 days ago .... 26% free.

Maybe I'm being paranoid (I'm retired/disabled so lots of free time ... like the commercial says "with Suncom you have time to worry about other things", though I don't have SunCom as my cell phone provider) ... can someone provide a 'rational' explanation?

I understand your problem. I, too, was worried about losing all my data i have built up over the years to a HD that suddenly goes bad. So, i developed a backup system where i put all new data in a certain area i have selected for my computer. Lets say i call this area BACKUP and i install as many folders and files as i want there to where it now equals about 4.3 gigs of data. When i get to that point i make a backup DVD of the data and either erase the data if i no lomnger need it or move it to other folders where i can use it. So then i will start with a NEW "BACKUP2" folder and put all new data there (even if it is revellent to data elsewhere).

This way i never lose anything ever, unless my house burns down.

I still have a 512 MB hard drive in a compaq pentium 150 computer that runs windows 3.11 just fine. This computer is 14 years old i think. I have dozens of IDE drives i use to swap around on computers to see it the HD is the problem in some computer repairs i do. At the same time i have had brand new SATA 250 gig hard drives fail within weeks of buying them. So you never know how long they will last. This says to me that a BACKUP system is needed just in case.

They say defragging does not help, but i still say that when files are made contigious by defragging it helps because the drive head does not have to wander all over the drive to find all parts of the files. I have noticed that on newer computers defragging does not speed up the computer like it did years ago. Better software and hardware will do that.

Again i will say that if you backup everything you do then you will have the peace of mind that if a drive does fail you are still OK. Just fix the drive and continue on your merry way.

SRX660