[Pluto56]

Hi all.

The last of couple of days, my computer will start making a noise, sort of a rough vibration sort of noise.
At first I thought cooling fan, but it is running, isn't loose or anything, appears to be smooth. But when I place my hand on the backside of the hard drive, there is some vibration there. When the noise starts, the "hard drive" light on the front of the puter will go ballistic for a few seconds also, blinking rapidly. The light will soon calm down but the noise will continue. Only thing that stops the noise is to smack the case hard on the top. I know that sounds funny.
Puter runs fine otherwise. It is about 2 years old, a Dell refurb.

Is my hard drive about to go, or do I have another problem?
(yes, I've already backed up pics, documents, anything I wouldn't want to lose.)

Dell Dimension 2400
768 RAM
XP
Pent. 4 - 2.8ghz
80 GB IDE\DiskST380011A

Thanks for any replies.

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Hi Pluto56. That don't sound good. Give this a try
Check for Dirty Drive
To check for a Dirty Bit, first. Click Start, then Run, type cmd, and
click "Ok". At the command prompt, type fsutil dirty query c:
then hit enter
(This queries the drive and will tell you if it is dirty).
if it say yes do this
Start, my computer, open, click on Local Disk (C:) ,
Right click, click on properties, click on tools, and pick this
Option will check the volume for errors, click check now,
Now put a check in the boxes (automatically fix file
System errors and scan for and attempt recovery of
Bad sectors, hit Start and a note will come up and saying
that it can’t do a scan because there are system files in
use but can do a check disk on next boot up, tell it ok.
This will take about an hour or so!
Make sure you let it run till it’s done!

[Dwight]

Hi Pluto56. That don't sound good. Give this a try
Check for Dirty Drive
To check for a Dirty Bit, first. Click Start, then Run, type cmd, and
click "Ok". At the command prompt, type fsutil dirty query c:
then hit enter
(This queries the drive and will tell you if it is dirty).
if it say yes do this
Start, my computer, open, click on Local Disk (C:) ,
Right click, click on properties, click on tools, and pick this
Option will check the volume for errors, click check now,
Now put a check in the boxes (automatically fix file
System errors and scan for and attempt recovery of
Bad sectors, hit Start and a note will come up and saying
that it can’t do a scan because there are system files in
use but can do a check disk on next boot up, tell it ok.
This will take about an hour or so!
Make sure you let it run till it’s done!

[Pluto56]

did all that Dwight, no probs detected. I'm thinking the HD has probs even though it is a seagate. Got by backup all done. Guess I'll see what happens.

[GrantG]

Post edited to remove offensive content.

[System101]

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but If your Hard Drive is making weird nosies, then this is a sign that the hard drive may soon fail and and the data you have on it should be immediately backed up, and the hard drive replaced.

I've seen this happen too many times and seen people lose very valuable information that could not be replaced. (ie pictures)

But eventhough a hard drive fails, this does not mean that it is impossible to retrieve the information.

Edited by System101, 21 October 2006 - 06:16 PM.

[Dwight]

As system101 said time to replace it and soon. good luck with it.