[theBoar]

Hello,
One of my two hard drives is making a strange sound. Every few minutes the hard drive will start making this noise that sounds like a clicking or winding sound. I would kinda compare it to the sound of a watch winding, only louder. This sound come on about every 5 minutes and lasts about a minute at a time. Should i be worried about this? How do i fix it?

Edited by theBoar, 17 November 2006 - 04:08 PM.

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a clicking like...metal tapping on metal kind of clicking?

[dsenette]

a clicking like...metal tapping on metal kind of clicking?

[Armic]

Also - does your drive light on the front of your pc case flicker when it makes this noise?

[theBoar]

The sound is kinda like a bicycle chain when you peddle backwards, but the sound is slower and not as instense.....its very hard to discribe the sound. Aslo, the drive light does NOT flicker.

....I was able to record the sound on my cell phone and upload it to my computer, I added it as an attachment. Its not the best quality but you can here the noise pretty clearly if you use a headset. Thats the best I can do.

 Record005.mp3   249.94KB   36 downloads

[Armic]

I cant make out the noise, but if it is a noise like dsenette describes, & it has only just started doing this, I would suspect that the drive is about to fail. Back up all important data on it , then go to the manufacturers web site, to find out the manufacturer, Right click on 'My Computer' choose properties, then hardware, then devices/device manager, double click on disk drives, & here it should show the make/model of your drive.
On the web site you should be able to download some diagnostic software to test/repair your drives.

If it has always made this noise on occasions & it isnt like dsenette describes, it may just be the computer accessing the drive, therefore nothing to worry about, you should still download the software & do the tests anyway.

Edited by Armic, 17 November 2006 - 05:34 PM.

[Serrik]

I can barely hear the sound even with my speakers cranked but it does sound to me like you should be backing up data ASAP if you are not using a daily backup routine.

You ARE using a backup routine right?

[fleamailman]

if it is the famous tick of death, then the drive is dying so don't do any kind of scan or stuff, just get all the data you need off it while you can, if I am wrong then it doesn't matter, but I am right then you are running against the clock, so think data recovery foremost

Edited by fleamailman, 17 November 2006 - 08:09 PM.