[Neil07]

Hi there !

Please help me. Periodically my hard disk makes a sound like a rodent is gnawing on it; "grrr-grrr-grrr-grrr" repeated between 2 and 6 times in sequence - most CPU processes stop for a few seconds while this is going on. It seems to occur mostly on boot-up or start-up of an application.

I recently cleaned my hard disk of malware - very many thanks to Kenny94 on your Malware Staff for his invaluable assistance - and have also run a RegEdit program of PC Tools (which I don't believe did anything significant). To the best of my recollection the problem has occurred from around the time recently that Microsoft Support remotely installed a HotFix solution for MS Outlook.

I'm running:

MS Windows XP Pro, version 2002, SP2 on a Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz machine with 1Gb RAM, about 2 years old, with 2 HDD.

Please tell me it's not my HDD going bad ! :-((

Thx, Neil

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Sounds like those you describe are likely an early warning that the hard drive is about to die. I would suggest backing up your data and getting a replacement drive.

[austin_o]

Sounds like those you describe are likely an early warning that the hard drive is about to die. I would suggest backing up your data and getting a replacement drive.

[Neil07]

Hi Austin,

Thanks for quick response. How can I tell which disk is creating the problem? Logically it should be my C:\ drive because most applications and the OS run off this drive - data is all on my D:\ drive but if I have to I'd prefer to replace one drive only.

Some other questions - could it be a problem with the Registry hives? If I have to replace a drive is there 'ghosting' or 'mirroring' software available that I can copy all my settings etc.

Thx, Neil

[austin_o]

You could try running the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostics program on the drive. You can find links to most of those at http://forums.pcper....isplay.php?f=40 See the sticky posts at the top of the forum. Norton Ghost will mirror the hard drive. There are probably other mirroring programs as well. Usually a hard drive making noise like you describe is telling you that failure is imminent.