[The old Submariner]

Good morning and a happy New Year to all,

 

I have a 2TB hard drive in my desktop pc which is now starting to make the most unhealthy sounds when turning on, the noise is akin to a shaking a load of nuts and bolts in a steel bucket!  It does quieten down after a couple of minutes but I'm worried that one day it will just fail completely and I have far too much valuable info/photos on it to lose.

 

My question is this, I want to replace it with a 2TB HDD as I can't afford the SSD, how do i transfer all the information on the old to the new?

I have heard that it's possible to fit it in to the tower pc and run them both but I am not a pc wizard and would really appreciate some help in doing this.

 

Kind regards to all those who read this

 

Graham

 

 

[Advertisements]

And a happy New Year to you Graham.

Have a read through this tutorial as it is pretty straight forward, just ask when you need clarifications.

Let un know the brand/model of your motherboard and case so we can pick the best option for hooking up your new drive.   Do you know which drive you want to buy?

[iammykyl]

And a happy New Year to you Graham.

Have a read through this tutorial as it is pretty straight forward, just ask when you need clarifications.

Let un know the brand/model of your motherboard and case so we can pick the best option for hooking up your new drive.   Do you know which drive you want to buy?

[123Runner]

Are you sure its the hard drive and not a fan in the power supply or the cabinet because I would think that a drive making that much noise would have crashed by now or you would be reporting other failures of the OS like crashes of the OS, programs hanging, etc.

I would pull the side cover off and try and determine where exactly the noise is coming from.

And if it is the hard drive you do want it to get it replaced sooner than later.

 

Are you doing any type of backup to your documents and photos? If not, that should be your very 1st objective. Whether it is the hard drive or not you should have a back up plan.

And, if you leave the side cover off you can "hang" a drive and then clone the old to the new.

[iammykyl]

Ooops.

Good advice 123Runner.  My bad missing that.

[The old Submariner]

Good morning and thank you.

 

I thought that iammykyl had the answer with the fan though not in the power supply.  I removed the power leads from the hard drive and then turned the pc on.  Lo and behold no noise which only left the fan in the power supply and also the fan on the heat sync, on connecting the heatsink fan there was the noise.  I have just taken delivery from Amazon for a new intel fan, removed the old one, applied a small amount of paste and fitted the new one.  Can you imagine my reaction when I switched on the pc and there was the noise!!!!

I am really scratching my head now, the noise only lasts for maybe 20/40 seconds and then dies out so it is mechanical but where I don't know, the one thing I am glad about is that it isn't the hard drive,  any other ideas people?  

 

A happy New Year to all

 

Graham

[phillpower2]

Can you post the brand and model name or number of the PSU and any add on video card.

 

Suggestion, place the computer somewhere safe while at the same time you will also be able to place your ear at the rear of the case by the PSU exhaust vent while pressing the power on button on the chassis, if the PSU fan bearings have gone you will soon hear it, you should also make sure that any screws used for securing hardware are suitably tight and that none are missing, metal on metal vibration on start up sounds like a bag of spanners.

[phillpower2]

Not heard back from you The old Submariner , do you still require assistance or is the issue now resolved, an update would be appreciated.

[The old Submariner]

Good morning and my apologies for not keeping up to date the problems with my pc.

 

My wife thought me slightly insane when I told her I had ordered a stethoscope from Amazon, partly the reason for my lapse in correspondence.  

Following my eldest sons advice, I removed the power leads from the hard drive and also the CPU fan.  On powering up, on came the familiar sounds of nuts and bolts rattling in a tin bucket, when I listened to the fan on the power unit using the stethoscope, there was no mistaking where the noise was coming from.  But to be sure, I reconnected the leads to the hard drive and cpu fan which were both silent.

So a £10.00 stethoscope helped to decide what was causing the problem and no doubt it will come in handy in the future.

 

I have been told that the fan on the power unit are not available to buy as they come as a sealed unit, but I will have a hunt around on amazon before spending £40.00 on a complete unit.

So thanks to all for your advice and I will post later concerning the success or failure in obtaining a new power unit fan.

 

A very happy New Year to all

 

Graham

[phillpower2]

So a £10.00 stethoscope helped to decide what was causing the problem and no doubt it will come in handy in the future.

 

 

Ouch, the method that I suggested would have got you the same results and for harder to hear but still noticeable signs using a wide milkshake type straw can be used pretty much like an old ear trumpet, as long as it is not poked inside the vents that is.

 

I have been told that the fan on the power unit are not available to buy as they come as a sealed unit, but I will have a hunt around on amazon before spending £40.00 on a complete unit.

 

 

Please be aware that there are no user replaceable parts in a PSU so a bad one should be disposed of in a responsible manner and any type of conclusive testing will need to be done by a suitably trained Tech who has the required testing equipment and the relevant knowledge as to how to use it.

[phillpower2]

Best Answer

Not heard back from you The old Submariner, do you still require assistance or is the issue now resolved, an update would be appreciated.

[The old Submariner]

My apologies for not ending this but the news is good.

 

It was definitely the cooling fan on the pc power unit which I determined with the stethoscope.

Before I ordered a new unit complete with fan, I checked online for a cheaper answer and found one.  I removed the power unit from the pc and then removed the fan from the pc housing.  Removed the shiny silver sticker over the centre of the fan hub, took out the plastic disc that is inserted to keep out dirt etc. and just put one/two drops of Three in-one very light oil on top of the fan's spindle.  Put everything back and after a couple of start ups Voila! no more noise.  Now it runs very quietly indeed thanks to a couple of drops of oil.

So basically, it was the bearings in the power unit cooling fan that were running rough and all it took was a couple of drops of a very light easing oil and the job was a goodun.

 

I hope this is of help to anyone in the same situation, I guess at 72 I'm from the "Try to mend it first" culture before resorting to just "Buy another one"

 

Regards to all that took the trouble to look at this post.

 

Graham

[phillpower2]

No worries, glad you got it sorted and thanks for letting us know that all is now well with your computer