[SOLVED] Hard disk makes noise (like grinding for 2 secs) when laptop is shook and sometimes while typing

[Beginner129]

My laptop HDD is making vibrating/grinding sound whenever laptop is shook. Sometimes noise also occurs while I am typing. Facing this issue since last month.

 

[Colif]

Welcome to Tom's

My first thought was... stop shaking it.
The second was - replace it with ssd, then you can continue shaking it

HDD platters probably don't appreciate being shaken. SSD probably don't care.

 

[Paperdoc]

I like Colif's reply. But beyond the "stop shaking!" advice, here's a thought. From time to time a HDD will encounter an error when reading. The normal action when that happens is that it does a small partial reset by stopping its current work, retracting the heads to the zero track to ensure it is positioned in a known place, then re-using the last co-ordinates to re-seek the Sector it was trying to find and read. Most often that succeeds, and it keeps on going. SOMETIMES it fails a second time, and the whole sequence will repeat. This will continue if failures continue, until a limit is reached and the HDD reports to the OS that there is an error of a Bad Sector that cannot be read.

It also is normal that this "Head Seek" process happens once when the HDD first starts up. In a laptop, often the HDD is set up to stop after a certain period of non-use, then re-start when it is called to action. That re-start also will trigger one "Head Seek" cycle.

So, if most of these noises happen when you jostle the laptop, then it is quite likely that they are CAUSED by the action that disturbs the head alignment as a read is being attempted. NOT shaking the unit will avoid that! However, if this is happening often when there is NO disturbance, your HDD may actually have a real problem requiring further diagnosis.

 

[Colif]

While it might have been the smart answer, its also a good one. replacing any hdd with an ssd is a good idea. You will notice the speed difference.