Hard Drive Problems

[JoHnDoE416]

So my hard drive (WD Black, 1TB; roughly 3 months old with about 740 GB available out of 930) is making some high pitched whining noises which have me concerned it might fail. Oddly, it only makes them when I attempt to launch a game; at no other time does it do this. When I launch Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, I can get through the menus but the game stops working upon actually loading the map (at times I am treated to the courtesy of an alert that the game has stopped working, others it just goes black and I have to restart my PC since the game window blocks Task Manger which is the only other way I can close it; clicking the red "x" doesn't work). On Wargame: Red Dragon, I can load the game, get through the menus, and even start playing, but the game randomly freezes, to where I can move my cursor and hear sounds perfectly fine but the cursor doesn't select anything or otherwise elicit a response (akin to moving your cursor over a picture). Is this symptomatic of the beginning of hard drive failure or something else, and what's the best way to go about transferring my data to a new hard drive (this would also be a WD Black unless you might suggest a better alternative)?

 

[Darkbreeze]

It could be the drive, but lets start with the most obvious failure with gamplay which causes the GPU to draw far more voltage than is normally required, which would be the power supply. Weak or faulty PSUs can cause just about ANY symptom typical of every hardware component to happen since they all need, power. What are your complete system specs including the model number and brand of the PSU? If you say Thermaltake TR2 I'll just tell you in advance to replace it.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there JoHnDoE416,

You can test the drive with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool and see whether the results will show that there is something wrong with the drive.
Apart from that, I would agree with darkbreeze and say that the PSU might be a possible cause for the issues as well.
Regarding your data transferring question, in case you want to do a exact copy of your system, you can just use a cloning program. You can check out Acronis True Image WD Edition.

WD's DLG tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=zm5QZR
Acronis True Image: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=o0xENM

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[Darkbreeze]

Oops. I forgot to add that crucial (No pun intended, nor offense by competing brand) suggestion. Good catch WD. Backing up all the important data right away is a damn good idea just in case the drive is on it's way out, you don't lose your important bits.

 

[D_Know_WD]

This is crucial indeed. I've missed that. Thanks for adding it.

D_Know_WD

 

[JoHnDoE416]

It could be the drive, but lets start with the most obvious failure with gamplay which causes the GPU to draw far more voltage than is normally required, which would be the power supply. Weak or faulty PSUs can cause just about ANY symptom typical of every hardware component to happen since they all need, power. What are your complete system specs including the model number and brand of the PSU? If you say Thermaltake TR2 I'll just tell you in advance to replace it.

I believe that was the problem; I'd decided to overclock my GPU a little bit (r9 295x2), and once I returned it to its default clock rate my games ran fine. I still hear the high-pitched whining noise, but upon listening further I'm not sure if it's from my hdd or my monitor (Asus VG248QE). Thanks for the suggestion

 

[JoHnDoE416]

Hi there JoHnDoE416,

You can test the drive with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool and see whether the results will show that there is something wrong with the drive.
Apart from that, I would agree with darkbreeze and say that the PSU might be a possible cause for the issues as well.
Regarding your data transferring question, in case you want to do a exact copy of your system, you can just use a cloning program. You can check out Acronis True Image WD Edition.

WD's DLG tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=zm5QZR
Acronis True Image: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=o0xENM

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

I appreciate the response. The problem (now fixed) seems to be due to the fact that I'd overclocked my GPU a little bit, and upon listening further I'm not sure if the whine is from my case or possibly my monitor. I'll definitely keep my business with WD for my hard drives; thank you again.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Could very possibly have been coil whine from the increased voltage to the GPU. This is a common issue on some GPU models. All have it, just some are noticeable and some are not, plus, overclocking often amplifies the issue. I'd take a serious look at the PSU though as well. Your GPU is a VERY demanding model, so PSU selection is absolutely critical. If your PSU isn't a 1000w or higher unit listed on the following list at Tier 2B or higher, I would not overclock. If it's not at least 950w and on the list at 2b or higher, I'd get one that was.


http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html