HDD vibrating and freezing the computer

[Isokolon]

hi

when booting my computer today it was pretty loud.
determined it's a heavily vibrating HDD
the HDD-activity LED on my case was constantly lightening
and I had a complete freeze when booting, after a force reset it worked but the vibration continued (no clicking or anything, just vibrating)
I now disconnected it (was just backup storage)
do I need to replace the drive ASAP?

thanks for you insights!

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Test it with SeaTools: http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/

 

[herrwizo]

If this vibration never occured before, and you are 100% sure that the hard drive is fastened to the case as it should be, then I would backup all data from it and replace it ASAP, as it indeed might be failing. It all depends on how much you value your data

EDIT: you can test it with tools as suggested above, but if it is in near-fail condition it can only make it die sooner - time is critical here and at least backup all your data first, before doing any tests.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Isokolon.

As you've determined yourself, this is indeed a pretty bad sign. The first thing you should do is backup your important data as soon as possible while you still have access to it, just to be on the safe side.
After that, it's time for the troubleshooting part. Try the drive with a different SATA port and different SATA cables, to see if the issue still persists. Download the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic tool and run the tests, to see what's the situation with the drive.

edit: Seems like I was beaten to the answer while I was typing.

Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Isokolon]

thank you for your responses. Thought so. it is 7 years old...

I'm positive it's the HDD. it's in my drive cage and I never heard it before.
I disconnected PSU and board connection, rebooted and the sound was gone
will reconnect on saturday when I don't have to work 9h/day, backup the data and say goodbye to my old friend

 

[Isokolon]

thank you for your responses. Thought so. it is 7 years old...

I'm positive it's the HDD. it's in my drive cage and I never heard it before.
I disconnected PSU and board connection, rebooted and the sound was gone
will reconnect on saturday when I don't have to work 9h/day, backup the data and say goodbye to my old friend