Is My Hard Drive About To Kick The Bucket?

[Vyain]

Hello, i could use your help! I've had my hard drive for about 4 or 5 years and i have had zero issues until just recently. The most recent event for my computer was a full reformat. After 2/3 months of peace i recently began starting up my computer to a loud high speed noise (as if the disk is spinning extremely fast) or possibly a grinding noise but i'm more inclined to call it a high speed noise. Now this isn't with every start up its about 1/3 or 1/5 of the time i start my computer, as far as i can tell it doesn't matter what i'm doing or what i've done since last reboot.

The first time i heard the noise i believed it to be a fan so i opened up my computer and did some cleaning, once returned to its operating glory the noise had stopped. However i believe that to be coincidence and that the fan was never really the problem, the rebooting of the computer is what solved it i am left to assume.

Below is some useful(?) information.

I've used SeaTools in an attempt to diagnose my HDD but i got a Pass on every test.

(I know this is only the S.M.A.R.T this is just to serve as some semblance of proof.)


Also to note if i do something along the lines of disk defrag the noise stops immediately & never starts back up.
I had my defrag on a weekly schedule but i turned it off thinking that might have been causing an issue, aside from this i have no scheduled tasks. The computer as a whole surprisingly suffers no performance issues whilst the noise is being made.

Hopefully i've provided enough information outright to lead to some feedback, if i've missed anything just let me know what and i'll quickly post the info. My fear is my HDD is on its last legs which would be most unfortunate because i cannot afford to replace it right now or to lose the information. ):

 

[cin19]

Right now you are better to copy your all files into the CD or DVD, if you don't have any spare HDD.

Then try to run the SeaTools by the Fix ALL method to fix the bad sector and hope it works. If no you either buy the new HDD or use the seagate warranty (RMA).

 

[Vyain]

Thank you for your reply cin, i'll have to figure out how to back up so much... i think i'll try to be creative with all those free online storage like skydrive, etc.
Unfortunately i can't afford a new HDD indefinitely on my wages i nearly face eviction month to month lol

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I totally agree with cin19. In fact in my experience a drive that suddenly starts making noise is about to fail very soon. Backup everything the very next time you turn on the computer and before you try to run any software to fix the drive. That alone could cause failure.

The good news is hard drive prices have finally come down from the crazy high prices caused by the flooding in Thailand a while back. You can get a WD Caviar Blue 160GB drive from Microcenter for $28. A 250GB version is $40.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/375685/Caviar_Blue_160GB_7,200RPM_SATA_30GB-s_35_Internal_Hard_Drive_WD1600AAJS_-_Refurbished

http://www.microcenter.com/product/375687/Caviar_Blue_250GB_7,200RPM_IDE_ATA-100_35_Internal_Hard_Drive_WD2500AAJB__-_Refurbished

 

[Vyain]

Best answer selected by Vyain.

 

[Vyain]

Thanks for the info anort, i've backed up my stuff on skydrive. I'll keeping using my HDD until the last possible minute, there's no harm in that is there?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Thanks for the info anort, i've backed up my stuff on skydrive. I'll keeping using my HDD until the last possible minute, there's no harm in that is there?

Nope. When a hard drive fails it can't hurt anything else. Good luck!

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Thanks for the info anort, i've backed up my stuff on skydrive. I'll keeping using my HDD until the last possible minute, there's no harm in that is there?

Nope. A hard drive failing can't hurt anything else. Good luck!