Hard drive clicking problem

Ilovegraphics14 · 07-23-2008, 06:24 AM

Whenever I use my computer sometimes at the begining after I log on the hard drive makes a low whining sound and then u hear this clicking inside of the computer and then it locksup, a few minuets later it makes a high whining sound and clicks again and the computer unfreezezs. Sometimes the PC Dosen't unfreeze. Can someon tell me what's specificly wrong with my Hard Drive??
Josh

Tumbleweed36 · 07-23-2008, 06:32 AM

Back up your data immediately before it quits if you want to save your data. That drive is about to go bye, bye, to never, never land. Then, when you are done with backing up, then download and run the diagnostic that you will find on the drive manufacturer's website. That will tell you about the health of that drive.

**af3** · 07-23-2008, 06:33 AM

Your hard drive may be dying. Burn or move all your valuable data to an external drive such as a CD/DVD/USB Hard Drive/USB Flash Drive.

If you wish to try to rescue the drive, SpinRite ($89) works good as far as finding the bad spots and blocking them off and restoring a problematic drive to normal, but you will have less disk space available if there are many defects in the drive.

For example, say a drive was running durring a brown out and now it is not operating correctly. It has 145GB avalible storage after a normal format, but after SpinRite runs it would have 141GB or so depending on the ammount of damaged medium that was marked bad as to prevent the drive from accessing it.

Also, the SMART drive health status is not always acurate.

~~wiseleo~~ · 07-23-2008, 09:28 AM

For $89 you can buy a 500GB drive. A failing drive should be RMA'd or thrown out.

The drive is dying.

**af3** · 07-23-2008, 12:52 PM

For $89 he can retrieve any data that is currently inaccessible to him as a result of his decaying hard disk.

Yeah, do as wiseleo says and toss it out. (DBAN it first if you have financial data stored on it)

Only buy SpinRite to recover, or stabilize a failing drive if you can't access the data using conventional methods ie Windows Explorer

ShadowX · 07-23-2008, 12:56 PM

Either the hard disk is failing or you have a set it to stop spinning after certain time in power options (In BIOS setup or Power management in control panel) check for these options first to make sure.
But most probably the disk is failing and the best solution is to buy a new one and copy all your data to it, before you lose it..

Good luck man,

07-23-2008, 06:24 AM	#1 (permalink)
Ilovegraphics14 Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 69 OS: Windows XP SP3	Hard drive clicking problem Whenever I use my computer sometimes at the begining after I log on the hard drive makes a low whining sound and then u hear this clicking inside of the computer and then it locksup, a few minuets later it makes a high whining sound and clicks again and the computer unfreezezs. Sometimes the PC Dosen't unfreeze. Can someon tell me what's specificly wrong with my Hard Drive?? Josh

07-23-2008, 06:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 14,090 OS: XP Professional	Re: Hard drive clicking problem Back up your data immediately before it quits if you want to save your data. That drive is about to go bye, bye, to never, never land. Then, when you are done with backing up, then download and run the diagnostic that you will find on the drive manufacturer's website. That will tell you about the health of that drive. __________________ ----------

07-23-2008, 06:33 AM	#3 (permalink)
af3 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: USA Posts: 757 OS: Windows XP SP3 My System	Re: Hard drive clicking problem Your hard drive may be dying. Burn or move all your valuable data to an external drive such as a CD/DVD/USB Hard Drive/USB Flash Drive. If you wish to try to rescue the drive, SpinRite ($89) works good as far as finding the bad spots and blocking them off and restoring a problematic drive to normal, but you will have less disk space available if there are many defects in the drive. For example, say a drive was running durring a brown out and now it is not operating correctly. It has 145GB avalible storage after a normal format, but after SpinRite runs it would have 141GB or so depending on the ammount of damaged medium that was marked bad as to prevent the drive from accessing it. Also, the SMART drive health status is not always acurate. __________________ You are currently using 0 MB (0%) of your 7171 MB, what's wrong with you?

07-23-2008, 09:28 AM	#4 (permalink)
~~wiseleo~~ Troubled Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Posts: 461 OS: Win 2003 SP2 My System	Re: Hard drive clicking problem For $89 you can buy a 500GB drive. A failing drive should be RMA'd or thrown out. The drive is dying.

07-23-2008, 12:52 PM	#5 (permalink)
af3 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: USA Posts: 757 OS: Windows XP SP3 My System	Re: Hard drive clicking problem For $89 he can retrieve any data that is currently inaccessible to him as a result of his decaying hard disk. Yeah, do as wiseleo says and toss it out. (DBAN it first if you have financial data stored on it) Only buy SpinRite to recover, or stabilize a failing drive if you can't access the data using conventional methods ie Windows Explorer __________________ You are currently using 0 MB (0%) of your 7171 MB, what's wrong with you? Last edited by af3 : 07-23-2008 at 12:57 PM.

07-23-2008, 12:56 PM	#6 (permalink)
ShadowX Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Alexandria, Egypt Posts: 4 OS: Win XP SP2	Re: Hard drive clicking problem Either the hard disk is failing or you have a set it to stop spinning after certain time in power options (In BIOS setup or Power management in control panel) check for these options first to make sure. But most probably the disk is failing and the best solution is to buy a new one and copy all your data to it, before you lose it.. Good luck man, __________________ ShadowX *‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’*