SapphireDragon

Hey, i accidentally dropped my laptop a week ago from a height of around a half of a meter to a full meter, the unit dropped onto its side and then slammed onto its monitor (unit was closed) I ran a checkdisk and it did not find any issues other than miss-allocated drive space. Recently the disk drive has been making an audible and sometimes loud screeching noise like nails on a chalkboard or glass being scraped. The sound persists as long as something like a virus scan is running and promptly ends when the scan is paused and hard drive usage is reduced. Is this a sign of the "end times" for my hard drive? did it sustain damage not found during the scan? I have a sound file of the noise recorded from my mp3 player (so handy!)

I attempted to upload the sound file (turn up your speakers though, the recording is quiet for some reason o.O' ) Please let me know what you think.

Attached Files

041109-152949.zip (1.37 MB, 5 views)

raptor_pa

Chkdsk only checks the logical file structure of the disk. yes this is a sign of the end of days for this disk, and it is going to get worse and possibly quicker. While you have access, copy your critical data files to another disk. Do not use it till you are ready to copy, one fo these times it is just not going to read anymore, and from the sounds of what you have, it will be an unrecoverable condition. Get the data off, don't worry about applications, they will need reinstalled anyway after the new OS is installed. Just worry about the data!

SapphireDragon

Lol, poo..... well thanks for your advice. Fortunately I backed up everything of importance the day i dropped the computer and again today on an external drive.

raptor_pa

OK probably best to start shopping a drive, probably the impact caused the head to impact the platter, and either caused damage to the head or platter. Running it will then cause damage to the other component, and will result in a drive failure.

SapphireDragon

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136114

Do you suppose this is any good? My notebook takes ata-6 drives (unfortunatly) Lol, i had been looking at western digital's scorpio black w/ free-fall sensors but they only come in SATA.

Well, i have not heard the noise since the day I recorded the sound sample, am I out of the woods or should I still be looking for a new drive and this one will still randomly die any day now?

raptor_pa

Once drives start failing, they rarely self-repair. :) Any time a drive is making noises like that it is a definite candidate for sudden failure.

SapphireDragon

Lol... k, need a def. simple answer on this one though,

is --> http://store.westerndigital.com/stor...catid.13095000 Any good?

And also, If my current drive *cough, fujitsu* is a IDE/EIDE drive, I CAN use eide drives correct? (Double confirming this one lol)

raptor_pa

Yep the blues are pretty good drives generally speaking, just like cars tho, there are always some from any line that cause issues. And yes IDE/EIDE are basically the same thing - EIDE implement advanced features that you may or may not use, but other than teh labeling, you wouldbn't notice a difference.

SapphireDragon

Lol, thanks very much. Im rather...stupid when it comes to hard drives, everyone has their favorites lol, I myself have an external WD Pro Book drive that is a piece of crap (corrupts data like crazy) I think thats from when I accidently dropped that one too (Ive had no luck when it comes to computer equipment this year lol... Im usually not so clumsy) But its still a pain to disconnect when handles and such wont close or i just needed to make a quick backup.

Lol, interestingly enough, this drive (the one making the screeching noise) seems to still be running xD Ive got my mind made up and will buy that Blue EIDE drive when this one bites the dust tho

Riskyone101

Also one point it will lead to a high electric bill also, sorry to hear that you dropped
your laptop but accidents happen to all of us at one time or another, have a good day.

SapphireDragon

Rofl... is that true? In that event would it also lead to the hdd becoming rather hot quickly from turn on? It usually starts out at 37*C and the in a matter of minutes, spikes to 48*C which is close to this brand/models tolerance limit. the fans have proper ventilation and so on yet it keeps getting hot, ill walk away to do something, come back to do something and find the keyboard is on fire, i look at the HDD temp and its through the roof. We have been having hot days (like today, its 84*F) but the CPU temp. is still in the same range it usually is in. which led me to believe its the HDD.

Riskyone101

Yes it is true......lol....I have a friend who was running an old pc (he knows nothing about a pc other than surfing the web), well he encountered all sorts of nasties
and his harddrive was making alot of noise, his electric bill every month was steadily
1000 dollars every month, after 2 months he calls me and asks to come and look at my pc.....lol.....why he waited so long?..anyway when I arrived and heard it turn on I
quickly unplugged it and through the whole tower in the trash can. he has money so he can afford a new pc....geesh.......lmao....he didnt believe the pc caused the high bill till
it was gone for a month.

SapphireDragon

Rofl! wow.... thats one heck of a power bill o_O

Mreh... its a crapshoot but does this one sound any good at all? ( kinda forced to abandon the other drive idea )

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136114

A lot of DOA's though and second replacement deaths after a couple weeks.... the only solution i found was going for the more expensive in the series..... however i know thats not always the case

Riskyone101

I havent had any issues with drive but I dont own one so I really dont know,
just installed some on some laptops, so far so good none have come back so Im
assuming they are good, I will ask dai to come and give his opinion.

dai

i use wd drives 90% of the time and never had a problem with them but have no experience with laptops
raptor_pa is the expert on drives

Riskyone101

I also asked raptor_pa to give his opinion on the HD in question.

raptor_pa

I've never used any of the WD BEVE drives, so I can't speak to performance, though everything sounds like your typical 2.5 inch drive. What I can say is I haven't had a WD 2.5 inch drive in for recovery in at least the last six months - and probably some time before that.....

Riskyone101

Ty raptor_pa

SapphireDragon

Hm...sounds like i can go either way then..... i guess then the final decision is do i really need the disk protection the BLUE one offers or does it not really help at all?

raptor_pa

Not sure what you are looking at for increased protection, both the Scorpio and the Bule use a parking ramp to park the heads off the surface, which would help in some ways with any shock, not much to do for a running disk that is dropped thos, the likelihood of a head crash is probably the same in both lines.