i think my hard drive is dying but i don't want to believe it since it is fairly new lol.
-Windows XP Home
-120GB Western Digital Hard drive (3 partitions - acronis true image zone/windows/program files and games)
-250GB Western Digital Hard drive (slave)
-Raidmax 420 watts (i can get more info off the side if needed)
anyway, my problem is that my 120gb Western Digital hard drive (which is partitioned 3 times) makes a sound and shortly after (seconds), the computer freezes and usually theres a loop in whatever was playing at the time. this only happens in games although it did happen once out of game. the loop is more of a cracking sound over and over. and as for the sound the hard drive makes, the best way i can explain it is the normal sound the hard drive makes when accessing info but louder. i guess this would be called clicking?
i have ran the western digital diagnostics program which says the drive is fine. i am free of viruses and malware. all my drivers for everything i can think of is up to date. my mobo is an asus so i also have a program to monitor things like voltage, however i do not really know good values for the voltage. i just go by the program telling me they are ok.
i know it is the 120gb drive with windows installed because i removed the slave drive with no change. now what i found strange is that one time when the computer started up (with both drives installed), the slave drive was not detected. i thought maybe i could change the ide cable so i used an extra one i had. the computer worked flawlessly for the rest of the night. however, today when i turned it on, it made that sound and froze within minutes of starting a game. im assuming that it working last night was just a coincidence.
since i would love to fix it without buying a new one (if it cant be helped then so be it), could a bad power supply or drivers cause this problem?
just as a side note, i was having problems playing company of heroes where sometimes my ati card would do its vpu recover and sometimes my computer would freeze. some people think its the game and some think its the ati card but im thinking maybe if my power supply is going it could be causing these problems. since i have not had the vpu recover problem in any other game so far, my major concern in the hard drive sound and freeze.
let me know if i let any needed info out. thanks.
ray: 
