HDD problem

[WinSpecToR]

My seagate drive is making a constant weird noise, its not a high pitch noise, kind of sound like.. say you walk into a room full of fluorescence light tubes. Or you walk by one of those electrical boxes outside and hear the electrical noise... I ran seatools but it didn't find any errors so I don't think seagate will replace it.

[budz]

sounds like the death click of a hard drive....i once had a hd test fine using the hd tools then it eventually died a few weeks later.

are sure the noise is coming from your hd? check your fans and use canned air if there is lots of dust bunnies.

[steptoe]

If it is your hard drive making a ticking or clicking noise then I suggest you replace it, and the sooner the better before it makes a big click one day and then dies. It might last months, it might last days. But constant ticking/clicking is not a good sign


Hard drives are frighteningly cheap these days, you can buy a 250GB for what you paid for an 80GB 12 months ago, and buying less than 80GB is getting very difficult

A 1TB can be found for less than £120 now, thats very roughly around $220

[Danno100]

Back it up fully, it will likely fail soon. I've had more Seagate failures than any other brand. WD have been more reliable for me. Keep running the drive until it fails, then pull it out and check the serial number with Seagate on-line. I've had many 2 or 3 year old drives replaced for free under warranty (usually the refurb you get will only have a three month warranty).

[DereX888]

My seagate drive is making a constant weird noise, its not a high pitch noise, kind of sound like.. say you walk into a room full of fluorescence light tubes. Or you walk by one of those electrical boxes outside and hear the electrical noise... I ran seatools but it didn't find any errors so I don't think seagate will replace it.

Obviously noise is a mechanical problem, software can't find any erors if there are no sensors to tell it about it, and last time I check no one was making any HDDs with i.e. sensors on each ball in the ballring

That drive is goner, even if it doesn't look like it yet.
Buy new one.

[jagabo]

A 1TB can be found for less than £120 now, thats very roughly around $220

Jeez, that's expensive. Around here they start around US$120.

[WinSpecToR]

I'm pretty sure the mechanical noise is coming from the HDD, when I shutdown I can hear the hdd winding down and the noise going along with it. But the noise isn't a ticking or clicking noise, just a mechanical noise, I've heard the noise that a loose disc platter make before and this is not it. I might get an other drive and ghost it and keep using this drive until it crashes. I've always owned WD drives but my friend suggested I try Seagate.. bad chcoice.

[redwudz]

If it's just a humming or 'motor' noise, put your finger on and push it while it's running. It could be a loose mount. If that doesn't help, I would consider replacing it. I've had about the same failure rates with Seagate drives as I have had with Maxtor's, WDs and other drives. You may occasionally get a bad drive from any manufacturer. If it's running particularly hot, that may shorten it's life also. Most of mine run 30 - 35C (85 - 95F) if there is decent case ventilation.

If you have a dowel or hard wood rod, you can stick against the top of the drive and the other end against the edge of your ear. (Not inside. } Kind of works like a stethoscope to isolate sounds and you may be able to hear it better. I've had bad fans that sounded like failing HDDs and visa versa. It's not always easy to pinpoint a PC sound source.

[victoriabears]

As has been said-replace it, you will be happier.