Need input on a Hard drive that might be dying soon

[-RockMan-]

A month ago I had defragged my 160gig hdd, while it was defragging it had locked and made tiny scratching noises.
Every time I move data in and out of the hdd it will make that noise if it's under to much pressure.
I need a utility program that will tell me if my hdd is saying it's dying or not, I have a 250gig maxline maxtor hdd coming in the mail today and I need to know if I will need to recycle my old hdd.

My old hdd is a seagate, any help would be appreciated.

thanks.
MadMikeXP

 

[Lexluethar]

Most BIOS come with a S.M.A.R.T. utility. Just enable that. It is supposed to detect when a hard drive is starting to fail - it isn't perfect but it is better than nothing.

If your hard drive is making a clicking sound i would say utility or not, your hard drive is failing.

 

[KurrentEweser]

I would get my data copied over to the new drive before putting any more stress on the old drive by running any tests.