hard drive question

[Joe C]

Mrs. Joe C's computer needed a new card reader, I replaced it with out any issue but a day or so after that the pc started getting this vibration noise and was only getting worse. I checked each fan and they all look to be o.k., I figure'd that it needed to be cleaned out any way so I removed the side covers and front panel and noticed it might be the hard dive making all this racket. I dis-connected the drive and now it runs quiet!.
Right now I am cloning the drive with a better hd but I do not know why or what makes a hard drive vibrate like that. Any body know why a hd would start doing that?

 

[Pocketlips]

How old is the hard drive? Sounds like it is just starting to die.


Edit - I'm not really sure what exactly causes the noise but it's most likely the moving parts are just wearing out.

 

[Joe C]

Your probably correct.
These drives are older IDE drives, I already got newer sata drives in it and gave the case a good blow-out, Running quiet again. just seems like an odd coincidence that the drives would get noisy a few days later after I replaced a card reader.
The Mrs. has no clue what an ide or sata means....She'll just be happier to have a quiet pc now

 

[carnageX]

Not necessarily dying if they vibrate... Could just get some rubber/gel washers pads, or foam pads or something and put them in between the HDD and the case so it doesn't vibrate against the metal.

 

[Pocketlips]

Not necessarily dying if they vibrate... Could just get some rubber/gel washers pads, or foam pads or something and put them in between the HDD and the case so it doesn't vibrate against the metal.

That's true, I didn't even think of that. Still better off backing up the data just in case. Although if it wasn't vibrating before what would of caused it to start? Maybe nudging it while inserting the card reader??

 

[Joe C]

They ran quiet for several years....Then out of the blue the Seagate drive with the C: partition started vibrating and it was really noticeable. I honestly thought a fan was the problem at first

 

[-RockMan-]

They ran quiet for several years....Then out of the blue the Seagate drive with the C: partition started vibrating and it was really noticeable. I honestly thought a fan was the problem at first

You might want to get a hdd diagnostic tool or even hardware monitor and see where your hdd temps is at.
When you have her pc running, open the side case and let it run, next gently touch the top of the drive.
If it seems to be abit too hot after startup in 30 minutes, I would recommend you begin a incremental backup and replace it soon.

Besides that, newegg is having a real good special for the next 3 days on hdd's, if money were not a issue I would replace my mothers 2004 WD before its too late.

 

[Joe C]

It was a 160gb ide drive that started vibrating, I replaced it with a 320gb sata drive. The motherboard is an MSI X58 Pro-E and has an ide port as well as sata ports