HD noise?

[infiltrator7]

It seems like over the past few days my HD has been a bit louder, and makes a sort of scraping sound. this isn't like a loud scraping where you know its definitely bad, but its just more noticeable. is this normal wear and tear, or is this a bad sign?

 

[Nitestick]

if you think it is rather sudden then it could be a bad sign. do you think its sudden or that you have only just noticed it?

 

[bigbaddog]

To be on the safe side, back up your data NOW-then go to the manufacturer's website and download a diagnostic program and run it. I have never had a case where a new noise coming from a hard drive was a good thing.

 

[SHAWN]

Sounds like its going to die soon.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

DOH, sounds like the onset of the Western Digital Click of Death

 

[StorM_GmA]

between the hd and the reading head of the hd, there is
a layer of ether (1 atom gauge) to protect the contact of the head
with the disk. For some reason (which is very very weird) that
ether layer is damaged. The matter that the head is touching
the hard disk is 100% because of the high rpm of the disks. The
ether layer just makes it more smoothy. So, in your case i guess
that the ether layer is damaged and the head is touching the
disk stronger and makes that noise. I suggest you to get some
backups (as bigbaddog said) and replace the disk. If you don't
want to replace it, make the backups and keep it 'till it die!

good luck

 

[infiltrator7]

thanks for the replies guys. i figured it was something like you guys are saying, so i think i'll back up my data and keep it till it dies. (3 year warranty). the only thing that i'm unsure of though is whether it's just normal operating noise that i just haven't heard before. i recently made some adjustments with the RPM of my heatsink (smart fan thing in the bios) and i replace my video card, so i'm wondering if it is just noise that i've never heard before since my computer was louder.

i guess the only way i can realy tell though is if it fails, so i'll back up all my data.