Is That Grinding Sound the Death of My Hard Drive?-gctid47094

[Ajamu]

Is That Grinding Sound the Death of My Hard Drive? | PCWorld

                  By Lincoln Spector, PCWorld                    Nov 17, 2011 7:44 AM
                                                                                                                   
Ericuse165 has a friend with a PC that's making a grinding noise. Eric asked the Hard Drives, NAS Drives, Storage forum for advice.

 First, backup that hard drive. And I mean now! That drive  could die any minute, and when it does, it will cost hundreds or even  thounited snakesnds of dollars to retrieve your files--if the files can be  retrieved.

 Do a full image backup of the entire drive, including all partitions. EASEUS Todo Backup and Macrium Reflect Free are both free and either one will do the job just fine. You'll need an external hard drive to back the images onto.

 Both programs also have an option for creating a bootable CD from which you can restore the backup. Create that CD.

 Backed up? Good. Now you need to determine if it's the hard drive making the noise, or just a fan.

 If the PC is a desktop, open it up, turn it on, and try to locate the  location of the noise. If you can't, find yourself a hollow tube--the  cardboard one from a used-up paper towel roll works. Holding one end of  tube to your ear, point the other end to various locations in the PC,  especially towards the hard drive and fans. You'll easily pinpoint the  source of the grinding.

 Laptops aren't that easy. If you feel comfortable opening yours, use  the desktop instructions above. Otherwise, try to determine the location  of the fan and the hard drive from the outside. The fan is probably  near a vent. Most laptops are designed to make hard drives easy to  remove and replace. If you can't find where the drive is located, check  your model's online manual.

 Once you know where everything is, use the cardboard tube method described above.

 If the noise is coming from a fan, and the PC is open, look for  something obstructing the fan. Remove it if you find it. If the fan is  loose; tighten it. Otherwise, replace it.

 But if a fan is making the noise, and you're not comfortable opening  the laptop, bring it to a professional and explain the problem.

 And if it really is the hard drive making the noise? Buy a new hard  drive, install it, and restore Windows and your files from that image  backup.