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Hard Drive ClickingIf you hear a clicking noise coming from your computer there's a good chance that it can only be two things. The fan on one of the two power supplies has something touching the fan blades as it turns or your hard drive is clicking due to several reasons, none being a good thing. If the clicking noise is coming from the outside fan area of your power supply, find the culprit and remove it. This happens a lot if you have paper piled up around your computer. Not a big deal and an easy fix. If the clicking is coming from the inside of your computer there is still a chance the the noise is coming from another fan that is usually placed on top of the computer chip used to run the computer. This is also an easy fix since it could be any of the wires running from the power supply to the other devices. Unless the wire is damaged, no harm - no foul. If neither one of these fans is the culprit, chances are pretty high it's your hard drive clicking. And that is never good news, especially if you don't have a recent backup of any critical data. If you just started hearing the clicking noise you may still be able to backup your data. Some say to turn it off immediately, I disagree based on over 20 years in the computer repair business. Go for the backup immediately or you may never have another chance (more on that in a minute). Now some of you long time computer users may remember that the older IDE drives were noisy, and clicking sounds were not unusual. But with the newer, faster, and more compact hard drives, IDE or Sata, this is no longer true with the exception of maybe a few. The 10,000 RPM raptor drives can get noisy when working hard and maybe some 2.5 inch Hitachi drives can make some noise. Most newer hard drives should not be making any clicking sounds, maybe some a whirling (from the platters moving at a high rate of speed). Here are the most common causes by the most frequent first:
The number one cause that I see most often is the heads banging into the head stop. I don't recommend waiting for catastrophic failure. It's not a big deal to replace a working drive since you can clone it and remove the risk factor. Once you have a solid and tested backup, then you can start troubleshooting. If you change video cards, or replace a power supply, then these two items could have an impact. And always check for lose cables, they can work themselves loose due to constant heating and cooling of the computer when it's turned on and off. Even if the hard drive clicking has been around since the first day of use, I change it out to be on the safe side. A new hard drive can be as little as $50 and taking a risk with your data is just not worth it. Not to mention the time it would take to restore a drive from the last backup. Restoring is not fast or fun. And many of the freebie software versions that come with many external drives is flaky at best. If you use software to backup the whole hard drive (data and operating system), I'd do a test restore just to make sure everything works as specified. When you are in a position that the only backup you have is untested, it can get ugly pretty quick. And many users have a lot of time and money invested in their music, photos, software, and etc. I don't back up my operating system, just my data. That's a personal choice since it takes a little longer to restore than if you create an image or do a complete backup. But there's a reason I do this, it's called Windows (of any version). Windows has a bad habit of picking up random files, bits of data, left over installs, and anything else that wanders by. This has a tendency to slow down your operating system and if I need to do a complete restore, I'd just as soon spend a few more minutes and get a clean, and hopefully much faster system. Now you could setup your system just like you want it when new, then do an image of it and accomplish the same results. I don't since I'm lazy and I rarely have a situation (knock on wood) that requires a total restore. But regardless of your method of backing up, make sure you test it before you need it. So
if you have a hard drive clicking noise, go for a fast backup of your
data if you don't have one already. There's no reason not to replace a
noisy hard drive, especially if it's under warranty. Some might say
don't worry about it, hard drives make noise. Not me, I found that the
best defense is an offense and I never take unnecessary risks. My hard
drive starts talking to me and it's history.. |
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