What Does It Mean When

Swiftspear

<div class="IPBDescription">your harddrive makes clicking noises...</div> Pretty much exactly what the topic says... My 80 gig maxtor slave drive, which has been swapped over a couple computers now, has started making annoying clicking noizes whenever I use it, similar to when a monitor changes video modes. At the moment I'm not knowticing any major ill effects, but I have started backing up stuff I don't want to lose on it anyways...

Can anyone either confirm or expel my suspision that this thing is on the fritze?

[edit] yay, now its making griding and vibrating noises...

RaVe

It's a sign that says "Buy a new harddrive"

The bearings must have worn out already o_O

EDIT : Or yourharddrive is learning to tapdance O_o

Swiftspear

<!--QuoteBegin-RaVe+Aug 4 2004, 01:31 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (RaVe @ Aug 4 2004, 01:31 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> The bearings must have worn out already o_O <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
already? how long are they supposed to last? I've had this thing for about 3-4 years now... [edit] (which doesn't seem like that long a run, but I'm more or less happy with this thing's preformance)

RaVe

Now that, I realy don't know the answer. It pretty much depends on what kind of bearings were used.

From what I remember, I have a 10GB harddrive that hasn't failed me for 5 years running.

But other than that, no other clue as to why it wore out so quickly.
Sorry.

Testament

I had an 11gig that listed me 7 years before being replaced by a 60...

Sandrock

If it clicking, that means it IS dying. Some drives last longer than others. It'll totally die on you soon.

Swiftspear

<!--QuoteBegin-Sandrock+Aug 4 2004, 01:44 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Sandrock @ Aug 4 2004, 01:44 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> If it clicking, that means it IS dying. Some drives last longer than others. It'll totally die on you soon. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
What does it look like when a drive dies?

I backed up everything I cared about on the drive anyways... Its an interesting thing how out of more than 50 gigs of used space, so much of the stuff is garbage my backup folder is < 2 gigs in total space... I guess that's what happens when you have 200 gigs total to fill up <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Sandrock

If you boot off of that drive, your computer will probably not startup. Your motherboard might not recognize it, or you may start to get read/write errors in windows. All sorts of nasty things. Backup stuff while you still can.

EEK

Back it up ASAP.

Fieari

More or less, what it means is that the little arm with the read head inside your drive is having a bad day. When the bad day turns into a REALLY bad day, it may decide to go lay down in the gutter and have a nice sulk, drinking booze and singing a rude song about a three legged horse. When it does this, don't think you're going to be able to get it to do any work for you, like reading data. It just won't. There are companies that will charge upwards of a thousand dollars to recover data from such a drive... what they do is open the thing up, take out the actual disks, and read directly from them. You don't want this to happen to you. Back it up, buy a new drive, and retire the old one.

Zaggy

<img src='http://www.imageuploader.net/images/175747HDFailure.GIF' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Redford

Copy all important files off of it onto a transportable medium, then get a new drive before your current one has a head crash and ruins all your data.

Mr_Headcrab

totally agreed, backup NOW, My former C dirve did than and promptly died, making me lose all my data


Hence why im the lazy spob i am today....

Lito

Its formally called 'The Click of Death'

Kitki

The hard drive is now a senior citizen. He's *sniff* not gunna make it to christmas..
--

Err.. I mean that you should back everything up, probably a on a Zip drive or something

Seraph1

Would reformatting work at all?

Zaggy

Nope, I'm sure the HD is physically damaged...

Coby

I've had those clicks for about 5 months now I think... every about 12 hours there is this *blepSCREECHclick* ... I don't know how am I supposed to back it up cause it's full and I have no dvd-r or money to buy 20 cd-rw's... <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->

DiscoZombie

maybe it's just lonely and hungry for attention? pet it and stroke it a bit still it starts purring.

Tequila

<!--QuoteBegin-Coby+Aug 4 2004, 03:39 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Coby @ Aug 4 2004, 03:39 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I've had those clicks for about 5 months now I think... every about 12 hours there is this *blepSCREECHclick* ... I don't know how am I supposed to back it up cause it's full and I have no dvd-r or money to buy 20 cd-rw's... <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Coby, I have a IBM Deskstar and every 12 hours I too get that noise. It's been going on for around 2-3 years though, and my HDD has had no problems so I doubt it's anything to worry about. Clicking however, <i>is</i> worth worrying about.

im_lost

Screeching noises are OK, but clicking noises are bad. I'll keep that in mind.

OttoDestruct

Parts aren't made the way they used to be. I have a drive 10 years old that still works perfectly, another 15 years old from a 286 that still works perfectly, along with the 286.

Fro5ty

<!--QuoteBegin-OttoDestruct+Aug 4 2004, 10:25 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (OttoDestruct @ Aug 4 2004, 10:25 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Parts aren't made the way they used to be. I have a drive 10 years old that still works perfectly, another 15 years old from a 286 that still works perfectly, along with the 286. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Considering they were pretty much made like sherman tanks since ya know, just one small contact with the disk and the reader and whoops, there goes Doom...

As for the clicking, it's a dead horse that I won't beat any further. Either that, or some weird bug creature has decided to make your HD it's new home.

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<b><span style='color:red'><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>OR IT'S A BOMB!</span></span></b>

Wheeee

<!--QuoteBegin-Swiftspear+Aug 4 2004, 01:37 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Swiftspear @ Aug 4 2004, 01:37 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-RaVe+Aug 4 2004, 01:31 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (RaVe @ Aug 4 2004, 01:31 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> The bearings must have worn out already o_O <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
already? how long are they supposed to last? I've had this thing for about 3-4 years now... [edit] (which doesn't seem like that long a run, but I'm more or less happy with this thing's preformance) <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
average life-span of most [replaceable] hardware is about 5 years (they're designed that way)...but it could fail anywhere from a few months to never (before you upgrade at least).