Hard Drive Clicking

theflash800 · 21-02-2012 9:55pm #1

Hi Guys,

Posted a few threads here lately and you guys have been helpful, so said i'll post again.

Got a new PC about 2 months ago. Was faulty so got a new one. Faulty again. Got a third one and yet again i'm having problems.

When I hear "clicking hard drive", instantly I think "failure". But I literally have the PC about a week and it's been clicking from day one.

Now, it's not the typical "click of death" sound. Hard to explain exactly, sort of clicking/grinding/churning noise? Sounds like the computer is working hard.

It goes away if the PC is left idle. It's loudest during boot and shutdown and it can be heard fairly loudly during defragging etc. So I assume it's the hard drive. Feel free to give an opinion if you think Im wrong.

It sounds exactly like these two videos.

This video

This video

I understand hard drives aren't supposed to be totally silent. But it's never been this loud. Even in my old computers or my external hard drive, which I have had for about 3 years, clicks a bit, but doesn't even make this sound.

Is it normal? Or what's the general consensus?

Thanks lads,

Andrew

yoyo · 21-02-2012 10:18pm

Clicking is usually not a good sign. While some hard disks are louder than others during operation loud clicking sounds definately warrant investigation. I would backup all files on the drive and run a diagnostics scan, this should let you know if the drive is damaged/failing.

Nick

TOMP · 21-02-2012 10:25pm

Both sound normal to me. Lots of i/o activity.

Is the PC behaving strange in any way?

theflash800 · 21-02-2012 11:00pm

yoyo wrote: »

Clicking is usually not a good sign. While some hard disks are louder than others during operation loud clicking sounds definately warrant investigation. I would backup all files on the drive and run a diagnostics scan, this should let you know if the drive is damaged/failing.

Nick

Did a seagate scan using their software, as it's a seagate drive and nothing.
No need to backup anything, only have the PC a few days. So nothing important on it yet.

theflash800 · 21-02-2012 11:02pm

TOMP wrote: »

Both sound normal to me. Lots of i/o activity.

Is the PC behaving strange in any way?

Nope no odd behaviour.

CPU gadget was showing strange CPU activity, but I don't think that's related. I think it's just a dodgy sidebar widget, because the inbuilt CPU monitor was showing different resource usage. So I don't think that's of any concern.

yoyo · 21-02-2012 11:25pm

You should be fine so, as said some drives are louder than others during operation. New machines will probably make more noise the first few days of use, while Windows indexes all the files/folders/installed apps etc. This process will make the drive work more and thus make more noise

Nick

theflash800 · 21-02-2012 11:30pm

yoyo wrote: »

You should be fine so, as said some drives are louder than others during operation. New machines will probably make more noise the first few days of use, while Windows indexes all the files/folders/installed apps etc. This process will make the drive work more and thus make more noise

Nick

Any reason why the same brand of PC, and same model, one would make this noise and another not? Because the last PC that I had to bring back, due to faulty parts, didn't make this noise.

I am just hypersenstive, because it's my main working machine and it's the first PC i've purchased out of my own hard earned cash

yoyo · 21-02-2012 11:38pm

theflash800 wrote: »

Any reason why the same brand of PC, and same model, one would make this noise and another not? Because the last PC that I had to bring back, due to faulty parts, didn't make this noise.

I am just hypersenstive, because it's my main working machine and it's the first PC i've purchased out of my own hard earned cash

Even though the same brand there is the possibility of a different harddrive being used. Manufacturers generally tend to buy hardware when its cheap, and use up their stock and go on to the next, so buying a Manufacturer model number X machine does not mean the RAM, Hard Disk manufacturer will be identical. I have a Seagate drive and find it more noisey than my other Samsung ones

Nick

fatalll · 21-02-2012 11:38pm

Sounds odd...
I would return the PC, its probably fine, why you not go to a PC shop and ask them.

theflash800 · 21-02-2012 11:44pm

fatalll wrote: »

Sounds odd...
I would return the PC, its probably fine, why you not go to a PC shop and ask them.

Why not go back? This is the third PC that I've gotten in 6 weeks that's potentially faulty... The thoughts of having to re-install everything again makes me want to cry! ha

Like it's more the hassle of bringing it back. I don't want issues, but if there is one there, I suppose I'd rather get it sorted. If there is no issue, then I don't want a new PC just for the sake of it. And the guys in the store don't really know what they are talking about. Odds are I know a tonne more than they do anyway

theflash800 · 22-02-2012 12:13am

yoyo wrote: »

Even though the same brand there is the possibility of a different harddrive being used. Manufacturers generally tend to buy hardware when its cheap, and use up their stock and go on to the next, so buying a Manufacturer model number X machine does not mean the RAM, Hard Disk manufacturer will be identical. I have a Seagate drive and find it more noisey than my other Samsung ones

Nick

One more thing I've noticed... Terribly bad for fragmenting? Could that be related. I defragged my hard drive like 3 hours ago. Fell asleep for two hours and used the PC for an hour or so and no there is 1Gb of fragmented files.

I usually analyse my drive when I'm bored, just to keep it clean. But literally everyday it needs a defrag.

theflash800 · 22-02-2012 12:16am

I just defragged it and the amount of fragmented files went up!? What is going on here lads!?

yoyo · 22-02-2012 12:18am

theflash800 wrote: »

One more thing I've noticed... Terribly bad for fragmenting? Could that be related. I defragged my hard drive like 3 hours ago. Fell asleep for two hours and used the PC for an hour or so and no there is 1Gb of fragmented files.

I usually analyse my drive when I'm bored, just to keep it clean. But literally everyday it needs a defrag.

Windows 7 does't really need to be defragmented, as it has built in optomisation rules. It wouldn't be to do with defragmenting, my guessing is indexing, I wouldn't worry too much if Seatools gave the all clear, although like always you should always have multiple copies of data

theflash800 wrote: »

I just defragged it and the amount of fragmented files went up!? What is going on here lads!?

As I said, probably to do with windows indexing, I wouldn't worry! Also there is no need to defragment Windows 7 as much as the need with other Windows OS's

Nick

theflash800 · 22-02-2012 12:50am

yoyo wrote: »

Windows 7 does't really need to be defragmented, as it has built in optomisation rules. It wouldn't be to do with defragmenting, my guessing is indexing, I wouldn't worry too much if Seatools gave the all clear, although like always you should always have multiple copies of data

As I said, probably to do with windows indexing, I wouldn't worry! Also there is no need to defragment Windows 7 as much as the need with other Windows OS's

Nick

Right, well I can't do a whole lot at 1am anyway. Might shoot up to the shop tomorrow and see what the have to say. Because it might be a perfectly healthy PC, but when your working at it for hours on end, it really wrecks your head.

Just sick to death of returning faulty computer parts.

3 faulty PCs, 2 faulty mice and my speakers are starting now... all in the last 6 weeks. And I actually take really good care of my tech stuff.

Torqay · 22-02-2012 1:09am

Simple as that, if you have a bad feeling then don't trust the drive with valuable data (and certainly not without backup). Even if a drive comes clear in a sector scan, it doesn't mean it cannot fail tomorrow.

Sometimes gut feelings are right, even in computing, but often they're not. But if you do have a backup, don't worry. Oh, and three "faulty computers in 6 weeks" can be just a streak of bad luck.

uncle_sam_ie · 22-02-2012 2:18am

Where did you buy these PC's? :eek:

U_Fig · 22-02-2012 5:49am

I have noticed over the year Segate drives tend to make more noise than Samsung drives in general.. I have an old dell desktop that Is loud like next room loud.. Don't use it any more but it never failed.

theflash800 · 22-02-2012 9:10am

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

Where did you buy these PC's? :eek:

First one was a dell. PSU was acting up so after some back and forth Dell agreed to send out a new PSU to swap out the old one. Dell being Dell messed me about for like 2/3 weeks. Bad experience = bad product in my opinion so I just asked for my money back.

Toyed with the thought of building a custom PC, but I decided I wanted a warranty (based on my luck a warranty is essential :P), So i went to PC world.

Computer worked fine for a month and one day it started to buzz. GPU sizzled and PSU started making a chainsaw sound.

PC world were excellent and swapped it for me without a question despite being out of warranty!? (1000 euro PC with 21 day warranty??)

Anyway the replacement PC is giving issues. Louder than I expected, Hard drive clicking and PSU is squealing a bit. Really really annoying to say the least.

And people might think that I don't really know the workings of a PC. But I am fairly clued into that stuff. I work as a web/software developer and I'm in college doing computers. So I usually trust my gut feeling on these things.

Sickening to spend your own cash on a PC and it not to work... The PC is an absolute monster though, so once I get a working version, there is no stopping me! :P

theflash800 · 22-02-2012 9:12am

Also should throw this in, did a Windows "scan for bad sectors and attempt recovery" scan thing (not sure of the official name) and it gave me nothing. Although for the 3 hours that it was scanning, my PSU squealed like a pig.

I know that coil whine isn't a big deal, but this was louder and slightly more "buzzy" that I would expect from coil whine.

uncle_sam_ie · 22-02-2012 9:33am

theflash800 wrote: »

Toyed with the thought of building a custom PC, but I decided I wanted a warranty (based on my luck a warranty is essential :P), So i went to PC world.

You should have built your own. With that budget could have built a really awesome PC with better quality parts. You also get a better warranty when you build your own as well. All my parts are covered by Komplett for two years. Most other places have similar policies. After the two years you then go to the manufacturers. My board has 3 years, PSU has 7 years, the memory has a life time, GPU is 5 years and CPU is 3. What do you get with store bought one's? Isn't something like one year?

theflash800 · 22-02-2012 9:52am

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

You should have built your own. With that budget could have built a really awesome PC with better quality parts. You also get a better warranty when you build your own as well. All my parts are covered by Komplett for two years. Most other places have similar policies. After the two years you then go to the manufacturers. My board has 3 years, PSU has 7 years, the memory has a life time, GPU is 5 years and CPU is 3. What do you get with store bought one's? Isn't something like one year?

For that budget you could build an awesome PC? Not for what I wanted.

3.4ghz 2nd Gen Intel Core i7 2600... quad core hyperthreaded to 8.
8gb of ram
2gb amd radeon somethin or other
2TB (apparently faulty hard drive)
PSU is probably cheap in fairness.

I did some research and for 920 ish euro, there is no way you could build that. the CPU would cost like 300 euro alone on amazon.

I toyed with the idea of building, but in reality I don't have an huge interest. I could do it, but unless I really wanted to, then I still think buying is the best option. I didn't fancy troubleshooting a non-working PC, when I could just buy and return the entired thing if it was faulty.

uncle_sam_ie · 22-02-2012 10:09am

theflash800 · 22-02-2012 10:17am

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

There are cheaper places then Amazon.
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=41222&agid=1617
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=46922&agid=1601
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44315&agid=1192
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=50575&agid=631
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30074&agid=1627
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=46113&agid=1145
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=54645&agid=1004
650 euro's + 30 for shipping

Replace the SSD with this if you want http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=46255&agid=1342

Ah yeah I know there are cheaper places, but that was just a quick google looking for price.

Haven't got a huge interest in building anyway.
Look this is getting slightly off topic. I chose to buy the machine ultimately.

So opinions on what I should do? Go back and get a 4th PC if I don't trust the hard drive and possibly the PSU? Or am I just being slightly over sensitive?

Hard Drive Clicking

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