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What sound for failing HDD?

The family PC has started making the same fast rattle/click noise that it usually makes once at bootup, but now at random times during an Antivirus scan.

Does this sound like a failing HDD? I was expecting a different type of click for some reason.

Many thanks for any replies.

Comments

  • kwikbreaks
    kwikbreaks Posts: 9,187 Forumite
    Might be or might not be. Modern disks employ S.M.A.R.T. technology to monitor and report impending doom and there is software which will read the data the disk has accumulated and put it onscreen.

    This is the first hit I came across for such software - http://sourceforge.net/projects/smartmontools/ I've no ide if it is any good or not but there are loads of alternatives out there if it isn't. Some mainboards have a BIOS which will report this info too.
  • i8change
    i8change Posts: 423 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    Doesn't sound like the examples in the link dogmaryxx posted, it is exactly the same loud noise it initially makes at bootup.

    Just that now it is doing it multiple times throughout an Avira scan.

    Avira 10 is "going deeper" according to others on Avira Forum and finding occasional Hidden Objects (1 in my case, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\RNG\seed) so perhaps the noise is to do with this?

    I will run Malwarebytes and if it is not making the noise during that scan I am probably OK.

    Thanks for the replies
  • nickcardwell
    nickcardwell Posts: 346 Forumite
    i8change wrote: »
    The family PC has started making the same fast rattle/click noise that it usually makes once at bootup, but now at random times during an Antivirus scan.

    Does this sound like a failing HDD? I was expecting a different type of click for some reason.

    Many thanks for any replies.

    sounds like the fan?

    When you switch on, the fan goes full boot.

    When v scanning, if its busy/ cpu gets warmer, fan will spin faster +louder.

    Open it up the case (make sure computer is turned off) and give it a good clean (hoover up close but dont touch components)

    HD failing sounds like a repeative click click sound over and over again.
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