Is this normal?

tdiefenbaker · July 11, 2014

So when I built my computer (last October) I was planning on using my old 640gb WD Blue from my old HP mini Pc but being the numb nuts that i am i tried plugging that into my computer with all the old drivers installed and it was a mess and at the time I was so dumb I told my father that to fix it I would need a new hard drive and a fresh copy of Windows 7. We went and purchased a brand new from Staples Seagate Barracuda 1Tb 7200rpm drive and its worked well. Nothings wrong with the speed (at least i think) But i guess I haven't noticed until lately that there is a small little ticking sound. Its just loud enough to hear without headphones on. (to put it in perspective I have a stock AMD cooler and 2 cheap OEM case fans running both being Molex powered and I can hear it over those.) The ticking sound happens frequently but its not a constant or rhythmic style, as in its random how many times the sound is made. Does this sound like a failing hard drive? It's still under warranty so any help would be nice i would like to RMA this as soon as possible if necessary. Any help is appreciated. If its not the hard drive what else could it be?

scaryjam823 · July 11, 2014

Download crystaldiskinfo, it will tell you if there is signs of it failing. Other than that is the sound all that is happening? If you aren't having any blue screens, data loss, slowing down of the machine. Then chances are it is fine. But to be safe run that program and see what it says.

@tdiefenbaker

tdiefenbaker · July 11, 2014

Download crystaldiskinfo, it will tell you if there is signs of it failing. Other than that is the sound all that is happening? If you aren't having any blue screens, data loss, slowing down of the machine. Then chances are it is fine. But to be safe run that program and see what it says.

@tdiefenbaker

It said its status was "good" its running at 34 degrees Celsuis or 92 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm going to assume its doing fine based on your word. Iss there anything i should do to optimize it? and what are signs that ts getting worst or that i DO have a problem?

scaryjam823 · July 11, 2014

It said its status was "good" its running at 34 degrees Celsuis or 92 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm going to assume its doing fine based on your word. Iss there anything i should do to optimize it? and what are signs that ts getting worst or that i DO have a problem?

When a drive starts to fail there are usually (but not always) a few signs. What will happen is the computer will start to slow down, you'll run virus scans and come up with nothing. Defrag and use chkdsk and it doesn't help. That's been the first sign in my experience, then you'll start getting data loss and bluescreens. Eventually the computer wont even boot, it may still be possible to save data at this point but it's not for certain. That's been the process of failing drives in my experience. I have replaced at least a dozen and all have been the same way.

Now even though there are those signs, it could just fail without a single one. IT does happen, but I've never seen it. Just remember it is a mechanical drive, it is going to make some noise. Just defrag it every month or so, check the program to make sure it is still doing okay and as long as you don't start getting any of these symptoms then you're golden.