Tell me more ×
Server Fault is a question and answer site for professional system and network administrators. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

In my office there is a laptop dell inspiron 1420 with HD of 100GB of space. The computer is about a year old, and the hard drive has a weird and annoying ticking sound. The ticking sound starts after the pc is on for 15 minutes or so, but when it starts it does not stop.

We ran the dell hardware diagnostic and it reported the hd to be OK and pass all tests. We already did a full backup of the important information just in case it is the hd that is failing. But before I go about replacing hd and redoing everything, I will like to know if someone has experience something similar before.

share|improve this question

closed as off topic by sysadmin1138♦ Jan 10 '12 at 3:22

Questions on Server Fault are expected to relate to professional server, networking, or related infrastructure administration within the scope defined in the FAQ. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about closed questions here.

8 Answers

up vote 15 down vote accepted

Its a time bomb

I don't think I've ever had a "good" ticking sound come out of a hard drive yet.

I'd backup the hard drive ASAP if I were you.

Hard drives are SO cheap these days that its just not worth playing around. I'd back up the absolute most important stuff first (without shutting down the PC if possible) then clone the drive to a new hard drive.

The reason I suggest this order is because I have experienced TWO cases where once the PC was shut off the drive wouldn't boot up anymore. I've also experienced cases where it did boot up but took multiple attempts before it finally booted.

I've also had "ticking" hard drives that ran fine for 6-12mos before they finally bit the big one.

Its really hard to tell... but I can assure you...

Ticking hard drives are NOT a good thing. :-(

share|improve this answer
up vote 7 down vote

When a drive detects a bad sector/cluster, depending on the type and recoverability of the error, it will sometimes reset the head position. The head motor is reset, and it returns to its spring-loaded park position. As a result it moves way over to the side of the drive.

If it was far enough and was reset unexpectedly enough, the head swing arm hits the side of the drive casing. If it does it alot, then it's hitting alot of bad spots. Run a chkdsk and consider replacing the drive.

share|improve this answer
2  
Forget chkdsk, just recover everything you can to another drive. Bad sectors don't go away, they just breed. – John Gardeniers Aug 9 '09 at 22:21
But chkdsk can tell you which files have been corrupted – tsilb Aug 10 '09 at 0:11
up vote 0 down vote

This usually means that the hard disk is failing. I had a similar situation with a Dell and the hd died after another 2 weeks. Keep backing up your data and running the hard disk utilities. Soon, the utils will see it failing and you can get it replaced.

-JFV

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

Well, the only time I heard a ticking sound was when the needle of the hard drive was out of place. But then it wouldn't work at all. I fixed my old hard drive by smacking it pretty hard against my palm which put the needle back in place. It still works to this day but the clicking sound also stopped. So my guess is that the needle mechanism 'thingy' is whack or about to die.

share|improve this answer
2  
While shock treatment has been known to work, don't try it until the drive is already not working...you wouldn't want to make it worse. – dmckee Aug 9 '09 at 15:37
What is this "needle" you're talking about? – John Gardeniers Aug 9 '09 at 22:19
1  
I assume you would call it "head actuator" ? After checking with Google I believe I am not the only one calling the "head actuator" a "hard drive needle". – Steven_Deluxe Aug 10 '09 at 2:29
3  
Good ole "percussive maintenance" – Joel Coel Aug 10 '09 at 16:08
+1 for remembering that the read heads for spinning discs used to have needles! :D – rob Aug 10 '09 at 20:32
up vote 0 down vote

I've had the same thing with my desktop two years ago. It started ticking but everything just seemed fine. But then one day, my pc would not boot, so be carefull, if it doesn't fail yet, it will sooner or later...

I would advise to backup everything you've got and throw the disk out, or use it as a temporary disk for whatever...

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

My laptop drive started making noises like that about a year ago. I ran badblocks on it to see what it saw and it returned 80 or so bad blocks. I decided to give spinrite a go to see what it would do with the drive. I ran it on the highest level which checks all blocks on the drive including the ones marked bad by the drive itself and all spares. It ran for about 15 hours and I haven't heard any noises from it since. Running bad blocks on the drive now shows 0 bad blocks.

I would only do this on your drive under two circumstances. 1. If you already own spinrite. 2. If there's important data on the drive that's not backed up and you're having problems reading it off. Otherwise hard drives are cheap just replace it.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

I think you should look at replacing it. Spinrite may save the drive, but drives are cheap...after a year you could probably get a larger disk anyway. The only time I've heard a "tick" from the drive and not really worried was if the drive was going to sleep or waking firs thing and doesn't make the noise again during my work session. Otherwise...it usually means something is resetting the disk.

Switch it out while you still can switch it out on your own schedule. Otherwise you'll be replacing it when it decides to crap the bed...

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

It's a ticking time bomb! Backup your data immediately.

share|improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.