possible hard drive problems

Well about a week ago I started to notice a clicking sound coming from my hard drive, a constant tick, tick, tick, ect for about 15 minute spirts, then when I woke up this morning there was an error across the screen saying something about the hard drive, is having errors ect.....can anyone tel me what the hell is going on???

is it going bad, why in the world is it ticking, and the error was in plain white letters on the top of the screen, is it a virus maybe, I have an updated norton running non stop.....someone help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

notice the the web is running slower, wolf is too, and my system seems to refresh alot, anybody know whats happening

will update later with specs if I have too


Slaughter

[Mugzy]

That is not good, sounds like you drive is close to death.

I would think about getting a new drive asap and backing up any data you need.

[Camel toe joe]

Originally posted by Mugzy
That is not good, sounds like you drive is close to death.

I would think about getting a new drive asap and backing up any data you need.

agreed, it can die any sec now, also if the drive is not that old say under a year you can probably send it back to the maker for a new one, they won't save your data, so back it up quick!!

I really don't have anything I need backing up, so I'll let it die, but the good news the clicking has stopped, if that means anything

Still, you should back up anything that is very important. Always play it safe.

[Lord ZOG]

Most new hard drives come with a utility that allows you to image your old drive to the new drive (Maxtors come with an easy to use utility called PowerMAX). Get this done quickly while your old drive can still be read...or you're looking at data loss and a WHOLE LOT OF REINSTALLING!!

ok zog you win damn it, lol, I have a samsung sv0813h if that means anything is it a crappy one or what, it seems to be working now tho ??????

A Samsung sv0813h? Even if the hard drive is all better now I'd still recommend a new one. How much storage space do you have?

[Lord ZOG]

I've had the best luck with Maxtor drives, although, honestly, they're all prone to complete failures at odd times (sometimes within weeks of installing them).

Hard drives are probably your PC's weakest link, especially with all their moving parts, tight tolerances and cheap prices. Hard drive manufacturers have to make 10,000 of the damn things to make a marginal profit, and that just leads to poorer quality controls.

P.S. Your hard drive is going to fail. It will not miraculously repair itself, believe me. When-ever one of my client's PCs start to exhibit even the slightest flakiness I practically force trhem to get a new drive quick. As much as starting fresh can be a good idea, I don't have the time or inclination to sit through sessions like that with my clients if I can avoid it.

[Weasel Meat]

Here is the technical specs for your drive.

80GB
5400 RPM
2MB Cache

http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/SpinPointVSeries/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointVSeries_SV0813H_sp.htm

You are experiencing the infamous "click of death". Essentially, one (or more) of the moving parts inside is failing, and your drive is dying. It may last another month, or 10 minutes, there's no real way to know. The fact that the noise has stopped means nothing, it's still gonna go. Replace it ASAP.

Don't turn your PC off, and disable hard drive spin down time in your power saver mode. if it's the spindle dying and making the click noises if it stops spinning to shut down you might not get it spinning again.

[Mr. Slayer]

I agree avoid letting it "jolt on" anymore (dont let it turn off) and defineatly back it up. I'd go raise hell with Maxtor also.