just recently, every now and then my hard drive starts making this really loud rrrr sound. sometimes it’ll stop for hours, while other times it comes back right away or doesn’t stop at all.
anybody have any ideas as to why it’s doing this?
“If anybody wants a sheep, that is proof that he exists.”
I own you…haha
If your sure the sound is coming from your drive and this is a new sound, back up your hard drive (at least the important data) right now. It’s probably the bearings starting to fail, and your hard drive will soon fail. Run, don’t walk, to your neighborhood computer store and buy a new drive.
However, if this sound has been there since you got the computer and/or drive, it may just be your operating system or some program messing moving a bunch of data around. Windows NT has tendency to do this periodically. However, this effect makes more of a “chattering” sound.
Also, make sure that the sound is really coming from your hard drive. Run it with the cover off (this won’t hurt anything if you don’t start sticking screwdrivers or paperclips in its guts) and really try to ascertain the source of the sound. Use a stethoscope on the hard drive if you’re really not sure.
It might just be a cable interfering with the processor fan, which you should clear up, as the processor really does need this cooling. Or it might be bad bearings on either the cabinet or the processor fans. In either case, it’s cheap, and you should fix the problem soon, because computers don’t like to get too hot.
But back up the data on your hard drive anyway. This is always a good idea, because often a drive will fail with no warning whatsoever.
He’s the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armor, shouting ‘All Gods are Bastards!’
And this reminds me of that dinging sound I keep hearing recently. It’s kind of like the sound you get when you hit a small spring, just a very light ding. I’ve been told that this is my hard drive “skipping”, and it’s generally bad sign if true, but not something I have to run out right now for. This wouldn’t happen to be related, would it?
I agree with SingleDad! In January, my relatively new hard drive (from Dell) started sounding different. At first, it just seemed “busier” when it was running the Seti@Home software, but after a few days it started making a “seek to land zone” sound (that’s a technical term – suffice it to say that it was something I hadn’t heard before).
I backed up what I could, but the drive was on its last legs. Within 24 hours, it became unusable, and I had to replace it and reinstall <i>everything</i>. These days, with online updates (e.g. Windows Update etc.) this takes a lot of time, but at least I managed to preserve my most important data.
I can’t stress strongly enough how important it is to have regular backups. I was a bit lax in this regard, so it took a lot of work to get back to where I was before.
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I learned a new verb today:
rrrrr
But one question, in the subject line you spell it rrrrr, but then in the post you spell it rrrr. Is this this a typo or is the noun really spelled with one less r?
some are noisier than others. So run some test programs on it. like say, scandisk?
You mean you don’t backup?
New HD’s are real cheap, better to backup to a new HD & put it on the bookcase. Later, if you need one, just drop it in. QUick & easy.
Are you defraging your hard drive on a regular basis?
Sometimes you feel like a coconut, sometime you feel like a yak.
she’s defraged regularly and when i got home yesterday scandisk was just finishing up.
so yes to both.
“If anybody wants a sheep, that is proof that he exists.”
Have you installed a program about the time that this problem started?
Some programs, if there’s an installation glitch, will cause the hard drive to “seek.”
If so, uninstall the program and delete any references to it in the registry. Let me know if that’s the case and I’ll tell you where to look in the registry.
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I demand a recount.
I’ve dealt with computers that have this condition and the problems seem to all be differnt. I have solved the problem by simply putting a disk in the A or B drive. Seems like the computer is looking for a disk. That fixes it. Other times I’ve seen the HD crash. Well that wasn’t helpful?
It’s most probably because you have FindFast in your Startup.
(Start->Programs->Startup)
If you see FindFast listed get rid of it.
FindFast tries to keep track of files on all you drives and for some reason keeps ‘hunting’ for a floppy forever, even in an drive empty.
Hope this helps.
nope. no findfast.
thanks, though.
Does the computer sound like a motorcycle engine when you turn it on?
when you use ‘scandisk’ be sure to select ‘through’ that tests everything on the HD to make sure its working.
so did you check to make sure that the noise is coming from the hard disk? in my experience, almost all noise made by the various computers I’ve had comes from the power supply. The loudest noise that the computer makes is always the cd-rom, if it is faster than 12x or so. When you say “really loud rrr sound” that’s a pretty good description of the noise most cd-roms I’ve had make. I find that power supply fans, especially AT power supplies, have a tendency to sound like a leaf blower when they start up after being turned off for a while. The noise could also be vibration in your case or one of the many fans inside- cpu cooling fan, case cooling fan, video card cooling fan, etc.
make sure it is the hard drive.
Attn: Rahul- So <i>that’s</i> what does that! Thanks much
ATX cases can have, & probably should, one, two, three fans…
Yep, I’m thinking fan also. But back up anyway. Couldn’t hurt.
not that i had noticed until now. it’s been on for a while and then started to get louder and louder like it was going to blow up or something, and then it sounded JUST like a motorcycle.
“If anybody wants a sheep, that is proof that he exists.”
I’m sure it’s the fan, too.
Can you take the cover off the machine, Mega?
You’ll be able to pinpoint the cause then. If it’s the fan, it’s either rubbing against the case, or the bearing is gone. If the former, you can probably fix it. If the latter you need a new fan assembly. They’re not expensive.
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I demand a recount.