Hard drive noise

[Seth]

Ever since I added an SSD to my laptop and have been using the original 1 TB hard drive as a storage drive, the 1 TB drive has been making this hissing type sound.

It seems to do it shortly after I boot up the laptop.
It'll make the hissing sound for about a minute, then stop for a few seconds, then start again. Every once in awhile it makes this electronic chirp type sound. After the laptop has been on for awhile, it will eventually stop.

Is this a sign that my hard drive is about to fail on me? Should I start investing in a new hard drive?

[flighter]

There are few possibilities:

1. If a noise resembles the sound of two metal pieces hitting each other, then it is the hard disk heads hitting the end-position barrier. The clicking sound will happen like every second or two and it would repeat itself for like 10-15 times, then stop. During that process, activity indicator should not show any activity. What is happening inside is probably that the heads are trying to position themselves properly, but can't do that for some reason (be it electronics that are about to fail, or some mechanical problems). While it is all happening, does the hard disk respond to requests from the computer (for example, does it allow its content to be copied to the computer, or something written from the computer to that particular disk)? If it does, then there is no immediate danger. However, if the large file transfer temporarily (or completely!) stops, then there is trouble ahead.

2. Other option is that the hard disk is reading/writing some content (on its own or as instructed by the computer). That would be indicated by the flashing activity indicator and that one is perfectly fine.

You can try to check the hard disk with programs like this one

http://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm

It reads disk's S.M.A.R.T. data. SMART is a systemthat is designed to detect risk's "health" problems and especially to predict possible fatal failures. Of course, you can use any other program that does the same thing.

But, in any case, DO NOT keep your important files ONLY on that hard disk, have a copy somewhere else too (and that SOMEWHERE ELSE does NOT include USB flash memory).

Make a backup before the hard disk fails (if it is about to fail, but you can't know that). Retrieving the data after it fails is possible, but it costs money and time, and the success is not guaranteed.

[Seth]

I copied a >1GB file to the disk while it was making that noise; it copied without error.
While it is making the noise, the activity light seems to flicker at random intervals.

I also downloaded and installed that Disk Checkup program. Is their anything specific that I should keep an eye out for?

[flighter]

Well, if the noise was there during the copy process and shortly after, that is perfectly normal, especially if you are transferring large number of smaller files. The thing is, the list of what file is saved where (to put i that way, in reality it is slightly different) is saved on one location, while the files are everywhere. So, the disk saves the part of the file, then goes and saves that info to the list, then continues with the file etc... then next file, and another one till it finishes. That jumbing back and forth causes the noise...

[Seth]

This is the first hard drive I've had that's ever done this. It's just peculiar because I have never heard a hard drive do this before.

I keep regular backups of my important data just in case it does fail.

[flighter]

Well, different brands, different architecture. Even if 2 hard disks are, for instance, made by Seagate, but belong to different families/lines of products, they could sound differently.