Is there a way I can fix this?

Question

I'm a writer and on my computer eight to ten hours a day. My hard drive starts making this racket. I know it's the fan, probably but I'm told there really isn't anything I can do about it. That doesn't make sense to me because I never had that problem on my computer at work where it was on twelve hours a day, five days a week. Any help? Any clue?

Okay, I get it, I'm stupid. The hard drive does not have a fan. I just know there is a racket going on and it starts after the computer has been on for a while. If I leave it alone for a couple of days, it stops. So does this make it the hardrive itself or the fan (which is not in the hard drive)

Colin---yes, of course it is. Thanks for clearing your throat and trying to be tactful though. I appreciate it.

Answer 1

If it's your hard drive chattering, it's time to get another hard drive before the old one stops working and eats 3 years of creativity. HAVE SOMEONE WHO HAS DONE IT BEFORE HELP YOU change it and reinstall you documents! If you decide to do the learning curve alone, you might just lose all your documents anyway, and that sounds like it would be VERY BAD! Best of luck.
AND BACK UP ALL YOUR FILES RIGHT NOW!!

Answer 2

Well A Hard Drive has not got a fan (Unless it is an external one)

Most PC's have 2 / sometime 3 fans

1 Inside the power supply

1 On top of the processor

1 (Sometimes) on the case edge

So you need to know which one to eliminate the problem

If you still think the noise is from the hard drive (Which has a motor that can become loud) - then its most important to back up your data (Which I would do in any case) and get a replacement drive fitted SOON - otherwise you could lose everything !


As for your computer at work - not breaking down thats just the way it goes - It's a bit like a car some are great and run for ever, others break down every other day !


Hope this helps

Answer 3

Ahem - could it be your home's a teensy bit dustier than your office?

If you're sure it's the fan getting noisy, there are things you can do. With the machine off and unplugged and cooled down, open the case on a good level surface. Look closely to find the fan and you may well find it's clogged with dust and fluff and stuff. With the aid of a can of compressed air and a NEW unused small paintbrush carefully remove all the clag and while you're in there do the same for any other dust bunnies.

Put the case back together, plug in, power up and see if that's done it. Nine times out of ten that's all that's needed.

On 'other hand, if you suspect it's the hard drive itself which is getting noisy, now might be the time to consider getting another one and transferring all your files over before it packs up irrevocably.

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

There are several fans in computers that help provide ventilation to the computer's components. Below is a listing of the fans that may be causing noises in your computer.

Case Fans – Case fans are fans commonly attached to the front or back of a computer. It is normal for most additional case fans to generate additional noise (usually a low hum). However, you should not expect to hear any type of clicking noise or high pitched noise from any of the case fans. When this occurs it is a good indication that the fan is failing or has already failed.

CPU fan – Although not installed on all computers, some computer heat sinks may also contain a fan to help with keeping the processor cool.

You should only expect to hear a slight hum from the CPU fan; below are some issues that may cause additional noise from your CPU fan.

- Cable is hitting the fan causing a vibration.
- CPU fan is loose causing vibration
- CPU fan is bad causing additional noise.
- Last thing i can think of...take to best buy of a puter geek friend and have them clean the fan

Any other types of noises being heard from the computer could be caused by any of the below devices.

CD-ROM
Fan
Floppy
Hard drive
Modem
Power supply
Speakers
Monitor

Answer 5

You can do some quick troubleshooting to locate the real issue. You can take the cover off you computer and listen vary carefully to each component to verify it is the fan. If might be the hard drive.

If you are sure it is the fan, te desktop fan (and there may be 3 or 4 fans) can be easily replaced for less than $50.

If you feel uncomfortable doing this yourself, get a friend to help, or take it to a qualified service tech. Working with any electrical applicance with the cover off can lead to a shock hazard if you don't know what you are doing.

Answer 6

My hard drive started making that racket and a week later it died. I wish I knew that was a symptom so I would have done a back up. I reccommend you back up all your data and start looking for a good buy on a replacement hard drive. (PS- If its the hard drive, it isn't the fan.)

At the place you work, the IT guy may have taken care of the hard drives and you never even knew it.

Answer 7

different computers act differently, your home computer could be better thus having a greater CPU usage, for example, which would cause the fan to be used more.

there are other factors.

motherboardmonitor http://mbm.livewiredev.com is free software which you can download to check the temperature of your computer and check your fan speeds. if the temperature of your computer is high then that's the reason for the problem with the "hard drive fan". in this case, you would have to find methods of reducing your computer temperature - e.g. check for faulty/broken fans or add more fans (I have added a "system exhuast" fan to mine).

Answer 8

You can try to clean the fan. Possibly it has a build up of dust etc. causing it to be out of balance of rubbing.
The fan can easily be replaced at a low cost if it is really bad.

Answer 9

You can replace the hard drive. Any computer store should be able to do that for you.

The noise you hear could create problems in the future such as causing your hard drive to crash. Be sure to backup your hard drive immediately.

Answer 10

"My hard drive starts making this racket. I know it's the fan,"

Hard drives don't have fans. But change the fan anyway.

People Hard Drives don't have fans, cases have fans. video cards have fans, CPU coolers have fans, but hard drives do not have fans.