Loud hard drive?

Question

I have an HP xw4300 Workstation with 2 Pentium 3.2 GHz processors and 2 MB of RAM. Since the day this computer came out of the box (about 11 months ago), it is sometimes very loud. It doesn't sound like the fan; actually, it sounds like that grindy noise a hard drive can make. I can't figure out why it does it sometimes; there doesn't seem to be a correlation between what I am doing and the noise. It's not hot and it's not slow. I've tried cleaning out the whole insides with compressed air. I thought it was just that computer until someone else got the same one and hers is quiet! Any ideas?

As I stated in my original post, it has ALWAYS done this, from brand new until now - 11 months ago. I kinda doubt that the hard drive is dying. Any other suggestions?

Answer 1

Hmm, unfortunately, when hd makes those sounds is a sing that it's going to die soon. Think of it like and old car's motor, the only thing to do to salvage is to get a new motor. The same with your pc's hd. So what I suggest you to do, back up everything. Make an image of your hd and burn it to a dvd. That's the only thing, I am afraid.

Answer 2

From what your telling me, your hard drive is on its way to the trash! best Idea is to get a new one! I recommend a bit larger if possible! 300+gb Very quiet - if you want to hear my 300gb HD, just go into the quietest place you can find! I can hear only a air cond. run! :P

Answer 3

i have found that it is somewhat normal to hear your hd drive make noise, i have had several computers and still do that make noise simular to what you have said i found that if i defrag the computer and clean it up they quit, this keeps the hd drive form having to work as hard.

Answer 4

Sounds like your hard drive is about to give up. Back up your data immediately on a dvd or an external hard drive. Check your warranty or replace you hard drive by yourself.