hey guys. ive been having a problem for the last 2 days or so, whenever there is something running that requires lots of hard drive activity, i hear the hard drive spinning down (or up?) followed by a click, and in this time the computer stalls. after the click, it usualy starts working again. does this sound like a dying hard drive? i would just transfer my data to another drive but im not sure if data will get corrupted in the transfer, what should i do? ive used windows checkdisk a number of times, and each time it said it was repairing something but never fixed the problem. ideas?

Yah it definatly sounds like your drive is dieing , try to transfer your important data to another drive and see if you can get a RMA for the drive.

Sounds like it. I say clone the HDD ASAP

yeah, I believe thats the feared 'click of death'

im just worried that if i clone the HD it will corrupt the data in the transfer, or not even transfer it at all. my friend suggested that it might be the controller, and not the hard drive itself, so could i get a PCI IDE adapter and plug it in to that? do you think that might work?

try copying the info right away. The data will usually be lost in clusters so it would be a good idea to double check the data after the transfer.

ps. instead of a pci interface, i'd get a usb enclosure. They are always nice to have around.

pps. you can always throw the drive in another system. Just be sure to use the correct boot order (and most likely change the jumpers from master to slave)

thanks, looking at a Western Digital 250GB IDE Hard Drive for $100. is WD historicly relyable?

I have had nothing but bad luck with Western Digital drives, never had a problem with a Seagate.

I like and have Seagate and Western Digital. Seagate seems to be a bit more reliable me thinks.

So i got myself a WD Caviar SE 250gb hard drive... one last question. if i am to set this drive as the slave for the install, and i dont have another pin connector thingy to set the other drive as "master with slave present" will it still work? can i simply use the ide cable for the CD drive for this new drive for the transfer?

On a similar note... I have a WD drive that has started to click... albeit quite infrequently. It doesn't spin down/up but it is definitely the click of death. I've had no problems with the drive other than the scary click... and running WD diagnostics (a simple and extended test) both passed.

WD are happy for me to return it (it's within warranty)... but do you think they're likely to replace it if it passes their diagnostics (and SMART) tests?? Do you think they're likely to do the same tests, get a pass and send it me back?

Thanks

Oh and my 2p worth... my seagate is crazy noisy... that said I've only had one. My WDs have lasted well... except for this one!