"Dripping" Hard Drive...?

[jzsang]

Over the past few days, I've noticed that after I turn my computer on and my desktop appears, my hard drive starts making "dripping" sounds. Specifically, these noises remind me of little beads of water dripping into a sink basin. Notably, these sound occur every 10 secs - 1 minute and last for a few minutes at a rate of exponential decay (more in the beginning, less at the end). At first I did not think much of these sounds, but a few days, I'm slowly getting irritated/concerned and am now at the point of posting on this forum. Do you think everything ok or should I invest more time getting at the root of the problem?

I don't know if specs matter, but...

Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 500 GB Hard Drive
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit (fast indexing disabled)

 

[mrmez]

Could by dying. Run a smart monitor to check it. SMART is pretty cool, it monitors and logs much hard drive info, (i use the one in speedfan) then completely fails to notify you of any problems that could prevent total drive loss.

Regardless, id backup everything and assume its just a matter of time before it dies.

 

[Proximon]

You say the sound decreases as time goes by. Does it stop eventually or keep on?

It sounds as if some part is expanding as the drive heats up. If the drive is getting too warm, that would be a bad indicator.

 

[megamanx00]

Sounds like somemoving parts in there are starting to lock up. Could be time for a new drive. Like mrmez said though, run a smart monitor to check on it. I'd be a bit paranoid and back up everything just in case.

 

[hotroderx]

I agree with everone it sounds like the drive is dying. It sounds like its starting as the drive is seeking for information (why its starts when the desk top appears) it could be a bad sector (aka something on the disk that the read/write arm is hitting). But in any case I would back up the drive and look for a replacement because its a matter of time before it goes.....

sorry for the bad news.

PS one thing u might want to check even though its a loooooooong shot is make sure the drive isnt lose (make sure its secure to the bay) its a long shot but worth a look

 

[jzsang]

Thanks for the all advice.

The sad thing is...I've probably only had the drive for about two months.

In the meantime, I have been running various hard drive tests on Seatools. Interestingly enough, I apparently fixed a problem when I ran Seatools in DOS mode. Nevertheless, the odd sounds still persist...

An answer to one of your questions...

You say the sound decreases as time goes by. Does it stop eventually or keep on?

It generally decreases completely. Every now and then though...it briefly returns.

PS one thing u might want to check even though its a loooooooong shot is make sure the drive isnt lose

I'll be doing that shortly, thank you.

 

[Proximon]

Ok it's clearly heating up then. It could be a simply flaw in the construction causing the niose, and not serious. That would not be a great chance to take.

I would contact Seagate and see what they think. Better to lose the drive now than later.