I can hear my hard drive scratching/writing???

[iixwh3l4nxii]

It sounds like someone is using a rock to scratch my hard drive everytime it's being accessed, which is quite often obviously, I have 2 hard drives obviously but I think it's my Boot drive (C:\ drive), it's a pretty old IDE and everytime I open a desktop program or look inside the C: Drive, I hear that noise, I hear it when I open my "E:\" drive also but it's no were near as much and it could just be the general C: Drive working... right?

Is there anyway to find out
1) where the noise is coming from
and 2) could someone tell me if this is a bad thing, like does it mean it's dying or what?

 

[price_th]

Some drives are noisier than others. If you're concerned, download the diagnostic software from the Mfg. and scan it for errors. Always make sure your data is backed up.

 

[MidnightDistort]

You probably would have run into errors by now, it won't hurt to check it for errors. Older IDE drives sound like they are scratching the platters but i think it's because of the arm moving around and also it might be the older kind that had the mechanical reader that moves like a cd optical lens instead of the more modern 'arm'. How old is the drive? I have a '99 PC with the original HDD and it just makes a weird loud humming sound when its on. Then i have this 80GB SATA drive that sounds like it's crushing rocks or breaking something but it works fine.