Is my HD failing? Please help

Kaliman

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Aug 1, 2001
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I currently have 3 hard drives in my main PC

2x 80gb WD JB

1x 120gb WD JB

And in my server I have another 120 gb jb drive.

I recently took apart my system because of some bad caps on my motherboard and noticed how truly loud the hard drives were when I put them into my server (it has less fans so I can hear the HD noise better).

What worries me is....one of the 80 gb drives has a humming sound that is considerably louder than the other 80 gb drive yet they are the exact same drive and I even purchased them at the same time.

The 120 gb drive in my pc makes about the same noise as the quieter 80 gb drive, and the 120 gb drive in my server makes the least noise (it's also a year newer).

So should I be worried here or am I being paranoid?
 

jim552

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May 1, 2003
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In the end it's pretty hard to tell from sound alone. (Unless of course you have turn your computer off to talk on the phone?)

Some hard drives are louder than other. It doesn't matter if they are the same model or not. If they are the same model though, then the difference should not be all that noticeable.

Generally, I have found the key is changes in the sound a hard drive makes.

If you a hard drives and for days it sounded the same, then one day it started sounding different that could be a problem. (This seems like the scenario you described.)

For me it has usually been better to err on the side of caution.

If you have need of a scratch drive, or an archival drive that is not changed often, and backed up to CD/DVD then use that drive for that purpose.

Changes in sound, heat, and vibration can all be signs of problems. (An increase in either generally being bad. A complete absence of all wouldn't be good either?)