Is my HDD dying?

[amdfangirl]

Take a listen to this:

https://soundcloud.com/amdfangirl/full-startup

This is my HDD when my computer boots up. I'm not sure why the HDD has that thrashing sound when Windows starts to load.

All of my applications but my games are installed on my SSD. Nothing should be accessing the drive's IO on startup.

After a short while, the drive gets quiet as you can hear.

Even when I play something like Skyrim the HDD does not consistently sound like this.

From idle to launching Skyrim:

https://soundcloud.com/amdfangirl/launching-skyrim

Disk Defrag

https://soundcloud.com/amdfangirl/disk-defragmenter

Configuration:

Phenom II X3 @ 3.2Ghz| Gigabyte 880GMA-USB3| EVGA GTX 660 2GB| 16GB DDR3| Crucial c300 64GB| Caviar Black 500 GB| TruePower 650W| 2 x Dell Ultrasharp U2311H| Win7

 

[SirSub42]

Can't say I have ever heard a noise like that coming from a computer before, but I would certainly say it is time to download something like UltimateBootCD and run a couple of HD diagnostics.

Something else just popped into my head, not to cause you alarm or anything. But I have heard of malware/viruses in the past who inflict physical damage to hard drives by design. This could explain why your HD is running more than needed at bootup even though no files are accessing the drive. Just a thought. Either way, best of luck to ya. - Sub

 

[amdfangirl]

I've run a full diagnostic via SeaTools on the drive - the diagnostic report showed up with nothing. Same with SMART.

I doubt there is a virus, I don't visit dodgy sites on this computer so the likelihood is minimal.

Subjectively the bootup sounds like it thrashes the HDD more than when disk defrag is running. No clue as to why.

Final point is that WD Caviar Blacks do have a reputation for being noisy - but just the time that it's noisy just doesn't make sense.

 

[fzabkar]

SeaTools' SMART report is pass-or-fail. You need something more comprehensive such as CrystalDiskInfo. Examine the raw values for the Reallocated, Pending, and Uncorrectable Sector Count attributes.

 

[amdfangirl]

CrystalInfo doesn't give any warning signs for my HDD.

I think what's telling is that when I duplicated the data onto a newer Toshiba 3TB 7,200rpm disk the noise dropped by a factor of 100 (subjectively, of course).

WD have said that they are willing to RMA the drive via FedEX for free given my data I've provided them with.