{"id":1793,"date":"2009-10-25T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2009-10-25T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/?p=1793"},"modified":"2009-10-26T03:30:33","modified_gmt":"2009-10-26T07:30:33","slug":"hard-drive-making-a-weird-noise-super-user","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/hard-drive-making-a-weird-noise-super-user\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard drive making a weird noise"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Samsung hard drive is making some weird noises. Sometimes, the noise stops but then starts again within a few minutes. It’s warranty is out of date, so I am worried that the noise may indicate an imminent failure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First,…..<\/p>\n

Backup your data. Now.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Please, Back it up… Back up your data if you even SUSPECT a hard drive issue…Then you can safely diagnose it…<\/p>\n

Remember though, SMART is a quickie… If it fails, then your drive is surely toast, but if it passes, keep an eye on it. It just might have not reached that SMART test thresholds…<\/p>\n

For Windows, try smartmontools<\/a>… \u00c2\u00a0For the macintosh, open utilities –> disk utility –> Highlight the drive in question, and look at the bottom of the screen. \u00c2\u00a0You’ll see Smart Status. \u00c2\u00a0If Disk Utility reports unavailable, chances are it \u00c2\u00a0is an external drive. \u00c2\u00a0(Most External cases do *not* support the smart protocol.)<\/p>\n

Second, test your drive.<\/p>\n

On the Macintosh, boot from a different drive… \u00c2\u00a0And then run a tool, like Tech Tool Pro, and have it scan the disk media for bad sectors…. \u00c2\u00a0This will take hours, on any decently sized drive. \u00c2\u00a0Disk Warrior can give an indication of hardware issues (“Speed Reduced by Drive Failure”), but that gives no useful feedback to the severity of the issue.<\/p>\n

On Windows,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n