Noise from Hard Disk Drive

Hi,

My "main" computer is a Gateway "Color Book II" laptop. It is
on every day from 7:30AM until almost 6:00PM. I have been
using it like this for about 7 years. It has a 1.6 GB hdd. Recently,
for the first time, the hdd started to "wine" (high pitched) for about
3 minutes. Then it became quiet and remained quiet. Afterwards,
I still have no trouble reading/writing files to the hdd.

Is this "wine" sound a sign that my hdd may be failing soon?

Thanks in advance, Brad

Before you type your password, credit card number, etc.,
be sure there is no active key logger (spyware) in your PC.

Are you sure it's the HD and not a fan? Either way, yes, it's a sign of
impending failure. You should get the appropriate disk testing tools from
the manufacturer and, after backing up your critical data, test that thing
to the hilt.

My bet is on a fan, and if one of those fails, you'll have to fix it before
proceeding. It could also cause data corruption if CPU and/or RAM and/or any
number of other things overheat as a result of fan failure.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User


"Brad" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My "main" computer is a Gateway "Color Book II" laptop. It is
on every day from 7:30AM until almost 6:00PM. I have been
using it like this for about 7 years. It has a 1.6 GB hdd. Recently,
for the first time, the hdd started to "wine" (high pitched) for about
3 minutes. Then it became quiet and remained quiet. Afterwards,
I still have no trouble reading/writing files to the hdd.

Is this "wine" sound a sign that my hdd may be failing soon?

Thanks in advance, Brad

Before you type your password, credit card number, etc.,
be sure there is no active key logger (spyware) in your PC.

Up front, dunno. I do have an older IBM hard drive of ultrawide variety.
Its sounds like a jet airplane starting up when the PC is first turned on.
Totally silent after its done starting. Like yours, doesn't seem to affect
its operation.
But, since the sound is new on your system, its probably a sign of something
amiss. Could be alot of things, but most likely a fan sticking due to age
or contaminant intrusion due to dust/dirt. Or the hard drive's spindle
could be worn, and showing signs of impeding failure.
"Brad" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My "main" computer is a Gateway "Color Book II" laptop. It is
on every day from 7:30AM until almost 6:00PM. I have been
using it like this for about 7 years. It has a 1.6 GB hdd. Recently,
for the first time, the hdd started to "wine" (high pitched) for about
3 minutes. Then it became quiet and remained quiet. Afterwards,
I still have no trouble reading/writing files to the hdd.

Is this "wine" sound a sign that my hdd may be failing soon?

Thanks in advance, Brad

Before you type your password, credit card number, etc.,
be sure there is no active key logger (spyware) in your PC.