New HD noise, and a broken USB...

So I have a long in the tooth Dell M1530 that has already had 2 mobo replacements because of melting GPUs. Since the last warranty repair 2 years ago, it has been running basically flawlessly. Recently, I noticed that my HD was starting to make unwanted noises, so I bought a new one (750 gig 5400rpm, from 200gig 7200rpm). I cloned my drive with Acronis and have the new one in the computer working fine and enjoying the massively increased storage space. However, in the 1.5 days since I've put in the new drive, it seems to be making constant little read/write noises where my previous drive did not. Could this be something to do with indexing on a new drive, or is it possibly just a different brand and louder noises? Nothing concerning like a clicking or a whine, just the usual writing noise.

Also, I managed to drop the laptop about 2 feet on to a soft bag the other day before swapping drives. Everything seemed fine, but since that time one of the 3 USB ports does not seem to work. Is there anything I can do to see if I can repair it without opening up the laptop and checking the physical connections?

 

Anyone? Bump...

 

Dan333Sp, It would help to know what brand + model of HDD you have now. I cannot imagine any way to check the USB port other than How to Check Whether USB Ports Are Working | eHow.com or opening up the laptop.
RE: Noise, see this post by Charles J (AKA NBR legend) http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...ermarket-2-5-inch-hard-drive.html#post8904812