Strange Hard Drive noises-PLEASE help

Hi, I have a Compaq Presario 2100 laptop that I bought about 2 1/2 years ago, and now I have just started college and am using it here. It's usually on majority of the day for when I'm doing homework and researching. Recently, in the last couple of weeks, the hard drive has begun to make a whirring sound followed by a high pitch "beep" when I click on some things. This only happens sometimes, it's not all the time. I have already defragmented my hard drive and done an error check. Does anyone know if this is something I should be worried about or if there is anything else I can do to fix it? Thanks

 

backup your drive frequently, it could be dieing

 

I'd have to agree with the fact that it may be on its way out the door.

 

would i need an external drive or do i just go to "backup now" and do it straight on the computer. is it possible that it's anything else?

 

How about onto CDs unless you are large amounts of data where an external hard drive or DVD burner is a better idea. Replacing you drive gives you the opportunity to upgrade to a faster drive which will increase system performance.

 

Backup everything on your harddrive ASAP!!

 

If your HDD is S.M.A.R.T compatible, you can get some software that can detect if something is going wrong with it. Although such software won't always report a problem.

You can get HD-Tune from www.hdtune.com and the "health" tab, if one of the readings is not "OK" then for sure there is something wrong with you drive.

Just to know what you are supposed to be looking for, this is an attachment of healthy drive:

 

okay I did the HD Tune thing and on the health tab it says everything is ok except for:

(7) Seek Error Rate current: 77 Worst: 60 Threshold: 30
Failed


I don't know where to go from here...

 

Check out this post of a user with simillar issue. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=27292

If you have a Fujitsu drive also, follow the same instructions that miner gave.

If I were you, I'd start backing up to external drive or CD/DVDs ASAP, cause all signs point to a faulty drive till now.

 

Do this ASAP!!!

Don't do the backup now Windows thingy, just save all of your My Documents ( Word files), any pictures, email contacts/addresses, financial stuff, and anything else you don't want to loose.
If you cant burn a CD/DVD, go over to a friend who has computer knowhow and transfer this stuff over their network onto one of their systems.
Some universities have student webspace that you could upload stuff onto, but this would a be a last resort since it might take a wile.

:noisyfan:

 

yes, i have same issue, the fujitsu hard drive diagnostic utility was not ableto detect my hard drive. i contacted HP on their online chat technical support and they ran hp's hard disk test and it was stuck on 90% for about 40mins but it didnt generated any error, hp said it could be a hard drive fault issue and needs to be replaced

 

Well..what make is your hard drive?? The utility I suggested works only with Fujitsu hard drives, different manufacturers have their own diagnostic software.

 

hi miner, i really don't know the brand of my hard drive, i just based it from what HD tune identifies it as FUJITSU MHT2020AT PL (80GB)

 

Then it is a Fujitsu, the reading of brand and model # in HD-Tune comes directly from the HDD (firmware). So it's 100% accurate.

I guess your only option is a back up and repair. You're still under warranty? Will they cover this? If they are going to make you pay for the repair, it might be cheaper for you to buy an HDD online, and replacing it yourself.

 

Hm...strange. HD tune is most probably correct. Maybe the diagnostic software did not properly recognise the HD. But anyways I agree with qwester, if it still under warranty back up your stuff and send it in for repair or buy a new hard drive(if it is out of warranty).

 

thanks for the advice guys, yes its still under warranty, and the sad thing is that my hp dv4000 is only 1 month old and it goes for repair already.

 

BTW, @alstrgrl87, i just contacted HP again and they asked me to do a HP Hard Drive Self Test in the bios setup utility, i will try this tonight and this will determine if HP will replace my hard disk, i just saw this on their site as stated

"If all of the tests pass (HP Hard Drive Selft Test), the hard drive is not damaged. As a rule, HP will not replace a hard drive under warranty that does not fail the HP Hard Drive Self Test."

now, i was wondering does this HD self test gets results from S.M.A.R.T. also? then if SMART predicts future errors, and HD failure might not occur now, but may proliferate later on. so HP has a rule for thier HD replacements that it must fail on the self HD test, but what if it doesnt fail yet, but on HD tune it sees an error

here's the link where i saw this: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...cname=c00439024&product=464524&dlc=en&lang=en

 

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues after the first month =(.

I think if you really feel there is a problem with your harddrive and you want it replaced... take it out of the computer and toss it around for a bit and I'm sure that it'll create enough bad sectors for HP Hard Drive Self Test to spit back a "damaged" report... This is a LAST RESORT type thing though =)