Hard Drive often makes 4 access noises then 2 clicks, repeatedly

[cwenners]

Hope someone can help...my 60 GB (40 GB free) hard drive will often make 4 quick scratchy access noises, then 2 clicks, (about 2-3 seconds total) and repeat this for between 10 and 30 seconds. This happens when I do certain actions like open IE or an email, but not when I open Word, for example. Note that once a site is open, unless a popup ad or something else needs to load, the sounds do not return until I go to a different site. I have defragged recently. I first believed it to be trojan or virus related, and Ad-Aware will not complete, especially if I scan only a selected portion of the drive, such as windows/system32. CWShredder also fails. I also downloaded the DIY DataRecovery HD Workbench program hoping to find bad sectors, but it fails to complete its full scan when the drive starts making its sounds ad-nausium until I abort the scan.

I also stumbled onto some bad data when I was trying to back up my digital photos. There were 8 .jpg photos in one directory that made my burn end horribly when the sounds started. Then, I could not open these photos from the hard drive, and the sounds returned. When I deleted these from the burn list, the burn went fine.

Any help would be so much appreciated. Is my drive dying? Note that it is my only drive. Should I look at putting in a second and copying my current drive to it? Thanks again for any help. -CMW

 

[Freestone]

It certainly sounds as if your hard drive is on its way out. I suggest getting your data backed up ASAP.

Once you have your data copied, visit the hard drive manufacturer's web site and look for their hard drive diagnostic tools. These should give some kind of error indication.

 

[garebo]

I agree with Freestone. The only one time i heard that noise you describe, the hard drive died soon after.
Nows the time to get what data you want to keep off that drive or backed up.
I also suggest using the mfgr software to check the drive out as well, but that would be after took care of the backup of data i would want to keep.
Good luck.