Table of contents: 1. Western digital hard disk makes noise 2. Samsung hard disk makes noise 3. Toshiba hard disk makes noise 4. Seagate hard disk makes noise 5. What has to be done if the hard drive makes strange noise while operating
The very first thing that you will have to do if your hard disk starts making incomprehensible sounds – you will need to urgently copy all important information from it to the other drive. Unfortunately in most cases any kind of cracking, scratching and clicks from the hard drive are indicating that soon it will fail. If the hard drive will finally break down, chances of retaining all the important information accumulated on it will become close to zero.
Depending on where they were manufactured, hard disks have different ways to tell the user about this or another problem. Below we will discuss some typical situations when hard disks of the most well-known manufacturers are making strange and untypical sounds.
Western digital hard disk makes noise
Western Digital is one of the largest companies producing HDD and SSD. This hard disks are installed in many computers, and they are quite popular not only because of their decent price, but also because of their reliability. Still it does not mean that this disks never have problems. Western Digital hard disks may create the following sounds while operating:
Several clicks in a row. Most often after you hear several clicks in a row, the rotation speed of your hard disk will become lower. Because of it you may notice that folders are opening much slower. Also programs and operational tasks will be starting and performing at significantly lower speed. This sound – several clicks -indicates problems with read-and-write heads; - Hard disk can not gain speed. In this case you will hear that your drive is trying to gain speed but after this the sound ceases. And after a short break the hard drive is trying to gain speed again. Most often this sound is indicating a spindle malfunction;
- Western Digital hard disk is clicking and knocking inside the laptop. Another “symptom” that is indicating a problem with the read-and-write heads of the drive;
- Laptop hard disk squeaks while operating. If the Western Digital drive of your laptop is defective and can not gain speed (for example due to the spindle malfunction) it will give you the squeaking sound signal.
As you can see your hard disk will be making different sounds depending on were it is installed – in a laptop or in a stationary system unit.
Samsung hard disk makes noise
Samsung hard drives are mainly used in laptops, but some of them you can meet in the stationary system units as well. Let’s take a look at the most often occurring sound manifestations of Samsung hard drives malfunction:
One click and slow rotation (in some cases 5 clicks or more followed by a slow rotation). This “symptom” indicates that the drive has problems with the read-and-write heads and it can not reach the usual rotation speed to maintain it’s standard operation performance; - Sounds of grinding and scratching while the Samsung drive is operating. The drive most often starts working this way if it’s magnetic disks have bad sectors. This sounds will appear when you attempt to access files stored on a disk.
Toshiba hard disk makes noise
Let’s examine the extraneous sounds that Toshiba hard drive may produce when running:
- Unsuccessful attempts to rotate and full stop of a hard disk. If the hard drive can not reach it’s regular operating speed it would be because of a malfunction of the spindle that is most likely stuck;
- Scratching sound, turning into a high-pitched squeak. Toshiba hard drive behaves this way if there is an irregularity in the operation of it’s bearings;
- When you turn on your computer you can hear clicks coming from the hard drive. This indicates a malfunction of the magnetic heads.
Seagate hard disk makes noise
Another popular company – Seagate – offers hard drives for both: desktops and laptops. Using them you may sometimes face the following issues:
Drilling sound when a hard drive is accelerating in a laptop. It is possible that along with the drilling sound you will hear some tapping and clicking. Most often it indicates that there are problems with the read-and-write heads. It is worth noting that this kind of sounds you may hear from the Seagate hard disk after it felt down; - A short squeak when turning on and clicking during operation. This hard drive’s “behavior” is most often associated with a malfunction of the drive heads;
- Unsuccessful attempts to gain speed interrupted by forced deceleration. If you can clearly hear that the hard drive is trying to gain speed, but regularly stops and slows down, there are most likely some problems with the spindle.
What has to be done if the hard drive makes strange noise while operating
If while your hard disk is operating you noticed some unusual extraneous sounds, most likely you are going to need to replace it pretty soon. In extremely rare cases, hard disk can be repaired, but from the economical point of view it is quite unreasonable. It is better to transfer all important information from the hard disk as soon as possible to another drive and just replace the faulty HDD.