Hard disk - weird noises

[ghidu]

I keep hearing weird noises comming from my hard disk. It's like cracking or clicking, I can't explain better, but it's definately not right. So far, I'm not experiencing any stability issues (it's been for a week), but it's anoying. The disk is a WD 160G SATA.
I've tried both the molex connector and the special sata connector with same results.
I've also tried the utility from WD site and it didn't find any errors. The noise is louder when I ran a surface scan (I didn't let it finish it because I had to use the PC).
So, what do you think, is this drive dying already? I have much older HDs without any problems.
Any suggestion on what I should do or not do would be apreciated. Thanks

 

[ghidu]

ok, so I ran some utilities and it apears I have 10 errors. I'm guessing there are some bad sectors. Is it ok, I mean windows will just mark those sectors and don't use them? should I expect this drive to fail soon? I don't know if this is a good reason to return it.

 

[CrispyFried]

There will be more bad sectors. Start backing stuff up.

 

[samgau]

Clicking noises = bad, scratching noises = 2x bad.... as CrispyFried said, start backing up...

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

^^

I hear Darth Vader music in the background for the hard-drive. Definitely back everything up and switch that drive to a backup drive. For example, try Ghosting (if you have Ghost or something like it) to another drive (if you have it) all the data on that drive and you should be o.k. I am sorry, I have been through similar PC twitches of death myself

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Download the drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility and run a full (advanced) diagnostic. If it fails, it's time to replace it ASAP. As everyone else said - backup your important data now. You usually don't get much warning before a modern drive fails.

 

[ghidu]

Originally posted by: FlyingPenguin
Download the drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility and run a full (advanced) diagnostic. If it fails, it's time to replace it ASAP. As everyone else said - backup your important data now. You usually don't get much warning before a modern drive fails.

I've allready did and it didn't find any error (I ran extended test)
The disk it's new and I'm using this computer as my gamming rig so there is no important data, only windows and games (lots of ). I have other HDs, but I'm using them in my others PCs, so I should just wait for this one to die, right? There is a way to ask for a RMA at this point? Thanks for your input.

 

[ghidu]

Western Digital recommended me to return the disk.
How can I format the drive so the data cannot be recovered - not everything in here is legit ?
I was thinking a low format and then write 0's and 1's - Linux has a command for this.