hard drive clicking noise normal?

[jfyeh]

I have a 40gig 60gxp and a 60 gig 60 gxp hard drive. When I boot up one of them cliks like 4 or 5 times and then my computer starts up. Besides that there is no noise from it. Is this normal or is one of them about to die. Is there a way to narrow it down to one of the hard drives? Thanks.

 

[XeonTux]

I don't think it's normal.

To determine which is noisy, simple: unplug one!

 

[KGB]

A clicking sound can be a signal of imminent failure,

Download the drive fitness test from IBM to diagnose it.

 

[FPSguy]

It could also be that one of the drives is not screwed into its retention bracket well.

 

[jfyeh]

i doubled check the drive and it is securely mounted in the case.

i ran the drive fitness test on both drives and both came back successful with a code of 0x00. this was from the basic test. I'm running the advanced test now

any other tests i could try?

 

[btearp]

If its mechanical failure, I'm not sure there is a way you can test it. Programs will tell you that the drive is working correctly as far as checking the disk surface and read/writes. If it is getting ready to fail mechanically, it will start with making noise. It is probably the component that controls the head movement on one of the drives or possibly a bearing for the disk itself. It will continue to work until whatever it is completely fails. That could be today or 12 months from now depending on use and other considerations. I'd go with the other sugestion and unplug one and see which one it is that is making the noise. If you have critical data, I'd get another drive and back it up to that. If its just programs you use that can be installed and you don't want to spend money, wait till it quits and then replace it.

BEarp