Is my HD dieing?

[TheNiceGuy]

I have the drive in my sig. I just did a total system upgrade, and noticed my drive is acting up. It has probably been doing so before, but I just didn't notice because of all the other amient noise.
Basical, it is really hot and makes a cyclical oscilating hum sound about every 5 seconds - sounds like say a graphics card fan would sound if it was off center and wearing out.
SO far, just the noise and heat, no datat loss.
Is there anything I can do?

 

[Zap]

All HDDs vibrate. I'm thinking that your 5 second cycle indicates possibly just a variance in the RPM of your drives. If you really want to be sure, then go to Seagate's web site and download their drive testing program, and test your drive.

To get rid of the noise you'll need to somehow decouple your drive from the chassis.

 

[egale]

If there is nothing you can't replace on the drive, don't worry about it till the drive fails.

On the other hand, when in doubt, throw it out!! I would much rather backup and replace now then to lose stuff when it fails.

 

[RebateMonger]

If only this one drive out of three is making this sound and running so hot, it sounds like it's going to fail. As noted, plan to replace it now rather than waiting until it fails at an inconvenient time.

My standard plan would be to buy a new drive to replace it, then get the old drive replaced under warranty (if applicable). I'd use the replacement drive in an external housing for making data backups, since I don't trust refurbished drives as main data drives.