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Hard Drive Making Noise? Here’s What to Do

htscnIs your hard drive making noise? A hard drive should be nearly silent, with the exception of the clicking sound it makes when it is being accessed. If you start to hear your hard drive making noise when it is not being accessed, or you start hearing noises you have never heard before, it probably means that your hard drive is failing. Grinding and squealing noises usually mean it is on its last leg and you need to act fast.

How To Protect Your Data If You Hear Your Hard Drive Making Noise

There are two different ways you can protect yourself from losing all of your data on your hard drive. The first and probably the smartest is to back up data onto a working hard drive, so if it does in fact crash, then you have an extra copy and your data is not completely gone. The second way is a little more complicated, but in a few steps I have explained how to repair your hard drive temporarily.

  1. Run free hard drive diagnostic software, which is already available on many PCs or on the Internet. More advanced software is available for a cost from software developers. At best, this software will mark certain areas as bad and prevent the computer from using that in the future. It will not completely fix the failing part of the hard drive.
  2. If any corrections have been made and the diagnostics software was successful. This is only a temporary solution. It will resolve the issue of your hard drive making noise for a bit and will at least give you a little more time to back up your data and then replace the failing hard drive with a new working one. Remember, the diagnostics software will work temporarily, but will eventually fail, so replace it immediately.

To prevent you from losing your data in the future, remember that it is essential to back up your hard drive regularly. Don’t wait until you hear your hard drive making noise. I would suggest doing this at least once a month. With an up-to-date backup, recovering your data is as simple as installing a new drive and restoring your data. Nowadays, hard drives are inexpensive and easy to install, so you should have no trouble.

The most important item to take out of this post is to make sure you are always backing up your data onto another hard drive. If your hard drive has failed or you have any questions about your hard drive making noise, please feel to contact Datatech Labs at (888) 288-DATA today!