e6400 Hard drive noise

I picked up this used e6400 from eBay. There are no signs of heavy use on this laptop, however the hard drive is making this weird noise as if its grumbling/vibrating.

Here is a sound file of the noise, recorded it on my iPhone so sorry for the file type. (Use VLC/Quicktime to open .m4a)

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/31400064/Memo.m4a

The Hard drive inside this e6400 is an Hitachi, HTS723212L9A362 111GB.

The noise occurs after a few hours of using the hard drive. I switched from IRRT to AHCI and the hard drive still makes the same noise.

It is quite loud and makes my laptop seem like its sturggling when it's not really. The hard drive light is hardly active during the noise too.

Any help would be appreciated!

EDIT: I tried using the "Hitachi feature tool" to fix it but it didnt detect my hard drive on the bus.

EDIT 2: My e6400 randomly stopped making the noise, everything is silent now...but I know the noise will just come back later :\

 

See if there's anything up with the SMART data? Then try doing a scan with HDTune, etc. If both check out I wouldn't be *that* worried, but you should always backup your data anyway

 

Wow interesting noise to say the least.

Maybe it's time to consider a new drive before this one kicks the bucket. I have fond the SMART system does not always detect a pending mechanical failure, seems more towards data read write issues.

Since you only have a 120 Gb drive, anything today would be a major upgrade but you can also consider a SSD drive, as they are much better priced these days.

 

I think I managed to get it fixed.

I made a Bootable CD of Feature tool 2.1.6 as none of the other versions worked.

I set my APM all the way to maximum performance

Then, i changed Windows power options to "Power Saver"

I also air dusted my CPU Heatsink Fan.

I haven't heard the noise since, but my Hard Drive has started to freeze after about 3-5 hours of use.

 

In the end I decided to replace my 120GB Hitachi HDD with my WD 320GB HDD.

I had to face the drop in RPM, but I prefer it over the "aircraft sound" and strange looks I would receive from the Hitachi drive! :thumbsup:

The only performance drops I've faced so far are websites loading a little slower.

 

Okay sorry for the confusion and multiple posts, but I need help again.

Turns out that the noise is actually the heatsink inside the laptop fan. One of the screws is lose so it rattles...I can't seem to tighten this screw.

Any tips or solutions? Thanks