harddrive issue?

hey guys.... i have x60plus and i think the hdd in it is from fujitsu 5200rpm 120gig harddrive. Ive had some problems with my videocard and i had to force shutdown the computer couple of times by pressing power button for couple of seconds and turn up the computer. But recently, i started to hear this "tick tock" noice from the laptop. Its periodical and it happens every 3 ~ 5 seconds. Its not terribly loud, but i can hear it VERY clearly. tick tock tick tock. This did not happen when I just started to use laptop as it was very quiet. Would this mean my harddrive is damaged in anyway? or is something wrong with harddrive? what could be the source of this noice? and how can I fix this?

 

Well ticking hard drives usually signal their end of life, assuming you know it isn't the optical drive making those noises.

 

could optical drive make such noise without any cd or dvd in them?

 

The HDD SMART data should, in theory, reveal any health problem. Get the evaluation version of Active SMART and see what it reports. You should back up your files which you will lose if either the HDD dies or Samsung want you to reinstall Windows to confirm that it is not a software problem. A few blank DVD's won't break the bank.

However, I would note that Active SMART doesn't always get it right. A couple of years ago it was predicting death due to a Raw Read Error Problem, but I concluded this was an interpretation problem since the HDD is still alive. A steady increase in error values would be a good indicator of a problem. Tell us what you find.

You should also try the Fujitsu HDD diagnostic utility. The IDE/ATA version here should work. If that reports a problem then it is time to contact Samsung.

John

 

Optical drives can make a bit of noise when the are looking to see if there is a disc inside. However, this should stop after a few seconds.

If I understand your first post correctly, the tick-tock noise is continuous, at about 5 second intervals, while the computer is running.

John

 

yes john, i strongly believe it is coming from harddrive.... does that mean i should exchange harddrive...?

 

See what the Fujitsu diagnostics and the SMART data show and report here. I don't have my Fujitsu HDD to hand to compare the results, but others should be able to make a comparison if there is still any uncertainty.

So you have an idea of what the SMART data looks like, here's a dump using Sisoftware Sandra for my Samsung HDD.

SiSoftware Sandra

S.M.A.R.T Data
Raw Read Error Rate (01) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Spin-up Time (03) : 3008 (Threshold 25; Worst 253; Maximum 253)
Start/Stop Count (04) : 695 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Re-Allocated Sector Count (05) : 0 (Threshold 10; Worst 253; Maximum 253)
Seek Error Rate (07) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 253; Maximum 253)
Seek Time Performance (08) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 253; Maximum 253)
Power-On Time Count (09) : 21837 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Spin Retry Count (0A) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 253; Maximum 253)
Calibration Retry Count (0B) : 21 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Power Cycle Count (0C) : 357 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Power-Off Park Count (C0) : 28 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Load/Unload Cycle Count (C1) : 4033 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Drive Temperature (C2) : 44 (Threshold 0; Worst 56; Maximum 53)
ECC Corrected Count (C3) : 17539 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Re-Allocated Data Count (C4) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 253; Maximum 253)
Pending Sector Count (C5) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 253; Maximum 253)
Un-Correctable Sector Count (C6) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 253; Maximum 253)
CRC Error Count (C7) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Write Error Rate (C8) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)



The error parameters will be of greatest interest.

John