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My slave HDD is making a noise.

I've been in touch with the manufacturer of the PC (more than once) and they say it's nothing to worry about :unsure:

I emailed the drive manufacturer (samsung) who told me to run the diagnostics tests, which I have done, and they all come back that the drive is OK and there are no errors.

It doesn't make the noise all the time but always does at boot up. It's a sort of electronic squeak if that makes any sense

Any ideas as to where I go from here, or is it "nothing to worry about" :unsure: :unsure:

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I am always very wary of strange noises, different to the norm, made by my machines.

Despite what you may have been told, it is a sign of something not being right, even if the thing that is not right is just a noise and nothing else.

Noises like you describe from hard drives can easily indicate failing bearings on the rotors and you should be prepared for the worst. Back up anything important on the drive before there is a catastrophic failure and the thing dies on you completely.

It may run for ages like that. It may die on you tomorrow. At least, though, it is warning you that there is something wrong.

Diagnostic tests are normally for the data on, and the condition of, the drive platters, not the mechanical parts and aren't a lot of help in situations like this. Once the drive has got over its initial reticence to start up, it may well be running perfectly OK and give good results to any test thrown at it.

The only thing I can suggest you do is get someone "in the know" to listen to it, give an opinion and try your supplier again. :(

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Thanks -pops-

I've decided to go and buy a replacement as it's not worth the risk of it packing up.

They're that cheep these days too!

I know I should probably carry on and get in touch with my PC supplier and hound them to replace it but I really cant be bothered with the hastle. I was told "we won't send an engineer out just for a squeak".

I know how to (physically) take the old drive out and put the new one in but will the PC automatically 'find' the new drive?

Not done this before so would welcome some advice :unsure:

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Is there anything on the drive, and how are you going to get it to the new one? backup? copy to master drive?

Am I right in thinking I go into computer management to do that?  :unsure:

I'm not sure whether you need to do computer management, look in My Computer first when the new drive is installed and see if it appears there, if not you will have to do management, but if you need help with that you can ask here :)

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I will be using the new one as a back up only (for use with Acronis True Image) for storing images.

Hubby is in town getting it for me at the mo!

It's a Maxtor and I've just been on their website and it says to download and run maxblast 3 which will format the drive.

Would it be better to use this rather than format with disk management in windows?

Also, do I have to go into the bios and change anything first :unsure:

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I always use Maxtors - have installed dozens and dozens of them. I don't like Maxblast though. Don't know why, just don't get on with it.

Formatting is easy with XP (which I see, from your profile, you have). RIGHT click on My Computer and click on Manage. Then click Disc Management and all your dirves will come up as a graphic display. Assuming you new drive is there, RIGHT click and you should get the opportunity to format. Answer the questions, go and make a cup of tea, have a biscuit and when you come back it should be done.

Regarding the BIOS, if the drive is similar to the previous one you shouldn't need to change anything.

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If the new drive shows up in disk management, wouldn't it show up in My Computer as well, so you could just format it from there?

??

I suggested doing it from My Computer :unsure:

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Guest ellas

it will not show up in my computer,In order for any new drive to show up in Windows XP, it

must first be initialized. It will show up in the Disk

Management screen as uninitialized until you right click

on the area where this is displayed and select "initialize".

You can then format the drive in either NTFS or FAT 32. I

prefer to use the former as it supports large file sizes.

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