hard drive

the last few days my hard drive sometimes make grinding noises which doesnt sound to good
any ideas why it would make grinding noises?
know any disk state programs?


So ive backed up my data ie my docs and software exe files

also i was thinking of buying an external usb hard drive and acronis true image and do a ghost to the external hard drive just incase.

any other ghosting or backing up solutions incase my hard drive goes?
I have a 160gb drive with 42gb of data of it

if i needed to buy a new hard drive
how would i restore the ghost image from the external hard drive?

Any actual problems apart from the unsavory noises?

grinding noise? we talking a noise that sounds fatal, or one that just sounds 'normal' It could be a load of data being accessed in different parts of the drive - ie does it sound like hdtach when it does its random bit? May just need a defrag...

Nox

Depends on how loud is it, if its half as loud as a hairdryer at 3m it is fine. If it is any worse than that, consider your drive close to EOL.

My maxtor 300G is doing that and giving me SMART critical alert.

Might just be bearing noise, I have an old Quantum that has been doing that for years.

For programs to check the state of your hard drive, try the manufacturors web site. They normally have diagnostic programs on there.

Note that they do tend to fib a bit, they might patch up the drive best they can and then say "what bad sectors?". If they tell you the drive is on the way out, they mean it!

Download speedfan, it's one of many good utilities that read SMART information (as long as it is enabled in your BIOS).

If you are unclear about how to do any of this, let us know.

SMART information is specifically used to tell you if a hard drive looks like it's about to fail.

grinding noises is due to a failed bearing, bad news all round.. you might get another year out of it but i wouldn't trust it for anything important.. bearing failures cascade, as soon as a head touches a platter, bye bye hard drive.