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Hard drives make sounds, just as anything spun around at 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM (typical) would do. If the sound changes than that is often a sign of a problem. There are some exceptions (especially...
Answer
#1: Initial revision
by
manassehkatz
·
2024-03-24T04:05:45Z (about 2 months ago)
Hard drives make sounds, just as anything spun around at 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM (typical) would do. If the sound *changes* than that is often a sign of a problem. There are some exceptions (especially Apple computers where things get rather proprietary), but generally speaking *any* hard drive problem these days is solved by replacing with an SSD - Solid State Drive. Prices have come down tremendously in the past few years, so replacement of all but the largest drives is generally relatively affordable. Many new computers use NVMe or similar SSDs - basically a tiny circuit board instead of the traditional 2.5" or 3.5" or 5.25" (e.g., PC/XT, AT, etc.) or (even older) 8" drives. Most computers built for many years use a SATA interface, and generally a 2.5" SATA SSD is a drop-in replacement, just requiring a mounting kit if replacing a 3.5" drive (desktop) and nothing special if replacing a 2.5" drive (laptop). If your computer is so old that it doesn't have a SATA interface then you are living on borrowed time for the entire computer, not just the hard drive. Most manufacturers have free software for transferring from an HD to an SSD (provided you are using their brand of SSD), plus there are alternatives such as [CloneZilla](https://clonezilla.org/) which are useful in certain situations.