HDD Clicking, bluescreen - but not in safe mode

Recently, my HDD started clicking, the computer would lock up after 10 seconds, and the computer would bluescreen after 30 seconds. It would restart and a black screen would pop up saying Operating System not Found. I restart and Windows boots fine - but the same process repeats. This would happen after a few minutes of being on every time - even if its just idling.

I booted with Hirens 14 and ran HDAT 2 and Memtest, finding no issues.

I booted into safemode and ran sfc /scannow - with no issues and my computer did not bluescreen.

I ran chkdsk /r, it told me to run on next startup. I restarted and chkdsk started running. The HDD started clicking after only a minute or so and chkdsk froze.

Running Bitdefender Rescue Disc again and my HDD started clicking and the CD became unresponsive.

Bitdefender Rescue Disc found nothing, Spybot in safemode found cookies and internet stuff but didn't fix the problem. Malwarebytes in safemode did not find anything.

I would normally assume my HDD is going bad. But it crashing in Windows but not crashing in safe mode is just weird to me - maybe its normal but I'm not sure.

Dell Studio XPS 16
Windows 7 Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53ghz
4Gb RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 3600
ST9500325AS ATA Drive 500Gb

-Edit-

It also just occured to me, when I first boot, the Dell screen pops up with the loading bar. Sometimes when it finishes, it just hangs there. But reboot fixes it. Running Bitdefender Rescue Disc again and the HDD started clicking, and the CD became unresponsive.

Do you have your data backed up? If not, I would do that now... right now... and buy another drive. That clicking sound you're hearing is the tell-tale sign of a dying drive and there's nothing you can do to "fix" it.

If it won't stay alive long enough for you to get your data, then there are a few things you can try. 1st, uncheck everything you have loaded at startup in msconfig except MicrosoftWindows, then try and grab your data. 2nd, try and grab your data in safe mode.

If that doesn't work, your last 2 options are drastic ones. You can either take the drive to a recovery specialist, but they're really expensive... or you can try the freezer method... which works some of the time. Take the drive out and put it in a zip lock bag. Make sure the seal is tight and put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Take it out, see if that buys you enough time to get your data.

Could be the calm before the failure, do as others have said get your data while you still can.

Until you are ready to image to a new drive or to back up the dying drive...leave it off or risk losing your data.

googs64 said:

Fumz said:

Do you have your data backed up? If not, I would do that now... right now... and buy another drive. That clicking sound you're hearing is the tell-tale sign of a dying drive and there's nothing you can do to "fix" it.

Normally I would agree with you... two things I find weird though is: In safe mode the HDD does not click and crash. And when I take the HDD out of the laptop and connect externally to my desktop to run scans, the HDD runs fine as well.

That is what I am finding weird. I want to make sure I have no problems because I plan on creating an image with Ghost and imaging my new HDD.

No, it doesn't make sense. Yes, it still means death. My last laptop HDD started clicking and would randomly click for over a month, I think. A good swift smack would make it stop. Eventually it died. Safe mode didn't make it click either. I didn't have a desktop to swap it into at the time, though.

Would an insufficient power issue cause this? I don't know. In all likelihood, it's dying.