Noisy hard drive on start-up only


  1. gbcutter
    Posts : 2
    Windows 7
       New #1

    Noisy hard drive on start-up only


    I have a 1-year-old HP with 500G Hitachi hard drive. Almost since new, the hard drive has been making a rattling or chattering noise during start-up. Once Win7 is running, all is OK. All the SMART tests say it is all good, but my friend tells me I have bad bearings in my hard drive. HP said to run the restore disc, but I don't want to go to all the trouble of re-loading all my programs and files. I could make an image file and restore the hard drive that way, but if it really is a software problem, I suspect it would also restore the noise. If it is a hardware problem, I still have 1 month left on the factory warranty. Any ideas?
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  3. LiquidSnak
    Posts : 2,259
    W7 Professional x64
       New #2

    Noise coming from your drive upon startup is NOT a software issue. It is a hardware issue.

    Could the noise be described as a ticking?
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  4. Lemur
    Posts : 3,139
    Systems 1 and 2: Windows 7 Enterprise x64, Win 8 Developer
       New #3

    Any abnormal hard drive noise is bad. One term is the click of death. If you have any doubts, I would certainly RMA the drive before the warranty runs out.

    Tell them the drive is bad, get them to agree to replace it, back up your data, then wipe your drive to protect your confidential information:

    Disk Wipe - Free software
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  6. Hopalong X
    Posts : 6,349
    Windows7 Pro 64bit SP-1; Windows XP Pro 32bit
       New #4

    My HP with a Samsung HD makes noise on start up and has been for over 5 years.
    It ran 12-15 hours a day like that. It still works I use it for my backup PC.

    Hasn't got better and hasn't got worse.

    Even my new WD's make noise on occasion on start up.

    Since it has been doing it for a year now the question should be has the noise become louder or more often than before.

    If you are really concerned the drive may be failing.
    Hard drive tests for Hitachi.
    Try the drive fitness test and let us know results.
    There are instrucions.

    http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/

    Mike
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  7. bagavan
    Posts : 851
    Windows 8 Professional x64
       New #5

    Usually all the drives make slight noise on start up..If it is more claim the warranty and get the disk repaired or replaced.....
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  8. GeneO
    Posts : 1,653
    Windows 10 Pro. EFI boot partition, full EFI boot
       New #6

    Are
    you positive it is coming from the hard drive and not some fan spinning up somewhere?
    Gene
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