Imagine a 17 year old revving a Ferrari, the hard disk sounds like that for about 5 seconds then returns to a normal noise. The revving noise is far louder than a traditional disk thrashing under load. The disk doesn't appear to click like a traditional disk failure and the laptop remains operational.
The disk is a 2.5" WD 500Gb and only about 6 months old, to replace a previous dead (clicking) HDD.
What I'd like to know, is if anyone has seen a disk do this before and what it is? Does this mean the disk is dying?
I'll upload a audio clip once I've eaten.
23 Answers
The first thing is to run a SMART scan on the disk and see if that is successful. Go to the cmd prompt and type wmic, then hit enter. Then type diskdrive get status and hit enter. If it fails, that's your issue, but even if it passes it still may be the drive, but it's far less likely. The other cause could be that the heat exhaust fan is making the noise you are describing and not the hard drive. Nevertheless, back up your data ASAP, and complain to WD if the drive breaks. It shouldn't be broken already.
2If you can, test it with another computer / dock. Newer hard disk should never make sounds like that, generally if they make "strange" noises they should be backupped and replaced as soon as possible or data loss may happen.
Turns out, it's (as others have suggested) the CPU fan, it makes a very loud revving sound and then stops spinning.
Will replace once I've ordered a new one.
