"Dan" <prograde49NOSPAM@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:39p48rF6643f6U1@individual.net...
> I have a 5 year old gateway athlon 1100.  PC now has 2 hdd's, the
> original western digital 40 gig drive & a 2nd western digital 120 gig
> drive which I added about 18 months ago.  PC is dual boot, running win2k
> on the newer, larger drive & xp home on the older, smaller drive.  Until
> recently, I had run off the newer drive under win2k almost exclusively.
>   I recently switched to running xp on the older drive all the time.
> There have always been 2 characteristic clicks the pc has made when
> powering up, one click for each hdd as it starts.  This very
> identifiable clicking has until the last few weeks (coincides witht he
> switch to xp) only been heard at startup.  Recently, the clicking has
> occurred randomly, usually several times in a row, while running the pc.
>   Just now, I was using Zone alarm to virus scan a particular large
> folder, & the clicking occurred perhaps 6 times in rapid succession. The
> file being scanned is on the newer drive, but again I am running off of
> the older. At this point, pc has been on about 3 days straight.  In
> order to isolate the noise, I pulled the cover & both drives, & re-ran
> the scan, the noise reappeared & sounds as though it is coming from the
> older drive.  It may be heat related, because after running outside the
> case, repeating this test (the virus scan) failed to produce the noise.
>   PC has 3 fans, one on the cpu, one in the PS, & one I added at the
> front after adding the 2nd hdd, which blows across the 2 drives.  My
> concern is that this noise is signaling the imminent failure of the
> older drive.  Is this cause for concern?

> "Dan" <prograde49NOSPAM@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:39p48rF6643f6U1@individual.net...
>
>>I have a 5 year old gateway athlon 1100.  PC now has 2 hdd's, the
>>original western digital 40 gig drive & a 2nd western digital 120 gig
>>drive which I added about 18 months ago.  PC is dual boot, running win2k
>>on the newer, larger drive & xp home on the older, smaller drive.  Until
>>recently, I had run off the newer drive under win2k almost exclusively.
>>  I recently switched to running xp on the older drive all the time.
>>There have always been 2 characteristic clicks the pc has made when
>>powering up, one click for each hdd as it starts.  This very
>>identifiable clicking has until the last few weeks (coincides witht he
>>switch to xp) only been heard at startup.  Recently, the clicking has
>>occurred randomly, usually several times in a row, while running the pc.
>>  Just now, I was using Zone alarm to virus scan a particular large
>>folder, & the clicking occurred perhaps 6 times in rapid succession. The
>>file being scanned is on the newer drive, but again I am running off of
>>the older. At this point, pc has been on about 3 days straight.  In
>>order to isolate the noise, I pulled the cover & both drives, & re-ran
>>the scan, the noise reappeared & sounds as though it is coming from the
>>older drive.  It may be heat related, because after running outside the
>>case, repeating this test (the virus scan) failed to produce the noise.
>>  PC has 3 fans, one on the cpu, one in the PS, & one I added at the
>>front after adding the 2nd hdd, which blows across the 2 drives.  My
>>concern is that this noise is signaling the imminent failure of the
>>older drive.  Is this cause for concern?
>
>
>
> the drive is probably failing
> run the mfg's diagnostic utility
>
>

>I have a 5 year old gateway athlon 1100.  PC now has 2 hdd's, the
>original western digital 40 gig drive & a 2nd western digital 120 gig
>drive which I added about 18 months ago.  PC is dual boot, running win2k
>on the newer, larger drive & xp home on the older, smaller drive.  Until
>recently, I had run off the newer drive under win2k almost exclusively.
>  I recently switched to running xp on the older drive all the time.
>There have always been 2 characteristic clicks the pc has made when
>powering up, one click for each hdd as it starts.  This very
>identifiable clicking has until the last few weeks (coincides witht he
>switch to xp) only been heard at startup.  Recently, the clicking has
>occurred randomly, usually several times in a row, while running the pc.
>  Just now, I was using Zone alarm to virus scan a particular large
>folder, & the clicking occurred perhaps 6 times in rapid succession. The
>file being scanned is on the newer drive, but again I am running off of
>the older. At this point, pc has been on about 3 days straight.  In
>order to isolate the noise, I pulled the cover & both drives, & re-ran
>the scan, the noise reappeared & sounds as though it is coming from the
>older drive.  It may be heat related, because after running outside the
>case, repeating this test (the virus scan) failed to produce the noise.
>  PC has 3 fans, one on the cpu, one in the PS, & one I added at the
>front after adding the 2nd hdd, which blows across the 2 drives.  My
>concern is that this noise is signaling the imminent failure of the
>older drive.  Is this cause for concern?