Laptop HDD Making Screeching noises?

[shifattk]

Hi there,

Lately, I have been hearing sudden "screeching" noises coming from the right side of my laptop.
The sound is similar to the sound a buzz-saw makes when you start cutting a plank.
I'm guessing it is the Hard Drive since that is where it is placed.
It could be the CD/DVD Combo Drive but it's not because there's nothing in it and there wouldn't be any reason for it to spin.

I looked around on other websites and I found that the symptoms listed on the websites are a bit similar, but not quite.
They say that they hear the sound continuously or very often.
However, in my case, it is the second time I hear it and the last time I heard it screech was back in March.

Is my HDD about to die? What should I do if that's the case? (other than backing up as I do that weekly)
Also, how long do you think it will last, if it is dying? (I need it to last until end of June because of Final Assignments and Exams)


Thanks in advance

 

[essellar]

If it is the hard drive and you've made backups, you've done what you can do. You won't get any advance warning when it actually decides to die, and there's no way to predict how long it will last.

It is much more likely to be a fan, though, and that can be fixed (usually) easily. You'll need nothing more than a #0 Phillips screwdriver (usually, but you may also need a #1), a small, stiff brush, and a vacuum cleaner of some description.

The rotor/impeller unit on a laptop fan is usually held in place only by magnetic force — the motor is brushless, and the rotor/impeller contains permanent magnets. There is no electrical connection. You can usually lift the unit off of its spindle with very little force. Start by cleaning out the impeller chamber (which is half of the fan system) with a brush and vacuum, and get rid of all of the loose dust before you disassemble things. After removing the rotor/impeller, clean all of the schmutz off of the blades — the imbalance caused by the dirt accumulation is usually what starts the problem in the first place. Give the fan chamber and any cooling fins/screens/grates a good cleaning as well. Once everything is shiny new again, put a single drop of light machine oil (sewing machine or hair clipper oil is great, 3-in-1 will do) into the spindle socket of the rotor/impeller, and put the assembly back onto its spindle. It should align itself properly automatically by magnetic force once you get it close. Then put the cover(s) back in place, and your machine should be good as new.

 

[shifattk]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try the fan cleaning as my machine is 3 years old now.

 

[shifattk]

Hello guys..These types of noise is occurred when the DVD player not accepting the CD.CD is fully scratch when the DVD is not accepting to run the CD..You must change the CD and then tell me the status...

It's not the CD/DVD Combo Drive and I'm pretty sure of that.
Plus, the last time I used CD or DVD's on the computer was back in 2011 when I borrowed a Win7 Installation disk from a friend.

 

[ChatIndia]

I had a very similar issue. first i thought that it was my hard disk but later i figured out that it was my heat sink fan that was making noise.

 

[shifattk]

I had a very similar issue. first i thought that it was my hard disk but later i figured out that it was my heat sink fan that was making noise.

Now I'm starting to think that it is my heat sink fan.
There's a lot of dust on it and it can't seem to spin unless I give it a 'kick' using a toothpick at boot up.
Also, my laptop's now shutting of randomly without any notice. (Screen turns black, HDD/something makes a loud 'click' noise and the machine loses power). This happens mainly when I'm running games or resource heavy apps. I'm pretty sure I can blame it on the heat sink and the heat as the laptop was quite hot during and after it happened. (Probably reached higher 80 degrees Celcius, the cut-off point for Intel chips and boards, I think).