Joined Nov 2008
*SNIKT*
Forum Thread
Desktop PC Help
February 5, 2024 at
02:33 AM
Recently, whenever I access the hard drive on my PC, it makes a strange noise, almost like a short buzz. The desktop is about 3 years old and it has a 256GB SSD. Is this something I should be concerned about? Is the hard drive possibly failing in some way? TIA!
About the OP
9 Comments
Your comment cannot be blank.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
On the upside, drives now come equipped with SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology).
Here are about 5 ways to see the results.
https://www.windowscent
The quick way to find out what you have is to open up File Explorer, right-click the drive (I'm assuming C: drive), and hit Properties. Go to the Hardware tab. Under Name it should tell you quite a bit. Depending on the brand, you may have to google that entry to find it. For instance, one of my laptops says "NVMe PC SN530 WDC..." That means it's a Western Digital model SN530. All that really matters is Western Digital because they have their own diagnostic tool.
Or report it back in here and we can tell you want you have and what tool to best use.
Agree with the SMART test recommendation. The link above with ways to view SMART information does not include any mention of BIOS. You can usually view SMART data in BIOS if you're comfortable with that. If you're not, then don't bother as you could possibly muck up settings...
Assuming it's truly a desktop and not a laptop, I also suggest if you're up for it you open up the case and poke around. It's not hard to do with a desktop (but can be very hard with a laptop). You can get rid of dust and ensure that connections look solid.
Not saying it's not a good idea to use brand-specific tools, just pointing out it's not the only way.
Edit - I misread your post and thought you were implying you 'have to go to the MFG'... Apologies.
Once I had a laptop where the thermal paste between the cpu and the heat sink was becoming ineffective. Whenever I did anything intensive, the fan couldn't cool the cpu and the device shut down.
Just an idea…
The quick way to find out what you have is to open up File Explorer, right-click the drive (I'm assuming C: drive), and hit Properties. Go to the Hardware tab. Under Name it should tell you quite a bit. Depending on the brand, you may have to google that entry to find it. For instance, one of my laptops says "NVMe PC SN530 WDC..." That means it's a Western Digital model SN530. All that really matters is Western Digital because they have their own diagnostic tool.
Or report it back in here and we can tell you want you have and what tool to best use.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Once I had a laptop where the thermal paste between the cpu and the heat sink was becoming ineffective. Whenever I did anything intensive, the fan couldn't cool the cpu and the device shut down.
Just an idea…