Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to hard drive while loading software.
Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.
How difficult is replacing a hard drive?
Like for like? Trivial. Reinstalling everything is a PITA, but not complicated.
I thought all towers sounded like 747s all the time. Is why I don't have one.
Ah, well now ...
Open the case and take some compressed air to it - *outside*
Disk is simple ot replace if you get to it before the old one is dead and hook both up and boot with some cloning software from a USB stick or CD.
Not necessarily.
Use Clonezilla and an external HD, and it's a doddle to just shift everything. No reinstall needed.
First thought ... how good are your backups?
Second thought ... if the machine is used to being left on, now would not be a good time to start leaving it switched off.
Some warn that you shouldn't let any fans spin too fast in the airstream.
You might want to pop on a dust mask, if it is anything like my last neglected machine was. :-(
Chris
You might want to check that you can actually get one first. If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)
Don't know if you can them new any more as it's all SATA these days. ......... looks like you can get refurbished ones. Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give it a clean up, format and check for errors it's still going to be old and of unknown running hours (years)
Not very. I have a Seagate 500Mb but rely in visiting adepts (SiL) to do the job.
Concur.
Recent struggles with corrupted Firefox and Norton required lots of restarts.
>
On my last machine the case/CPU fans started getting noisy, and I removed an astonishing amount of dust from the internals. I also removed and re-seated the CPU with new thermal compound after cleaning only half improved the fan noise. I assume your data are backed up?
8 year old machine is pretty dated now. You can get a pretty good deal on tower units a couple of years old via eBay; these come from trading rooms, server farms, rendering farms, etc, where they buy high-end and replace every couple of years. I'm running a Dell Precision 490 which came with a new graphics card, new Windows 7 pro, and quite a lot of memory.
Not if you buy the right case. There are some that are almost completely silent.
Assuming you can buy a like for like replacement for an eight year old machine. I usually reckon that a hard drive playing up is a sign that it is time to build a new machine.
+1
Not necessarily. Mine is essentially silent since it has a physically large fan and no fancy 3D gaming graphics card at all. It barely uses
60W and sometimes on cold mornings the thermostat stops the fan entirely until the CPU gets to 40+C - leading to a fan has stalled warnings on boot. It hasn't - the noise management is just being frugal.Silicone gasket and soft bushes on the screws makes PSU noise inaudible.
Perhaps not wise. Best bet is as someone else advised mirror the disk to an external drive ASAP and then add another. You probably have space and connectors for at least 2x HD in any decent tower box.
But it is best to have a very fresh backup before meddling with it.
Like for like, and while the old disk is still working
USB cradle with new hard disk Then clone the old disk Then just fit new disk and switch on.
Clean fan (filters?) and more importantly the fan/heatsink on top of the CPU.
trivial, but replacing the data on it less so.
Sitting next to two large towers and I can't actually hear either of them. Two more (SWMBO's) about 7 feet away and can't hear them either.
I did build them myself, and low sound emission was a goal. I agree that built-down-to-a-price ones can be dreadful.
A few restarts are unlikely to see it off, but letting it go cold might.
Given this is a pretty old machine, still running XP, you could track down an IDE drive, but is it worth it for a PC that owes you nothing?
I'd think about a new(er) machine - probably steer clear of anything with Win8 as you're familiar with WinXP. Plenty of machines on eBay along the lines of desktop 4GB memory, 500GB disk, Windows7 around the £80-90 mark delivered.
Then ask the SiL to transfer the good bits you want (bookmarks, emails, photos, documents, passwords etc) from old to new.
Tim Lamb wrote
That 'while loading software' is important.
That shouldn't see it make a noise only 'while loading software'
That is unlikely to be relevant.
Very easy if you know what you are doing.
But isnt likely to be the problem if you only get the noise 'while loading software'
More fool you.
More fool you.
Shouldn?t produce a noise only when loading software.
Its easy if the old one is still working.
You fit the new one as a second drive, clone the old one onto it, refit as primary drive.
It takes an hour or two depending on the size of the disk.
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