Do they make WD40 for hard drives ? :|

[worknman]

I have a computer with a hard drive that is starting to make a very subtle high pitch noise (kind of like feedback when a microphone gets too close to a speaker). It's not ear splitting or extremely annoying at first, but it's enough to induce headaches after an about an hour http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif
Anything I can do to get rid of the noise without replacing the whole drive ? I realize that this noise may mean the drive's days are numbered, but would like to use it (preferably without the noise) until it dies.

[BigBlue66]

Hey Worknman,

Unfortunately, it sounds like the drive is on its way out. Nothing you can do except either put up with it, or just buy a new one. I would caution you, that if you have data that you can't do without, start backing it up to floppies, zip drive, or whatever, before the drive goes completely toast.

WD40 is quite universal, although it's not recommended for hard drives.

One more thing you might try, if you have software such as Norton, is to recalibrate the heads. This might help with the noise a little, though not real sure of that. Once a hard drive starts going, there is usually little that can be done about it.

Cheers,

Big Blue

[Charles Kozierok]

Two weeks ago this began to happen to my main work hard disk - where I develop the site. Within 24 hours I had it swapped out in favor of a new drive.
I think that tells you my opinion on the matter. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif I don't know for sure that the drive was going bad--the noise actually stopped after an hour--but my data is too valuable to risk.

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Charles M. Kozierok
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
Note: Please reply to my forum postings here on the forums. Thanks.

[De R Man]

Back it up...Back it up.. and follow advice to locate replacement HD..Prices are very good and you may prevent undue stress