knocking sound....

i've got a macbook pro (2 ghz, intel core duo, 2 gig ram, 120 HD) for a little over a year now and lately I'm getting a knocking sound coming from the left side where the HD is.. sounds a bit like a fan hitting on something and comes and goes. no problems with the mac but sounds really scary and i'm worried my HD is gonna blow..! anyone knows anything?

the HDD in my MBP died recently, once it died it made a clicking noise and wouldnt start up.
not sure if its the same problem but i would back up your drive ASAP or you may loose everyhing like i did.

matt1985 said:

the HDD in my MBP died recently, once it died it made a clicking noise and wouldnt start up.
not sure if its the same problem but i would back up your drive ASAP or you may loose everyhing like i did.

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any reasons why it died, how long have you had your mbp? hd death is my biggest fear.

i was told at the apple store that 1 in 12 new hard drives fail within the first year of use... no reason just spontaneous

Hard drives are one of the most worked items in your computer. The failure rate of hard drives as of late is VERY high. As we push them to higher and higher capacity, the failure rate goes up as well. If your drive is clicking, you NEED to back up your files now. It will be dead soon. This is not a maybe, it is a certainty.

I recommend to my clients that they never use a HDD longer than 2-3 years for home use, and no longer than 1 year for business use. After 1 year the chance of failure goes up almost 50%. It goes up nearly 60% every year afterwards.

Mind you those figures are from 5 years ago, but I would suspect the failure rate has only gone up since.

As for WHY they fail? Well there are several reasons. The controller card can often fail due to heat issues. The motor will also fail due to heat or excessive use. They spin at 5400 - 7200 Revolutions per minute in most cases. They can also die from sudden jolts. Dropping, or banging the drive while it is spinning will cause the heads (think needle on a record player) to slam into the platters (think shiny silver record) This causes damage to the surface of the disc and to the head both. Generally when you hear a clicking sound, this is the culprit. The clicking sound could also be the park motor being out of alignment due to controller failure.

There are several other possible reasons for failures, but those are the most common.

Randy

D.Schwartz said:

any reasons why it died, how long have you had your mbp? hd death is my biggest fear.

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something to do with the motor, it would no longer spin. my MBP is about 18 months old.

Just to reiterate what Viriiguy already said, a knocking or clicking hard drive means the drive dying, or more than likely already dead. You need to backup your data ASAP, as it's a miracle that the drive is still functioning at all.

This noise almost always comes from the heads of the drive slamming into the platters or side of the drive. Backup your data, if possible, and replace your hard drive.