2002-11-06 14:09 UTC Support request 200211061406ish
I was having a problem with my hard disk recently, with disconcerting scraping and clunking sounds, read/write errors, and intermittent errors during boot whereby the disk would not be found. The first two of these problem were resolved by changing the hard disk. Unfortunately, after several hours with the new hard disk the system would no longer boot. That disk was recently replaced by a third disk.
I installed this third disk but did not immediately use it. Instead, I simply left it installed, unformatted, while I continued to use my laptop using the removable hard disk in my media bay. I therefore expected no problems.
However, I have noticed some intermittent symptoms which seem to indicate that not all is well. First, even though this disk is being left untouched, unformatted, usused and unformatted, I occasionally hear it making noise, as if it was undergoing heavy use. I have recorded a sample of this sound.
Secondly, while it is making this sound, the entire machine occasionally locks up for a period of a few seconds, and any CD activity is stopped. I have seen this stop music playing, and it has resulted in one CDR being corrupted (as the internal disk started and then the computer hung while the CD was being burned, causing the CDR process to give errors and abort).
Oh well. Let's see what Dell have to say about this...