Grinding noise of hard disk on start up Compaq CQ45-207TU

hello,
i have a compaq laptop model CQ45-207TU, whenever i start my laptop it makes a rumbling sound and then it stops after sometime, but it again starts back after sometime..its really annoying.
please anyone help me...(Warranty exceeded)
I also carried out the hard drive self test from the bios and it returned no errors..

Ensure it is the drive and not the fan, if it is the drive then make a good backup of your system and save up some $$ in case the drive dies in the near future.
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Grinding noise from hard disk

I have been going through posts but cannot find specific similar cases so am posting a new topic.
I have slow downs and spinning wheels accompanied by 3 grr.grr.....grrr where ..... is a second length pause. Repeats every 2 seconds. ( same timing as a wood pigeon or dove song !!) 10 slowdowns with spinning wheels while writing this. It makes this noise whenever there is a spinning disk. Every 10 - 20 seconds!
This seems to be since 10.5.8 update.
Back up to a firewire G-tech drive gives me a lot of read/write errors and can't copy files on iphoto files and one mp3 file. No way round but to copy in batches to find the culprits. Finder freezing and have to force quit on the copy error. I get a -36 error code. Random files that were ok are impossible to copy. Time capsule has been getting stuck on backups for a month. Can't track down a reason. I don't know if its getting stuck on the same files.
So - is my hard drive on the way out with this noise and hanging???
I am not up for an archive and install. Its lengthy and I don't think it will help............
I tried to compress my i photo "originals" folder but to no avail - error half way through I presume on one of the files that it can't copy.
Anyone any suggestions. A complete power down battery out helps but I am just waiting for the next session of hangs.
A verify disk gives the disk a green light. I don't have my original install disk with me (me in France - disk in UK).
MBP 2.5 Mac OS X (10.5.6) 4 GB

Cheering news - I was afraid this was going to be the case.
However - I have no console log - HD/Library/logs/etc. Spotlight won't find it either.
Also it seems I cannot just copy whole chunks of files - I just get read/write errors half way along and have to start again.
Finder crashing and freezing each time requiring a force quit. It crashes when I press "stop copying".
Any ideas of recovering these read/write error files would be gratefully received.

Clicking noise from hard disk

Hello forum,
one more hard disk noise problem. My new MPB arrived two days ago and I immediately noticed a clicking noise that is presumably emitted by the hard disk. I've got the basic 250GB model, so it's unrelated to the 500GB noise. The sound occurs quite regularly every 20sec or so, but only when the disk is inactive. The system doesn't freeze. The noise appears regardless whether the disk power saving feature is enabled or not. Here is an amplified version of the sound without the normal background noise (fan, hard disk):
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ah25f1h/n/ClickingNoise_wav
I've learned that clicking noises are a certain sign of hard disk failure. So should I return it immediately and ask for a replacement?
Regards

MKG4 wrote:
It sounds like you've got two clicking noises happening back to back, correct? I have the new 250GB drive as well (5400 RPM) and I'm hearing a periodic click similar to the second one in your clip.
I can hear only the second click, too. Only if I mute the background noise and amplify my recording, I hear the first one. Could you perhaps take a record of the sound that your MBP makes so that we can compare the sounds?
Haven't noticed any other problems with the drive, though. Is yours a Fujitsu? Mine is, and according to their web site, "if the drive is idle it will automatically move the heads periodically to prevent lubricant migration." I'm wondering if that's what the noise is.
Interesting. Mine is a Fujitsu, too, and perhaps the two noises come from the disk head starting and parking.
Actually, it sounds a lot like the 500GB noise, except without the beep. I've seen very few, if any, issues with the 250GB drive, but I'm holding out hope that a fix may come along at some point.
I agree. Currently the sound doesn't seem to be harmful, but one never knows.

Noise from hard disk

Hi, everyone.
I bought a new mackbook pro in this Jan. Recently, I hear some not continuously noise from hard disk, especially when i open a file in hard disk or verify the hard disk. Is something wrong with my hard disk?
Thanks

This hard disk clicking is a know problem for many laptops. If you search it on Google, you will find a lot of discussions about it in the Unbuntu Linux forums. In most cases, it is due to the Advanced Power Management (APM) feature of notebook hard drives. The default APM settings of these drives are aggressive so as to extend notebook battery life. As a consequence, the HD tries to park its actuator head to the ramp whenever it judges the system as idle. However, OS X or some third-party applications may access the hard disk quite often, resulting in a park/unpark cycle every few seconds.
Every of these cycles is counted as one load/unload cycle. Most notebook drives support up to 600,000 load/unload cycles. If a hard drive parks its head every few seconds, it may shorten its life by "using up" the cycles more quickly.
I had the same problem on my Powerbook with a Hitachi Travelstar 5K160 80GB PATA drive. I heard the frequent clicking sound right after I installed it into the laptop. The SMART status appeared to be Verified, and there was no problem with the drive itself. After searching on Google and Hitachi web site, I found the causes and solved the problem using the Hitachi Feature Tool. For other HD brands, I have no experience at all.
Basically, Travelstar 5K160 drives have three idle modes, from which a user can set one as the deepest idle state:
1) Active Idle: the actuator head is parked near the center of the disk, and power usage is 45-55% less than performance level. Recovery time to active mode is about 20ms.
2) Low Power Idle: this is usually the factory default idle mode. The head is UNLOADED to the ramp and the power consumption is 60-65% less than the performance level. Recovery time is about 300ms.
3) Low RPM idle: in this idle mode, the hard disk will spin down to a lower RPM speed. More power is saved but recovery time is much longer. (I can hear the disk spin down and spin up again a few times per minute. There is also a lag in system reaction time.)
To get rid of the hard disk clicking, you need to set Active Idle as the deepest APM idle mode. To do it on a Hitachi hard disk, you need Hitachi Feature Tool, and a Windows laptop with the same HD interface as your drive (PATA or SATA). Sadly, the feature tool is only for Windows and Linux.
You can download Hitachi Feature Tool 2.10 as an ISO image here: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#FeatureTool and burn it into a bootable CD. The userguide of the tool is available on the same page.
Then, take out your hard drive from your Macbook and install it into a Windows laptop. Boot the machine using the Feature Tool bootable CD. Choose "Change Advanced Power Mode" from the drop-down menu.
The default value is 128 (Low Power Idle). Just increase the value toward Performance, until you see the APM mode over the value bar becomes Active Idle (starting from 192). Click OK and Exit the feature tool. Switch off the Windows laptop and take out the hard disk. Install it into your Macbook. You will not hear the clicking sound again when system is idle. The lowest APM mode will be Active Idle and hence the drive will not park its head to the ramp during operions.
If your hard drive is a Hitachi Travelstar 5K160, you can find the 5K160 specifications version 1.1 from Hitachi web site. On page 69 of the document, it explains the APM idle modes. On page 145 about the register values of the APM modes.
To set Active Idle as the deepest idle mode may adversely affect battery life. (I haven't yet tested it myself) However, there seem not to be a big difference than the Low Power Idle, according to the datasheet of 5K160. For this model, power consumption of Active Idle is 0.8W, while that of Low Power Idle is 0.6W, on average.
Hope this is helpful.

The finder window for an external USB hard disk suddenly started separating files by time (today, yesterday, etc.) and stopped allowing me to change column width, order, etc. Also the header bar shifted to flat white from gray.

The finder window for an external USB hard disk suddenly started separating files by time (today, yesterday, etc.) and stopped allowing me to change column width, order, etc. Also the header bar shifted to flat white from gray.
All was normal until the icon for the disk stopped showing up on the desktop when I would plug it in. I rebooted the computer, and the disk icon now shows up but this new look to the finder window started as a result. The hard disk does not have this problem when I use it on another Mac running Snow leopard. Also, two other external hard disks that I use on this computer running lion 7.4 still have the normal header bars with columns that can be reordered, etc.
I have tried looking in preferences and other places but have not seen this discussed.

Well duh - I finally figured out that somehow in the View options for the hard drive, the "arrange by" option had been changed to "by date" from "none". Not sure how that happened, I had never used the "view options" menu tem before. Changing "arrange by" back to "none" gets the gray column headers and the collapsible folder icons back.

Noise from hard disk when stressed

Hi all,
I experienced a scratching noise coming from the hard disk (?) when the computer is stressed (e.g. iWeb, Photoshop, etc.).
I checked the CPU usage and the fan rpm but the noise continues even though the fan is swirling very low and the CPU is at its minimum value so I think it is a hard disk related issue.
Has anyone already experienced (and solved) the same problem?
MacBook 2.6 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Hi all,
I experienced a scratching noise coming from the hard disk (?) when the computer is stressed (e.g. iWeb, Photoshop, etc.).
I checked the CPU usage and the fan rpm but the noise continues even though the fan is swirling very low and the CPU is at its minimum value so I think it is a hard disk related issue.
Has anyone already experienced (and solved) the same problem?
MacBook 2.6 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.10)

New T500 Grinding Noise from Hard Drive

My brand new T500 Hard Drive makes off and on very faint grinding noise. The grinding happens for 6 times and then goes away for 5-10 seconds and then happens again and so on.
Is this normal or is my new hard drive defective, and should I ask Lenovo for a replacement hard drive?
I ran the lenovo hard drive diagnostic tool and it did not find any issues.

Fortunately Dell has released firmware update DE17 for the following Seagate models that seems to work for my Lenovo:
ST9120411ASG
ST9160411ASG
ST9200423ASG
ST9250421ASG
ST9320421ASG
ST980411ASG
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R211337&SystemID=P...
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Erasing hard disk without start up disk?

I'm running Mac OS 10.8.6. I no longer have the start up disk and want to completely erase my hard disk so I can resell the computer. How do I do this? The disk utility does not give me the option to do a 35 erase. Thank you.

Since Apple has never released 10.8.6, I am guessing you mean 10.6.8
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Unmount dead hard disk on start up using automator

I have a powerbook with a dead internal hard drive.
I currently boot from a firewire drive just fine
using a Carbon Copy Clone of the other drive.
Just one problem: the hard drive clicks for about 15 minutes
trying to work, and then gives up.
I would like to create an applescript, or use automator,
to automatically unmount the dead drive on startup,
so that the system will stop trying to reference it
and it will stop its accursed clicking.
What is the default path to the internal hard drive?
This is the best partial lead I have gotten so far, for unmounting an inappropriate volume; I am aware the syntax or path may be off.
Also: Disk Utility does not find the dead drive... period.
Thanks for any suggestions or solutions
Mo Lohaus
Partial Lead:
Open up /Applications/Applescript/Script Editor, and enter this:
do shell script "diskutil unmount \"/Volumes/WindowsPartition\""
Replace WindowsPartition with the name of the partition that has Windows on it.
Hit the Compile button, and then File -> Save As... -> Save as application.Save the newly created application somewhere, like /Applications.
Then go to System Preferences -> Login items, and make the app a login item. Check the hide box and you won't see the icon in the dock.
When you first log in after a restart, the partition will be mounted, but will unmount after about 10 seconds or so. Hopefully that is secure enough for your needs.

You could visit the iFixit.com site and read through their guides
on how to replace the hard disk drive in your computer, & do it.
• PowerBook Repair - iFixit:
http://www.ifixit.com/Browse/PowerBook
Usually the PowerBook design is less difficult than the iBook
when it comes to replacement of an internal hard disk drive.
And I'm wondering, if you can use the X or other key on startup
to find another boot volume on an external hard disk drive to
run the computer from, to choose an alternative without having
the internal failed hard drive clicking away all that time. Yet, to
have the working external FW drive seen immediately by the
PowerBook, seems well within reasonable reach.
I've ran many computers from a clone or second system outside
of the computer's case, using the System's startup disk panel to
choose it. So, if the external is available to the computer, and it
is seen correctly, the internal drive should not chatter or try to run.
Replacement of the internal hard disk drive, of course, remains
to be the ideal answer; as you undoubtedly realize. Perhaps
the pressing nature of this will force you into taking the plunge.
Good luck & happy computing!

Locating downloaded TV Shows on my Hard Disk--full start up disk

I received a full startup disk message--I went into my hard disk to get rid of tv shows I've been downloading--only to be totally amazed by all the unknown files. I have no idea what to get rid of. I've been searching for 2 days for the tv shows and I have a dead end. Can someone please assist me. Why are the files hidden? Why is this so difficult?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Whatever program you are using to download the shows probably has a setting to download the files to a specific location. Mind you, you can use this article to find out what is filling your hard disk and where those files are:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=122973&tstart=20

I suddenly started getting hard disk error from a fictitious recovery software how do i get rid

I suddenly started getting hard disk error on my compaq laptop and some software called file recovery start running scans showing all sorts of errors and hiding all my files. I've lost all my icons can't see any files in explorer and upon looking into this found that this may be a fictitious software that has gotten installed on my laptop while browsing through some web sites. all was fine and the problem started while I was in the middle of brwoing some websites.
I am trying to unhidew files but I can't get to my control panel as it does not seem to be there.
Can someone please help. When I looked this i found a website telling descrbing everything that is happeniing on my screen and telling me that this is a fictitious software and gave me various options to resolve but I'm not sure if I should trust this site or not.
Please help. Its my old mum's laptop and she really needs my help on this.
Many thanks
Rekha

Try to download MalwareBytes and do a scan/cleaning with it:
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?part=dl-10804572&subj=d...
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Win XP Unable to format hard disk and install

Recently my system has got error about system hive error
"C:\windows\system32\config\sysem file missing"
So when I tried to reinstall the system the winxp setup says
unable to format my hard drive after I choose C Drive to Quick Format(NTFS) and install option,this note appears
"setup was unable to format drive c:the hard disk may be damaged
make sure the disk is on and properly connected to the computer .If the disk is a SCSI disk,make sure your SCSI devices are properly terminated.See your computer or SCSI adapter documentation for more info"
Thinking that the hard disk(Seagate Barracuda 160GB SATA) might have corrupted I used Seagate seatools to check for error and the test failed. So I replaced the hard disk with brand new WD 160GB SATA hard disk and started installing the winxp. Again I'm facing the same problem. Even I checked with the new connection port.
I'm using AMD Sempron Processor. MSI K9MM-V Motherboard. dynet 512MB RAM.
As the problem is existing even with the new hard disk I think there is no problem with the hard disk or cable. the problem must be something else.
Please help me find the problem and rectify it.
(My hard disk is SATA and No-RAID, No-SCSI, BIOS detects my hard disk and I'm able to create partitions but unable to format and install WinXP)
I've used the same hard disk on another system with MSI Mother Board but it's working fine. Windows XP installs without any problem. I've replaced the hard disk in which the Win XP already exists(Win XP installed on another system with same configuration MSI K9MM-V Mobo, AMD Sempron Processor, 512MB RAM) But it hangs the system and when I restart the system it says,
"Windows Could Not start because the following file is missing or currupt:
\Windows\System32\Config\System
You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows setup using the original setup CD-ROM. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair."
I've tried this some 10-15 times every now and then this problem is popping up.
So I think this is not the problem with Hard Disk. It must be the problem with Mother Board. So please help me resolve this issue.

Good luck!
But please remember what you wrote: "BIOS detects my hard disk and I'm able to create partitions but unable to format and install WinXP",
and what Bas wrote about listing your system components.
Have a minimised system when you install Windows.
A cloned copy of Windows can do this, for example one that a back-up program made.

Multiple hard disks / Mulitple Images for MBP

I just "switched" and am an owner of MBP with 110 Gigs of available space.
One of the first things I noticed is that the footprint of OS X is quite large after installing a bunch of new apps, putting my music and photo collection on the hard disk I started to worry about space.
I have multiple external hard drives for back ups and storage but I want regular and immediate access to photos, files, and music so I've ruled out storing things on external drives because they are not always on.
I have created a bootable backup on one of these drives however, and I started wondering...
Can I create multiple bootable back up partitions and then customize them for particular tasks and just boot from those external partitions whenever I need to engage in a particular task?
For example I would create fresh OSX image on an external partiton and install Adobe Create Suite (which takes up some space). Then when I needed to use Photoshop or Illustrator I can plug in that drive, boot from it and work as usual. I can still access the MBP drive for files and other applications.
I'm thinking of making another external partition for my windows virtual machine which also takes up lots of space.
Is there going to be a significant performance hit from running the OS over USB 2 or Firewire?
Are there other concerns?
Am I thinking about this wrong? for example would it be easier to install apps to eternal partitions and run from there? Do the apps need to be on the same partition as all the pref files and the OS or does it matter at all.
Thanks for helping out the mac newb
Is there going to be a significant pref

jimndeb,
Let me explain my setup. I have my OS, and all applications installed on the internal hard drive. Just as you mentioned, I also store all my music and photos on the internal drive as well, so I have access to them when I carry my machine with me.
I then have a second external hard drive, where I store movie files and other large files to preserve space on my internal drive. This drive also has a second copy of OS X installed on it. The only time I boot off of the external drive was to repair/debug a problem with the main drive, or to test a software update. I never made a habit of booting off the external drive because it was noticeably slower.
On my first Powerbook (G4, 667 mhz) I had a 30gb hard drive, and was very space conscious. I used to keep non critical applications such as Final Cut Express or Adobe Elements on this second drive, as to not eat up space on my primary drive. So, in this situation I would boot off of the internal drive, but run programs that were installed on the external drive. This way, my OS was not suffering from throughput slowdowns, but my individual applications were.
On my new Macbook Pro, I have given up storing programs on the external drive. With a 120 gb hard drive, I decided that that few hundred megabytes or even a gig or two of hard drive space was not worth moving the applications to the external drive. I concluded that it was not the programs themselves that were filling my harddrive, but rather the media files.
So, back to your situation. Yes, you could have an OS installed on your external drive, with particular apps and files stored with this OS. I'm not sure there are any benefits (or requirements for that matter) of having the OS and apps on the same partition. I believe you could run a setup similar to what I used to, where your booting OS is internal and your applications reside on the external drive.
As a note to your original message, I am not sure if you can have multiple OS X installations on different partitions of a drive. I have never tried it, but I know partition support seems to have improved with Intel machines (in order for boot camp to work).
Hope this helps,
Josh

Hard disk error "boot drive not found...."

After screwing around to see how hard it would be to upgrade my hard disk, I started getting the ol' boot device not found error.
So, I went online on another machine and found that I could boot into a menu of boot devices by holding down the OPTION key. It presents me with options to boot from DVD, external drives, network, or lo and behold my MacHD. If I select my MacHD, after a minute it will boot as usual and present me with the
logon screen. I could just let it go and continue to do this, or what can I do to put it back the way it was so I can boot without holding down a key?
My intention is to upgrade to a 2TB drive as I see it's easy enough for me to do myself.

Try SMC and PRAM resets:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
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Mountain Lion refuses to install on Hard disk because it is used for Time Backups. I have mounted a different disk for tame backups and still, I cannot install the OSX. What do I do?

I donwloaded the Mountain Lion OSX and it would not install because it said that the hard disk is used for Time Backups. I then mounted a separate Hard Disk and started running the time backups on it.
Still, the Mountain Lion would not install on the main hard disk.
How do I convince it that the haerd disk is no longer used for time backups?

Read through this: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4055

Grinding noise of hard disk on start up Compaq CQ45-207TU

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