Hard drive startup issues after extended sleep/shutdown

Hello,
When I put my iMac to sleep or shut it off for an extended period of time (overnight) and then try to wake it up or turn it on, the iMac makes a strange clicking noise and freezes.
After manually shutting down and restarting it one or more times it will startup fine.
Putting to sleep/shutting down the computer for short periods of time doesn't cause any problems.
So when this first started happening I though "Uh oh, hard drives going to that great recycling depot in the sky."
But, Disk Utility, Apple's hardware test, and TechTool Pro 4 all find nothing wrong with my system.
Is there any chance this could not be an hard drive issue? Or should I just get the drive replaced and stop trying to diagnose the problem?

You've covered the biggies already - I'd recommend a trip to the Apple store or at least a call to AppleCare. Back in the late 80's and early 90's 'stiction' was a serious problem with hard drives. A hard drive motor has very low torque; it can spin fast but it doesn't have much oomph and the lubricant used back then could harden overnight so that when the computer was booted up the drive's motor couldn't spin up the platters. Improvements in lubricants have made stiction less common today but it hasn't been eradicated and it is one of the things that might be affecting your drive. At any rate, since I can't put your computer on my bench, the best call I can make is for you to make a call. Sorry.

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