My disk drive is grinding!

A couple days ago I opened my computer like normal and it spit out the disk I had in it and then made the noise the disk drive makes when it takes in a CD, but I was not sticking one in. It did this three times in a row then stopped, the computer was running fine so I tried to stick the disk back in and the disk drive wouldn't accept it, as if the drive was just dead.
I thought I would visit the genius bar after the holidays and didn't think it was too bad or dire since the computer is running fine. It does this everytime I open the computer (the disk noise three times in a row) But then tonight I opened the computer (not for the first time today) and it did this noise as well as a very loud GRINDING noise. It is the scariest noise I have ever heard in my life. So now I am very worried and I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I have a 2 1/2 year old macbook with leopard. The computer runs fine, but now I am scared it is just going to explode when I open it.
Thanks!
ps. the drive does not have a cd in it, nor has it since the problem began.

Yeah, I've been looking all over and I haven't found a solution to this problem anywhere.
Just today, I inserted a disc into my macbook and while it was loading, i shut the drawer door on the desk that my macbook sits on. All of a sudden the drive went crazy and started making this grinding noise. Eventually the disc got stuck, but I played with it a little and it came out.
Now whenever I insert a disc, it seems like the disc doesn't settle into the player and the disc starts to run. I can hear it spinning, but it's not fully in the slot so it doesn't show up on the screen. I immediately eject the disc, which has no problem.
Should I just wait for more tips or should I just take it to my nearest Apple store?

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Hi there @lindz32
Welcome to the HP Support Forums! It is a great place to find the help you need, both from other users, HP experts and other support personnel.
I understand that you are having trouble with the DVD drive reading disks. I am happy to help.
My main concern is that you describe a loud grinding sound, presumably coming from the DVD drive. If that is so, I would recommend that you call our technical support at 800-474-6836. If you live outside the US/Canada Region, please click the link below to get the support number for your region.
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-phone-assist.html
If the noise is not from the DVD drive, but from somewhere else, please post any details that you can, and here is a page that may help in the interim.
HP PCs - Drive Cannot Read Discs (Windows 8)
Malygris1
I work on behalf of HP
Please click Accept as Solution if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click Kudos Thumbs Up on the right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Annoying Disk Drive Noise and "spongy keyboard"

I just purchased a new 17inch HP Envy Touchsmart with Windows 8. There are 2 annoying issues that I have and just wanted to see if this is normal and I just have to live with it or if mine is somewhat defective. First, at start up and shutdown the disk drive makes a distinctive somewhat grinding noise. It just sounds bad and makes me think it's not well made. I spent a lot on this and my older, cheaper laptops never did this. Doesn't affect performance; just annoying.
Same with the keyboard. The left side only is spongy in that the keyboard noticably drops when I press a key. Just makes me doubt the quality of the machine. I am debating taking it back for an exchange, but wanted to see if this is standard with HP. If so, I don't care for it. Thank you.
P.S. I have had this laptop for about 2 months and purchased it at a local Best Buy.
Thanks. Steve

My new ENVY 17 makes no HDD noise as you described. But the keyboard is horribly spongy, making it quite hard to know what keys I am pressing. Others in the same shop were a littel spongy, certainly enough to doubt the quality, but mine is 10 times as bad as the others on display in the shop. Unfortunately the shop is in a different country, and HP in the country I am in has no idea when they can get parts to repair the problem. Meanwhile, I have no computer.
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IMac disk drive broken?

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For that reason, I suggest an even more obvious option: instead of paying to have the internal replaced, just buy an external optical drive instead. For instance, Other World Computing offers a lot of them. Although I don't know if it sells outside the U.S. it should give the OP some idea of what's available.

Comparison of SSD with hard disk drives

Attribute or characteristic
Solid-state drive
Hard disk drive
Spin-up time
Instantaneous.
May take several seconds. With a large number of drives, spin-up may need to be staggered to limit total power drawn.
Random access time[45]
About 0.1 ms - many times faster than HDDs because data is accessed directly from the flash memory
Ranges from 5–10 ms due to the need to move the heads and wait for the data to rotate under the read/write head
Read latency time[46]
Generally low because the data can be read directly from any location; In applications where hard disk seeks are the limiting factor, this results in faster boot and application launch times (see Amdahl's law).[47]
Generally high since the mechanical components require additional time to get aligned
Consistent read performance[48]
Read performance does not change based on where data is stored on an SSD
If data is written in a fragmented way, reading back the data will have varying response times
Defragmentation
SSDs do not benefit from defragmentation because there is little benefit to reading data sequentially and any defragmentation process adds additional writes on the NAND flash that already have a limited cycle life.[49][50]
HDDs may require defragmentation after continued operations or erasing and writing data, especially involving large files or where the disk space becomes low. [51]
Acoustic levels
SSDs have no moving parts and make no sound
HDDs have moving parts (heads, spindle motor) and have varying levels of sound depending upon model
Mechanical reliability
A lack of moving parts virtually eliminates mechanical breakdowns
HDDs have many moving parts that are all subject to failure over time
Susceptibility toenvironmental factors[47][52][53]
No flying heads or rotating platters to fail as a result of shock, altitude, or vibration
The flying heads and rotating platters are generally susceptible to shock, altitude, and vibration
Magneticsusceptibility[citation needed]
No impact on flash memory
Magnets or magnetic surges can alter data on the media
Weight and size[52]
The weight of flash memory and the circuit board material are very light compared to HDDs
Higher performing HDDs require heavier components than laptop HDDs that are light, but not as light as SSDs
Parallel operation[citation needed]
Some flash controllers can have multiple flash chips reading and writing different data simultaneously
HDDs have multiple heads (one per platter) but they are connected, and share one positioning motor.
Write longevity
Solid state drives that use flash memory have a limited number of writes over the life of the drive.[54][55][56][57] SSDs based on DRAM do not have a limited number of writes.
Magnetic media do not have a limited number of writes.
Software encryption limitations
NAND flash memory cannot be overwritten, but has to be rewritten to previously erased blocks. If a software encryption program encrypts data already on the SSD, the overwritten data is still unsecured, unencrypted, and accessible (drive-based hardware encryption does not have this problem). Also data cannot be securely erased by overwriting the original file without special "Secure Erase" procedures built into the drive.[58]
HDDs can overwrite data directly on the drive in any particular sector.
Cost
As of October 2010, NAND flash SSDs cost about (US)$1.40–2.00 per GB
As of October 2010, HDDs cost about (US)$0.10/GB for 3.5 in and $0.20/GB for 2.5 in drives
Storage capacity
As of October 2010, SSDs come in different sizes up to 2TB but are typically 512GB or less[59]
As of October 2010, HDDs are typically 2-3TB or less
Read/write performance symmetry
Less expensive SSDs typically have write speeds significantly lower than their read speeds. Higher performing SSDs and those from particular manufacturers have a balanced read and write speed.[citation needed]
HDDs generally have symmetrical read and write speeds
Free block availability andTRIM
SSD write performance is significantly impacted by the availability of free, programmable blocks. Previously written data blocks that are no longer in use can be reclaimed by TRIM; however, even with TRIM, fewer free, programmable blocks translates into reduced performance.[25][60][61]
HDDs are not affected by free blocks or the operation (or lack) of the TRIM command
Power consumption
High performance flash-based SSDs generally require 1/2 to 1/3 the power of HDDs; High performance DRAM SSDs generally require as much power as HDDs and consume power when the rest of the system is shut down.[62][63]
High performance HDDs generally require between 12-18 watts; drives designed for notebook computers are typically 2 watts.

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Message was edited by: darthrevan945

My disk drive is grinding!

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