What Causes a Computer Hard Drive to Make Grinding Noises?

A computer hard drive is a complicated piece of machinery that is built to very close tolerances. They are also rather fragile devices; dropping a hard drive can completely destroy the drive and the contents within it.

Internal Parts

Inside a typical computer hard drive are a number of round platters that spin at high speeds. Above and below these platters are heads that float over the platters, reading and writing data on the hard drive.

Tolerances

The space between an average hard drive head and platter is normally less than 20 micro inches. One micro inch is one millionth of an inch.

Platter Noise

When the drive turns on, the platters start turning. With high capacity drives, it may take a few seconds for the platters to get up to speed. This will often sound like a helicopter starting to take off.

Head Noise

As data on the disk is accessed by the operating system, the heads move back and forth across the platters. This is often the crunching noise that is associated with hard drives.

Excessive Noise

All hard drives make a certain amount of noise. If your hard drive is starting to make more noise than normal, it may be a sign that the moving parts are starting to wear out and the drive should be replaced.