Quick Question

the_candyman · 12 Jan 2010 at 15:12

Got a SATA laptop hard drive here from a laptop I'm currently fixing.
Question is: it rattles when moved. Is this a bad thing? Worth investing in a new hard drive?

Haegin · 12 Jan 2010 at 15:20

If the data is stuff you don't care about losing then don't bother replacing it until it dies or shows further signs of problems. If you do care about the data then it's worth replacing just in case. Drives are cheap and if you are fixing it for someone then you can always offer them an upgrade. It may also be worth investing in a cheap 2.5" caddy to put the old drive in to make the most out of whatever life is left in it.

Some drives rattle for ages before dying, others don't last more than a week. If in doubt (and particularly if you are being paid for repairing the laptop) get the data off onto something else straight away and replace the drive.

rpstewart · 12 Jan 2010 at 15:26

There's a difference between it rattling when handled and making odd noises while operating. The former seems to be quite common for laptop disks and nothing to worry about.

the_candyman · 12 Jan 2010 at 15:41

It does not rattle when being used by the laptop, but as I was swapping another drive in for testing I noticed it rattled when moved. Just curious to see if that was the problem or not.

Cheers for the help