Recently, my hard drive has been playing up, it is only 6 months old. It makes a single clicking sound which sounds like metal being tapped on metal, then the screen will just freeze but the mouse works normal, then when i try to do something the mouse will stop and the click will sometimes be heard again. I then have to switch the power off and restart for it to correct itself. This only ever seems to happen when I log into windows messenger or at the Win XP loading screen, (the blue bar will stop) It works ok most of the time, but may happen 2/3 times per week. I have a 6 month old Maxtor Diamond Max +9 80GB HDD. I ran the Powermax drive utility program and it passed all tests. I know this question has been asked before but I would like a serious answer other than the data is knocking to get out! As the dirve is near-new I don't want to go to the expense of replacing it if it can be avoided. Regards

That noise is caused by the heads unloading. The drive normally dies a short time after this starts happening. If you haven't done it already, I suggest that you immediately back up everything that you can. There are instances of the drive continuing to work for extended periods with this problem, but they are rare.

Isn't it under warranty still? That drive is done though, as per the first post, back up and fast.

Drive will be toast soon but should be under warrantee. I prepare for such possibilities by keeping the OS on a disk seperate from data. I use Drive Image to copy the OS dive and the image fits of one dvd. If the hard drive pukes, drop in aq new one and drop the image from the dvd back on the drive. Brings you right back to the moment you made the image. You can store the image on a seperate hard disk, too. Won't accomplish much if you store it on the OS drive, for obvious reasons.

Thanks for all the advice, I bought the drive from a local computer fair, I got no warranty details with it but it was in a sealed package. I guess i'll have to be more vigilant next time. I'll order a new drive now and back everything up. I doubt my data will fit on one DVD, but I will use Norton Ghost. Thanks again folks :)

I don't use Norton Ghost, but it `might' put your drive on multiple DVDs. I'm pretty sure that it will use multiple CDs for a backup.

Craig, Warrantees are never from the store or merchant, but from the manufacturer. In your case it's Maxtor and they warranty for I believe 3 years; so call them up. They'll talk to you and if they feel the drive is bad, you'll get a new one for free. It happened to me after 2 years, 6 months, and I got a new drive for swapping the old. Good luck, Sandor