Hey all, got a question that I think I know the answer on but want to make sure. Last night I thought we were about to get a storm, so I turned off my old Pentium 1 and unplugged it. The storm didn't get bad at all, so I plugged the computer back in and turned it on. When I turned it on, I heard everything come on like it normally does, but I heard the fan of the oldest hard drive just get louder and louder. The speed of the fan didn't change as far as I know (the pitch of the fan stayed the same). It's just that the pitch got louder and louder. It scared me so I unplugged the computer. The hard drive in question is 11 years old (3.2GB Quantum Fireball).

Do you think the problem is that hard drive or do you think the PSU is fixing to go and the power to the hard drive was increasing? I've noticed for awhile that if I plug the computer in and turn it on after it's been unplugged for awhile, the PSU fan takes some time to get going, but it always does. I'm paranoid to turn it back on because I'm afraid that if it's the PSU, it's going to surge the motherboard or my other 40GB drive that's in the unit. I'd like to know what you guys think about what the problem could be. Thanks.

If Jesus God Himself said in the Bible that He was the Way, why wouldn't it be true?

There aren't any fans in harddrives. What you hear has to be something else. If a fan/s take awile to get up to speed you should fix or replace them. If you have the ability to fix, you can peel back the sticker on the end of the fan and apply one or two drops of light oil, then replace the sticker. Would be best to replace the fan/s.

OK thanks for that. Forgive me for saying fans; I meant whatever I hear in the drive. It sounds like a fan so that's why I called it a fan. So what is it I hear? When I've put that drive in other computers when it worked, I'd hear the same whatever spinning. It's not just when it reads/writes, it's all of the time. Thanks!!!!

If Jesus God Himself said in the Bible that He was the Way, why wouldn't it be true?

If it's definately coming from the hard drive you should probably think about replacing it. Those old quantum drives were pretty noisy anyway so it may last a little longer. But I wouldn't risk it if you've got stuff on it you don't want to lose.

Hey DAVEINCAPS nice to see you again! Anyway I thought that was what it was. Since the drive is so old, I was starting to save my files to the 40GB drive because I had a gut feeling that it was about to go soon, even though I saw no sign of failure at the time. Good thing I did!
Thanks for the replies, they've been very helpful.
If Jesus God Himself said in the Bible that He was the Way, why wouldn't it be true?

You're welcome. I never really cared for those quantums because they always seemed to have that whining bearing noise even when all else seemed OK. Hope you get everything copied off before it goes bad.

Thanks, yeah you're right it has been very loud, in fact it's the loudest thing in the computer. I'll probably unplug that drive then turn it on and see what happens in a little bit.

If Jesus God Himself said in the Bible that He was the Way, why wouldn't it be true?

OK I unplugged that quantum hard drive and turned it on. All seems well except that PSU fan which I'll have to get fixed. Now I just have to boot up with a NTLDR bootdisk to get into Windows because the NT Bootloader was on that Quantum. Good thing the OS and my most important stuff was on the 40GB drive. Thanks again everybody for helping.

If Jesus God Himself said in the Bible that He was the Way, why wouldn't it be true?