Failing Hard Drive?

I seem to be having a problem with my hard drive.

The last few times it has started it takes an age to get through the initial black screen, white letters (boot?) section before starting windows. One time after about an hour, it started to boot (!) and announced a disk boot failure, coupled with a request to load up the system repair disk. After doing this it went through various procedures, eventually resulting in a working machine.

Also the HD used to be silent but now I can hear it (faintly) working all the time. It’s a Western Digital WDC WD10EACS and listening to the ‘sample sounds’ the nearest one is the stuck spindle sound but with faint irregular clicking rather than chatter.

Is this a sign that the hard drive is probably on its way out, and that I should replace it?

basils57, perhaps the following article may help you obtain a resolution based on the results:

Answer ID 940: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows

Regards,

I would copy/backup everything off of it I didn’t want to lose immediately.

Run WD diags; if it fails, RMA it if under warranty; if not, then run it through the ringer with diags (Hiren’s boot CD is great).

If you don’t have another drive to use, then consider buying a new one, using it, restore your copy/backup you just made, and if the questionable drive passes diags, then use it as a backup drive.