PC makes weird clicking noise

[Petarda]

Since I bought new PC in 2012 it started to make some weird noises, I didn't really pay attention to it but I want to know what's causing this.

When I'm turning it on after few seconds it starts to make this weird sound, it also happens when I'm installing something


Sounds like this on 0:11

[Devin]

In simple terms - Disk thrashing which happens when the computer is trying to get more memory as the physical memory is full so the hard drive is used as virtual memory.

[Petarda]

And what should I do?

[Fruity]

Upgrade your RAM.

[Petarda]

Exactly the same as this

[Aca]

Message removed due to provocative content. - Marcel

[MrTrane]

Look for S.M.A.R.T. test tools from the HDD manufacturer, defrag your disk, if the S.M.A.R.T. test gives you errors or defraging doesn't help at all then keep some backup just in case.

[Devin]

My current system does and has made this exact same noise for years now as I only have 4GB of Ram so Windows is making use of the page file which is allocating hard drive space as virtual ram.

You could always disable the page file however there's other complications that can arise if you do so. The easiest solution will be to add more ram to your system.

[Afyea]

I didnt read the other comments but yes, your HDD will be unusable soon, same happened to me, ofcourse a bit different sound, i changed the HDD, it's all good now.

[Kessu]

I didnt read the other comments but yes, your HDD will be unusable soon, same happened to me, ofcourse a bit different sound, i changed the HDD, it's all good now.

One post you can cross over when reading this topic.

Why do people make utter bs comments to the support section? If you do not know, simply do not post.

If there is a HDD that does not make the sound (Read, actual HDD) I would call that wierd as I have not ever seen a PC that doesn't keep that exact noise when used.

You only need to be worried if the sound is very loud and kind of  'crunchy' (can't find a better word from my english knowledge ).

This does not mean that there's nothing wrong, as I cannot know that from just forum posts. Backups should be made just incase anyways

[Devin]

I didnt read the other comments but yes, your HDD will be unusable soon, same happened to me, ofcourse a bit different sound, i changed the HDD, it's all good now.

Bad advice is more harmful that no advice, why tell someone to waste money on a new hard drive because their current one is doing what it should be doing?

There's nothing wrong with his drive but Windows using a portion of the drive as a page file which is perfectly normal.

[SugarD]

The sound you are hearing is a standard IDE/E-IDE HDD "thinking" sound, which is perfectly normal. As for the constant, repeated clicking in your first video that does not stop, that is a bit unusual if you are not running anything. I would keep an eye on it. Some programs like Minecraft have a weird habit of doing that while being open, but if no programs are being used, this is not normal activity.

As for being worried, I wouldn't be yet. If you start experiencing weird behavior or different noises, then it may be time to get a new hard drive after backing this one up. In the mean time, just monitor it and see how often it makes that sound in a repeating fashion like that, rather than in the normal, sporadic and random intervals. Also check and see if you can track down a program on your computer that is causing it when it runs. If all else fails and you feel overly-paranoid of a system failure, do regular backups. You don't necessarily need to replace the hard drive right away if you have everything backed up on a regular basis.