So recently, within the last few weeks, whenever I open something that has to reference my home drive, a 3TB WD Green that has caused no quarrels ATP, I can hear the laser sometimes just freak the hell out. And its loud. Louder than my AC and the little fan I have next to it.
The motor isn’t whining though and write tests I’ve done haven’t shown me that its dying. Should I be worried? I can’t really afford a replacement drive rn.
The head making noise is pretty normal. It can be particularly musical if data is on different parts of the disk, making the head snap around as it’s reading. Does a defrag help at all?
If it’s exceptionally loud it could be the bearing on the actuator arm wearing out. It could even be something as simple as the case or whatever the case is sitting on amplifying the noise. If the head was hitting the platter it would sound more like a grinding noise.
If you can’t afford a replacement then get a USB drive and backup any important files. After that you should probably start saving up for a replacement sometime down the road. If the actuator arms is going it could damage the drive in the future, even if it is ok now.