Does a failing HD sound anything like a failing fan?

My Dell 15" laptop has begun to make a noise after running for about 1.5 hrs.
At first I thought it was the fan going bad (bad motor bearing?).
Kind of a rattling sound. If I shut off the laptop for a little while it will restart
without any noise. But after an hour or so the noise returns.

Or could it be the HD failing? I can't tell where the noise is coming from, without
disassembling the laptop.

Fan or HD, how can I tell the difference? Btw, apart of the noise, the laptop works perfectly.

I usually associate clicking noises with a failing drive. Having said that you might want to go to http://datacent.com/fa​iling_hard_drive_sound​s where failing hard drive sounds have been recorded/categorized by a company specializing in data recovery.

To help narrow down the problem keep in mind that a fan doesn't run continuously, nor does a hard drive. But the fan, when it runs, exhausts warm air from some point on your laptop. On my Dell the "exhaust" is at the back left corner adjacent to the power plug and it is readily evident when the fan runs. So perhaps you relate this noise you hear to the indicator that the fan is running. My fan also doesn't run very often; I have had my laptop fired up for about 15 minutes and it hasn't turned on once. On a laptop with an SSD, which I assume you don't have based on your question, the drive doesn't make any noise. That should be obvious.

Now as far as the HD, my Dell has an indicator light at the front right corner that indicates hard drive activity. Can you relate the noise to the HD activity light blinking?

If you can't find the fan or the HD activity light, provide us with the specific model of laptop and someone may be able to give you some specific help. I know some Inspiron models don't have a HD activity light but something like the very versatile utility at https://sourceforge.ne​t/projects/activityind​icat/ can help in that regard. It does a whole lot more than just indicating the drive is spinning.

Generally a HD is only going to make noise when data is being read or written to the drive. I'm not the biggest Windows smarty pants, but you should be able to set the hard drive to spin down after a short time and keep the monitor and system awake. Once the disk spins down if the noise persists, it's the fan. That said, if the fan is failing the HD probably has plenty of miles on it too. And they are cheap these days, why mess around?

Many thanks for the information. Yes, my laptop has a HD activity indicator, and from that I can tell it's not the HD.
It is the fan, and I can tell by simply putting the air inlet & outlet up to my ear - lots of noise!

The noise could be due to dirt, but I going to replace the fan. The laptop is 6 years old so it's about time.

It's a Dell XPS L502, and after checking the net I see replacement fans going anywhere from less than
$10 to $58.

Thanks for the ideas, John.

6 years old? Seriously, replace the HD while you're in there.

Five years is my SOP.

I bought a cheap WD external one TB notebook size drive for 60 bucks on sale. SSD drives are pretty cheap and will make your old notebook much more peppy.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18157872
6 years old? Seriously, replace the HD while you're in there.

HD has already been replaced...seriously!

If you know the general layout of the internals, you can try getting a narrow rubber tube and hold one end to your ear while moving the other end around the laptop. That might help to isolate where the noise is coming from.

There are instructions for fan replacement at http://www.myfixguide.​com …ling-fan-remove-keyboard/ and the service manual is available as a download at ftp://ftp.dell.com/Man​uals/all-products/esuprt_laptop​/esuprt_xps_laptop/xps​-l502x_service%20manual​_en-us.pdf.

stevewf1 wrote in post #18158049
If you know the general layout of the internals, you can try getting a narrow rubber tube and hold one end to your ear while moving the other end around the laptop. That might help to isolate where the noise is coming from.

Yup, good idea. At one time I had a mechanics stethoscope. But it got lost over time.

John from PA wrote in post #18158144
There are instructions for fan replacement at http://www.myfixguide.​com …ling-fan-remove-keyboard/ and the service manual is available as a download at ftp://ftp.dell.com/Man​uals/all-products/esuprt_laptop​/esuprt_xps_laptop/xps​-l502x_service%20manual​_en-us.pdf.

Thanks John, those guides are excellent.

Perfectly Frank wrote in post #18157892
HD has already been replaced...seriously!

And you didn't replace the fan while you were in there?!?!

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18158183
And you didn't replace the fan while you were in there?!?!

Well, I've replaced the HD and memory, so I guess the fan is next.
The fan replacement requires a little more in depth disassembly, so I was in no hurry.

I bought a replacement fan via amazon for $12, hope it's decent quality.
It will be interesting to see how much dust has accumulated over the 6 years.

I just replaced the the fan in my Mom's 4 year old HP laptop about 4 months ago, it required about 95% disassembly.
Disconnect everything, remove main circuit board, flip over and do the dirty deed!
The heat sink with cooling fins were fully packed as well as the fan blades, I was surprised any air was coming out at all.
There was no amount of canned air or vacuum going to clean that mess out from outside of the case!
I found a replacement on flea-bay for about $7.50 and some shipping, around $11.00 total IIRC.
Now I wish I would of drilled some more/bigger holes in the case for better ventilation before I re-assembled it. Those little
microscopic OEM vent holes are just ridiculous! It doesn't over heat, but still, I'm thinking more/bigger holes the better.

Not sure how yours is assembled, but my Mom's had to have new thermal paste as well. Luckily, the new unit
came with a patch of thermal compound already applied and I didn't have to use my own.

-Douglas- wrote in post #18158437
I just replaced the the fan in my Mom's 4 year old HP laptop about 4 months ago, it required about 95% disassembly.
Disconnect everything, remove main circuit board, flip over and do the dirty deed!
The heat sink with cooling fins were fully packed as well as the fan blades, I was surprised any air was coming out at all.
There was no amount of canned air or vacuum going to clean that mess out from outside of the case!
I found a replacement on flea-bay for about $7.50 and some shipping, around $11.00 total IIRC.
Now I wish I would of drilled some more/bigger holes in the case for better ventilation before I re-assembled it. Those little
microscopic OEM vent holes are just ridiculous! It doesn't over heat, but still, I'm thinking more/bigger holes the better.

Not sure how yours is assembled, but my Mom's had to have new thermal paste as well. Luckily, the new unit
came with a patch of thermal compound already applied and I didn't have to use my own.

Thanks for the info, especially about the thermal compound.

It would be great if manufactures provided easy access to the fan and ducts for cleaning.

You're welcome and good luck with the repair.