Hey guys.. I was hit with a really really nasty bug. Damn thing about killed my computer. I am still in the process of rebuilding it. IF your harddrive suddenly sounds like it's starting but then clicks.. And then continues to do that. grab your startup bootdisk fdisk and check the partitions. I had 2 partions on my drive. a non dos and a dos. The non dos was eating most of my drive and continuing to do so. I don't know what this bug is.. but believe me I WILL find out. But if your drive suddenly starts clicking check the partitions. I formatted and am reinstalling everything. I was running innoculate. If this was a virus it did NOT catch it. So better update those virus scanners . Storm

I had this once before, just before the hard disc died. Sounds like it could be the heads on the disc about to give out.

pdblake.. problem is the non dos partition was eating up most my hardrive.. Once we deleted that and formatted the clicking has stopped. Completely.

Scary......... thanks I'd better do those backups I've neglected, imagine losing all your Poser stuff, no don't, too horrible.....

Attached Link: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/one_half.html

interesting,never heard about such.maybe its a virus. I backup all my stuff every two weeks on a second hd, dont want to spend days with reinstalling everything.

That could be any number of things, not the least of which could be what pdblake said, the heads. I've had a couple of bad hard drives,probably one more than I ought to have had. Not to preach, but two words: Backup everything! Maybe that's three words. I been there, learned the hard way. Twice. Good luck.

I hsd some similar symptoms, with no direct indication of a virus. I ended up fdisking, reformatting. Then I had some problems later. I was about ready to call Maxtor and arrange for another warranty replacement. Out of desperation, I took the entire computer apart and put it back together, nothing more. The hard drive behaved after that, and works fine. The symptoms went away and my data remains. Of course I got a bit excited, and yanked on my floppy drive cable again. I need to get around to replacing the floppy cable!

Maxtor? Not a good harddrive! I had one a while back, did the same thing. Started clicking then died. :( After that I read a comsummer report on harddrives. Maxtor was rated really low. Westerndigital and Seagate rated at the top. They cost more, but it's worth it. :D

I have two maxtor and no probs.But something enlarging a patition of a hd, that sounds curios .

Unusual noises from a hard drive is a good indication it's on its way out. Drives are cheap--replace it immediately. A drive can stop making the noise and continue to work for a year or more. But maybe not--it may only work for a week or maybe a day. Then, the next time you try to start your comp, it doesn't run and you've lost all your data (except for your backups, of course). With the price of drives the way they are, why risk it?

Can a virus cause actual physical problems with computer components? I thought they only affected software. I would assume that a noise coming from your computer means something is physiclally wrong with it. I had a bad fan once. It sounded like jackhammers. I'm not a computer tech, but I agree with the others who feel it's a physical problem with the hardware. Melanie

I think they can cause physical damage.Some harddrives need thermal calibration, but most time when they start to make noise its time for a new one.

I have a Maxtor 30GB and Western Digital 20GB. Each drive had shown similar symptoms within the first year of service, while still under warranty. In each case I used the company's utility to verify the drives needed replacement. In each case, I made a quick phone call, gave them a credit card number for "insurance," and they sent me a new drive. I sent the old drive back. No hassles. I've had either a Maxtor or Western Digital drive ever since I built my first computer in the 1980's. Both companies have served me well. Heck, I still have the 256MB Maxtor (sitting unused on a shelf), and the 4.3GB Western Digital is now in my wife's computer, working well.

I still have my original 210MB Western Digital (also sitting unused). I buy Western Digital and Seagate, mainly for their reputation. The only drive that's ever flaked on me was a Conner; Seagate (with whom Conner merged) replaced it, no questions asked, with a much larger drive. I don't know what I'm doing right with my hard drives, but I'd like to find out, so I won't accidently stop.

Well it was a virus.. in fact the same one nerd thought it could be. My harddrive was clicking because it was becoming full and because half the programs were missing and being encrypted. Once it did it to most of them and I used my computer it would "skip" is what the tech called it. He said what it was doing was rewriting itself because the fact i would move things over to my other drive and free up space it had already written to. Luckily we caught it in time. Because the skipping would have damaged the drive. (that's something I will have to replace my drive for because this brand does tend to skip when it's more than 7/8 full Storm

Sounds like it's hardware not software, but even so Innoculate is a bit rubbishy, sorry Cheyenne but tis true. However those nice people at Cheyenne.com give away (or used to give away) P.E innnoculit?..something like that anyway, go to the site and it'll be there and it has a pretty upto date virus library Mon ( and I don't work for Cheyenne...although if there's a job going...)

I hate using a product which has been effectively dumped by the company (Inoculate). I've stuck with all Norton Products since 1995. I now have Norton Internet Security (includes Norton Antivirus) and Norton SystemWorks. I had some problems awhile ago due to lack of judgement.. and fixed them easily with Norton.