Today, while running a virtual machine, my Seagate 2TB hard drive began making repeated clicking sounds and the virtual machine crashed with a blue screen. The clicking happened again when I opened programs such as Krita and while running CHKDSK, roughly every couple of minutes. CHKDSK completed without reporting a problem. After restarting the computer, the drive currently seems quiet during normal browsing, but I'm unsure whether I should launch a game or otherwise continue using it. Could the virtual machine be causing excessive disk activity, or is the clicking a sign that the drive is failing?
4 Answers
Treat repeated clicking as a possible mechanical failure and back up anything important immediately. Avoid putting extra stress on the drive until your data is safe, and be prepared to replace it rather than relying on it recovering after a restart.
Don’t start with CHKDSK on a drive that may be physically failing, since it can put additional strain on it. Check the drive’s SMART health information instead. If the drive is still readable, copy critical files first; if the data is especially important, consider making a clone or using professional recovery services.
Replacing the drive is the safest option if it has started clicking, especially after a crash. A replacement may seem excessive if the drive works normally again, but intermittent clicking can return without warning and lead to data loss.
A virtual machine can create a lot of read/write activity, especially if its virtual disk and page file are on the same physical drive as the host system. Check Task Manager to see which process is using the disk. However, heavy activity usually sounds like seeking or grinding—not persistent mechanical clicking—so the VM may have exposed an existing drive problem rather than caused it.
The clicking continued briefly even after I shut down the VM, including while opening other programs and using the command prompt. It stopped after a restart, but I’ll avoid assuming that means the drive is healthy.