[JustaJarhead2147]

Hello all, I'm new here and maybe going at this the wrong way,... be gentle .

I have an HP Pavilion a6130n with a noisy hard drive (I think), clicking occasionally, and stalling operation (not a constant freeze (1 minute)).

I’m looking to upgrade to a better, faster, stronger HD able to leap buildings in a single,… oh sorry but you get the point .

Any and all suggestions (constructive of course) are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

~~JaJ~~

[SUEOHIO]

From what i understand if a harddrive is noisy or clicking it might be failing.Before it goes completely make sure anything you dont want to lose is put on a cd/dvd for future use so its not lost forever.Once whats saved to another computer or cds etc then you can replace the harddrive in it.Its basically giving you a warning that its going bad altho sometimes drives just plainly stop working with no warnings at all.

[flavallee]

Here is the support and downloads site for the HP Pavilion a6130n desktop.

It was introduced in May 2007 and came with Windows Vista Home Premium(32-bit) installed.

It also came with a 400 GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 7200 RPM hard drive.

The "HP Customer Center" site doesn't appear to have a recovery disc kit available for purchase because of its age.

The "Computer Surgeons HP Recovery Center" site does appear to have it available for purchase here.

If the hard drive is going to be replaced in that desktop, you're going to need the recovery disc kit to get it going again.

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[Triple6]

You can also clone the old drive to a new drive as well and keep the operating system, programs, and data. Most hard drive manufacturers provide free drive cloning either with the drive or as a free download from their website.

If the drive is clicking I would replace it ASAP.

Basically you need a Serial ATA(SATA) drive, either a SATA 3Gbs(SATA II/2) or 6Gbs(SATA III/3) drive with at least the same capacity or higher. Most new drives will be faster then a drive few years old. Here's one such example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148767

[REDRIFLE]

This clicking could be from several things.
1.the hard drive was dropped somehow
2.the torx screws on the drive are not tightened to the right pressure
3.the drive is generating more unallocated sectors than it can cover up, causing a hardware issue.

replace the thing i say, but get a western digital.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136769

[DaveBurnett]

It's called "The Click of Death" and is caused by the heads being rapidly moved to the centre tracks of the disk where the replacement spare tracks are located and used when other tracks are physically damaged.
It will rapidly gets worse and die so get the data off it.

[JustaJarhead2147]

Wow thats bad news, but thanks for the great assistance.
Since I'm going to be replacing the old HD what would you suggest I considering as an upgrade?

[Triple6]

You can go for a bigger drive if you think you'd use the space, you probably won't find many 400GB drives anyway, 500GB is more common. Newer drives will be faster then older drives in general, just stick with a 7200 RPM drive.

[JustaJarhead2147]

Thank you all for the good advice, would you recommend I upgrade or while Im at it go with a new processors

[Triple6]

It's best to not attempt CPU upgrades on an HP.

[JustaJarhead2147]

Originally Posted by Triple6

It's best to not attempt CPU upgrades on an HP.

Thanks for the advice,..may I ask why not the CPU?

[minimustangs]

HP. Dell, and others use proprietary hardware (mainboards), and often the BIOS is conveniently "crippled" so as to not support a CPU upgrade. This is not true in all cases, but it is true in many. It gives the company an avenue to upsell...

[JustaJarhead2147]

Originally Posted by minimustangs

HP. Dell, and others use proprietary hardware (mainboards), and often the BIOS is conveniently "crippled" so as to not support a CPU upgrade. This is not true in all cases, but it is true in many. It gives the company an avenue to upsell...

Sounds about par for the course,..I really appreciate all you help,...