Hard drive failing?

[Stickfigure]

So for the past few days, I'll be busy on my pc (browsing internet, watching something, playing games, etc) when my computer completely freezes for a few seconds. Then I hear my hard drive make a single clicking sound and everything resumes.

It's only about a month old so will be quite bleak if I have to RMA it so soon. Any useful programs to use to scan it for bad sectors?

 

[Totempole]

It's possible that it's faulty, but it's more likely a power issue. Try using a different
power connector and see what happens.

If you're using a molex splitter or adaptor it's likely that that's the problem.

Unfortunately, RMA'ing a hard drive with an intermittent fault is an exercise in
futility, especially if it's a Seagate. They essentially just do a 10 minute test,
give you a copy of the test results, and tell you nothing's wrong.

I wish you the best of luck whichever way it goes.

 

[fragtion]

Enable S.M.A.R.T and diagnose. Then scan it with SpinRite ASAP. If it freezes and clanks, that's generally a sign of impending fatality. But I've had a drive that did that, and a run of SpinRite actually sorted it out and it's been fine for months since

 

[SouthBit]

Download HDDScan (Google it) and check SMART values. Then run a read test on the drive. That will give you a fairly reasonable idea about it's state.