I have a 320 GB HDD at 5400 RPM that I bought as part of the first Dell laptop I ever got. This laptop (an Inspiron 1545) was relatively fast to start, but performance declined over time.
But now, about 1.5 years after I bought the laptop, the HDD makes clicking sounds whenever I turn it on. It's been making the noises since Monday, and I want to know how much longer I can count on using it. I've backed up all the data, but it would not be fun to bring my laptop to a presentation and have it die on me right there. I have a replacement, but that computer runs my software rather slowly.
How long will the average hard drive take to die, from the time it starts making the noises until the time it goes kaput?
Here's the info according to my favorite hard-drive checking program, CrystalDiskInfo.