Blank screen and “Read Error”, HDD health

Question

Recently, sometimes when I turn on my PC I see "Read Error" on a blank screen. Nothing else.

Why this is happening? I have been hearing some knock knock sounds from my new HDD.

Is there any software or any procedure to check the health of my HDD. I ran through check of windows 7 but found nothing suspicious.

What OS, what HDD manufacturer, where did you get the HDD from?
OS : Windows 7, HDD : Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 (500 GB), got from a big local shop. It was wrapped correctly.

Mokubai · Answer 1 · 2011-06-19 13:58:32Z

up vote 2 down vote accepted

"Knock knock" noises usually denote some kind of head positioning problem.

Hitachi have a tool called the Drive Fitness Test tool that you can download and run to find out if the drive has problems.

answered Jun 19 '11 at 13:58

Mokubai
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	Is it ok to assume, when there some sort of knock knock, there is a problem with HDD? – iamcreasy Jun 19 '11 at 14:04
	For the large part weird knocks and clunks and clicks are the domain of the spinning devices (DVD & HDDs...), fans tend to make strange noise like a coffee grinder going slow, though hard drives can make a similar noise if the bearing goes... There not a lot else that actually makes knocking and clunking noises in a computer in my experience. – Mokubai Jun 19 '11 at 17:30

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