Clicking or grinding sounds from inside
My computer is making a clicking sound. Should I be worried?
Written by The CommonFixes team · fact checked by CommonFixes review desk
Last updated
Short answer
A rhythmic click from a spinning hard disk means the read head is failing. This is one of the few problems where acting within hours matters. The quickest thing to try first: copy your important files right now — Before any troubleshooting, move photos and documents to an external drive or cloud storage. A clicking drive can stop for good at any moment. Most people are done in about 10 minutes.
Full walkthrough below: 5 steps for Windows and Mac, rated careful.
Sounds like this
- •Regular clicking
- •Grinding on startup
- •Slowdowns at the same time as the noise
Why it happens
A rhythmic click from a spinning hard disk means the read head is failing. This is one of the few problems where acting within hours matters.
Work through these in order
0% done- 1
Copy your important files right now
Before any troubleshooting, move photos and documents to an external drive or cloud storage. A clicking drive can stop for good at any moment.
- 2
Identify the source
A soft whir that changes with load is the fan and is normal. A steady click every few seconds is the drive. A rattle when you tilt the machine is a loose fan.
- 3
Check drive health
Install the free CrystalDiskInfo on Windows. Anything other than Good means plan a replacement.
- 4
Stop using the drive once it clicks
Every extra hour of use reduces the chance of recovering files. Switch off until you can copy the data elsewhere.
- 5
Replace with a solid state drive
Solid state drives have no moving parts, make no noise, and are far faster. This repair modernises an old laptop at the same time.
If none of that worked
If the drive already refuses to be read, a data recovery service is the only remaining option and costs far more than a backup would have.
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Who wrote this and how we checked it
The CommonFixes team
Writer and researcher
We are a small group of people who spend our days repairing laptops and desktops for family, friends and small offices. Every guide here starts with a problem someone actually brought to us, and we only write down the steps that put the machine right.
- Everyday repairs
- Windows and Mac
- Plain language
CommonFixes review desk
Technical editor
Before a guide goes live, a second person walks through it on a real machine and checks each instruction against the maker's own support pages. Anything we cannot confirm is removed rather than guessed at.
- Fact checking
- Safety warnings
- Source links
This guide was last updated on 10 August 2026. If a step no longer matches what you see on screen, tell us on the contact page and we will test it again.
A gentle reminder: back up anything you cannot afford to lose before major repairs. If a step ever feels risky, stop and ask a technician. There is no shame in that.