Thumptick

[David64]

I have a HP All In One desktop and I don't remember exactly when I bought it, but it's at least 10 years old.
I'm not a gamer or do anything on it but read the news, check out DI and watch Youtube videos, but lately, I'd say the last 2 weeks, it's been making a weird noise time to time.

The only way I can describe it is...hold a pencil eraser end down and lightly drop it on a wooden desk to get a gentle thump, instantly followed by a tick.
It's not loud at all at, just a gentle thumptick. My computer doesn't freeze, but it's very slow while it's happening.

Should I take the back off and spray it with some PB Blaster ?

Just kidding...I know to use WD-40. 

Seriously though, could it be a actuator arm trying to stick and if so, how can I fix it ?

We have pets and it could be pet hair got sucked in and it just needs a good cleaning, but if it's a sign of failure, I'll run it till the wheels fall off and get another.

[ArMaP]

First of all, get a way of reading the disk(s) S.M.A.R.T. information, it will show you if the disk(s) is in risk of failing or not.

[David64]

Here's what I've got.
 

Serial Number: 4179WYMMS
Firmware: MS2OA8U0
Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM
Buffer Size: --
Power On Hours: 16872 Hour
Power On Count: 11636
Total Host Reads: --
Total Host Writes: --
Remaining Life: --
Transfer Mode: SATA/600 | SATA/600
Standard: ACS-2 | ATA8-ACS version 4
Features: S.M.A.R.T., APM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
Temperature: 46 °C
Health Status: Warning

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Sta Cur Wor Thr RawValues    AttributeName (See notes below)
01  G  100 _83 _16 000000000000 Read Error Rate
02  G  142 100 _54 000000000045 Throughput Performance
03  G  142 100 _24 000100B5008D Spin-Up Time
04  G  _98 _98 __0 000000002D7D Start/Stop Count
05  W  _95 _95 __5 0000010D0D90 Reallocated Sectors Count
07  G  100 100 _67 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
08  G  115 100 _20 000000000022 Seek Time Performance
09  G  _98 _98 __0 0000000041E8 Power-On Hours
0A  G  100 100 _60 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0C  G  _98 _98 __0 000000002D74 Power Cycle Count
B7  G  100 100 __0 000000000000 SATA Downshift Count
B8  G  100 100 _97 000000000000 End-to-End Error
B9  G  __1 __1 __0 000000FFFFFF Vendor Specific
BB  G  __1 __1 __0 000000020269 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC  G  100 100 __0 00A601940001 Command Timeout
BD  G  100 100 __0 000000000000 High Fly Writes
BE  G  _54 _47 __0 00002C2E002E Airflow Temperature
C0  G  _90 _90 __0 000000002FD8 Power off Retract Count
C1  G  _90 _90 __0 000000002FD8 Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2  W  130 115 __0 0035000A002E Temperature
C4  G  _87 _87 __0 00000000018F Reallocation Event Count
C5  W  100 100 __0 000000000010 Current Pending Sector Count
C6  G  100 100 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7  G  200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count

Notes:
 Sta: Status(G: Good | W: Warning | B: Bad | U: Unknown)
 Cur: Current
 Wor: Worst
 Thr: Threshold
 RawValues: Raw Values
 AttributeName: Attribute Name

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DiskGenius V6.1.1.1742
https://www.diskgenius.com

2026-03-29 12:58:32

[ArMaP]

I'm surprised it still works!

The main points here are "Reallocated Sectors Count", that shows how many sectors weren't abled to be read or written (17.632.656), "Current Pending Sector Count", the number of suspicious sectors (16), "Reported Uncorrectable Errors", the number of errors found that could not be corrected (131689) and "Reallocation Event Count", the number of times the disk has tried to move data from bad sectors to new ones (399).

Any of those numbers is too high, some extremely high, that's why you got the "Health Status: Warning".

Conclusion: backup any important files as soon as possible, and if you have to move a lot of files from the disk do not do it in one go, so the disk is not stressed much, as it may fail at any time.

[David64]

I'm surprised it still works!

The main points here are "Reallocated Sectors Count", that shows how many sectors weren't abled to be read or written (17.632.656), "Current Pending Sector Count", the number of suspicious sectors (16), "Reported Uncorrectable Errors", the number of errors found that could not be corrected (131689) and "Reallocation Event Count", the number of times the disk has tried to move data from bad sectors to new ones (399).

Any of those numbers is too high, some extremely high, that's why you got the "Health Status: Warning".

Conclusion: backup any important files as soon as possible, and if you have to move a lot of files from the disk do not do it in one go, so the disk is not stressed much, as it may fail at any time.

Is it just because it's old or has it been damaged in some way ? It's never been dropped or anything like that, it's just sat here on my desk for years.

[montybd]

The hard drive you have is mechanical (note it states 7200 RPM) with 16k +  hours on it . You got  a lot of use from that drive. A replacement solid state drive will easily replace that drive and will also give you the sense of a new pc as the speed of the SD drive is so much faster than the mechanical drive. And they are pretty affordable.

Certainly backup your files. if you have a recent backup you can probably clone it right to the replacement drive. A cloning program is usually included with a new drive.

[Maxmars]

Is it just because it's old or has it been damaged in some way ? It's never been dropped or anything like that, it's just sat here on my desk for years.

If I may... it's not necessarily damaged.

Magnetic media is not infallible.

Some drives start out with bad sectors in the first place... but the system manages some things by itself...
so it translates into a bit of lag, or some actuator resetting repeatedly to find the data.

[ArMaP]

Is it just because it's old or has it been damaged in some way ? It's never been dropped or anything like that, it's just sat here on my desk for years.

It depends.
On my work computer I have an internal disk and an external disk for backups. Both have around 14 years of constant work (my computer is never turned off, as it is also used as a file server), the internal disk is healthy, the external disk, slightly younger, is being replaced because it has several bad sectors and some sectors pending a second attempt.
Another disk, with slightly more than half the other's age, is also in need of replacement.

In some cases it's a consequence of how they were built. Several years ago IBM used to make disks for desktop computers, but they reached very high temperatures (which is bad for the disks) and had a tendency to last just 2 or 3 years. If I'm not mistaken IBM sold the disk department to Hitachi.

[ArMaP]

If I may... it's not necessarily damaged.

Magnetic media is not infallible.

Some drives start out with bad sectors in the first place... but the system manages some things by itself...
so it translates into a bit of lag, or some actuator resetting repeatedly to find the data.

A disk with some bad sectors is not that worrying, but a disk with a lot of bad sectors and more sectors under suspicion is, as it shows that the bad sectors are increasing.