Thin scratching noise from the HD?

Librem
1

I have an under 1 year librem v13
it started making a thin scratching noise , rarely but i notice it as it is a distinct sound I am not used too from this machine.
Is this something to be worried about?
Should I have a backup??

2

Yes! Independently of this noise indicating a HDD problem or not.

Noises can be caused by mechanical parts like HDDs or fans or bt whining coils. HDDs are expendable parts by their nature.

You can try to analyse the health of storage devices with S.M.A.R.T…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

Wikipedia explains a bit how to interpret the values.

I think on Linux its “smartmontools”.

I have zero experience with it.

3

Yes.

Now, to address your other questions.

Do you have a spinning hard drive (HDD) or a solid-state one (SSD)?

I don’t have a Librem 13, but when it’s quiet, I can sometimes hear a scratching sound when my laptop’s SSD is working. This has been going on for over 2 years already, and I noticed no issues.

4

Thanks for this
I’ll have a look at this SMART tools.

5

I have an NVMe Samsung HD is that a ssd?
And the noise is only intermittent- once in a long while.

6

Yes

Um, yes, always.

7

Yes, that is an ssd. No moving parts.

My guess is that if you’re hearing something scratching/rubbing that it would be the fan as I believe that is the only moving part in the laptop.

The NVME SSD may be emitting an electrical whine but there’s nothing moving to make scratching noises.

And, as others have said, yes you should have backups regardless of drive status.

8

Ok.
I’ll be sure to have a backup
And see what the noise turns into. If anything.
Thanks