hard drive - noise and clicking

The 7200 RPM drives are known for having loud noises when installed in laptops. That is, as I understand it, the reason apple does not install them from the factory.

If the OS is pausing and you're hearing clicking, I would assume that there is a problem with the HD. Some HD's are just loud though. Best way to test it would be to mount another HD inside and clone (http://www.bombich.com/index.html) your system to see if the sounds and pausing OS problem continues.

First, reassure yourself the drive is OK. The SMART verification in Disk Utility, TechTool Pro, SMART Reporter, and others is not very good--the warning thresholds are set so high the disk is usually toast by the time you have a clue. My favorite app for this is SMART Utility, available on versiontracker.com. It's shareware but has about four free launches before you have to pay. Download it and run it. It accesses the SMART attributes on an internal drive (sadly, not on most Firewire or USB connections) and will warn you if your drive has failed or if it's in the process of failing, which has saved my clients many a time.

I'm not sure if "keep maximum power on to the hd" is the power mode it operates in or if incorporates other settings such as spin down time. Make sure the drive isn't just going to sleep by upping the sleep timer. This would cause both a click and a noticeable pause to your OS.

David is correct though, first thing to do with any questionable drive is to pull your data from it.

BACK UP EVERYTHING NOW! Im no technical expert but one thing I do know is that clicking and pausing is a VERY bad thing.

I had the same problem about two months ago and it was an indication to a subsequent HARD DISK MECHANICAL FAILURE. I lost a fair amount but luckily nothing to point toward a disaster. The drive had to be taken out and I took the opportunity to upgrade the drive to a seagate 500GB 7200rpm, and i'm now running a happier machine.

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