Hard Drive Problem Coming?

[Chuck Kay]

Hey guys;

this is sort of DV related. I'm using a borrowed G4 Tower (533 mhz/OS 9.2)
from the local school (I'm a school teacher). I'm about to upgrade all my
personal equipment and this is getting me by for the next few months. I have
a major video project due in about 1 month (using iMovie). I will return the
machine when finished w/project and I get my new equipment.

The HD on this machine is a 40 GB (AT66). I'm wondering if it is getting
ready to go bad. It is not causing any problems. However, anytime I do a
search (Sherlock) for files, etc... or Apple System Profiler does a scan,
etc... the drive makes a continuos scraping/clicking type of noise. It is
not very loud, lasts about 10 seconds (the time it takes to do a search or
scan). The search and scan seem to be successful. This noise is not
replicated while perfoming any other tasks: finder, scrolling, launching
apps, using apps, saving files, etc...

It was sitting in a corner at local school gathering dust because the new
personnel didn't like Macs and wasn't about to touch it. It has iMovie,
Photoshop, Filemaker Pro, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Acrobat, MS Office,
etc.... These apps can easily be reinstalled if need be. I have access to
all the original programs bought for this machine. The documents and data on
the machine are not important. Although I have backed them up to another
machine to a new 80 GB drive.

I have had a disk crash before but it was SCSI on an older machine. What do
you guys think. Should I buy a cheap 60 GB drive for my iMovie project or do
you think I'm OK? The project will be approx. 30 minutes. I will export to
tape and eventually to DVD when I get my new machine(s) in a couple of
months. Your advice is MUCHO appreciated.

Chuck Kay