Either the magnetic heads of your disk are gettng weaker or the heads have loosen. The scratching sounds you are hearing are the heads taking extra efforts to read and write resulting in the loud scratching noise. If the magnetic heads have become loosen, it will tend to stick to the platter as they are reading or writing, thus causing friction and the noise.
Doing diagnostic tests will not make the problem go away, but wlll aggravate the problem and may cause your disk to be totally unreadable.
Better copy out your important data and RMA or throw away this disk.
This forum is moderated by volunteer moderators who will react only to members' feedback on posts. Moderators are not employees or representatives of HWZ Forums. Forum members and moderators are responsible for their own posts.
Please refer to our Community Guidelines and Standards and Terms and Conditions for more information.