>>>Google finds tons of programs that supposedly will check my hard drive for physical "health". But I am not ready to trust these off the bad. Has anybody personally used a program that actually did check the drive (and didn't format it - concern I have <g>) and was helpful?
>>>
>>>Please let me know. TIA.
>>
>>What is it you actually want to check? Is there a problem?
>
>Yes. The drive sometimes makes noises that concern me. The notebook and drive are about 4-5 years old. I am in the process of "moving" to a new notebook but still want to be sure that this one works.

Are you sure it's the drive that is making the noise? Drive platters are spinning at incredible speeds and if there is anything at all wrong with the motor that drives them then it would already be failed. Could it be the fans in the laptop perhaps? Perhaps they are dirty or clogged?