My 2.5" Seagate 5400.4 250GB is making the same sound as this youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA-Vf7nx ... rofilepage

I was wondering if I should swap the platters or fix the sticktion. It seems that head sticktions are less risky to fix than swapping platters.

post a terminal log...

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

You probably don't know what you're going to do.

1) Head stiction has a cause (origin) : maybe the platters stopped spinning suddenly ? In that case, some media damage happens - not always critical , but happens.
2) Platter swap on Seagate is critical if you don't have the proper tools AND do it with necessary precision
3) In any case you have to be certain about motor health and precise RPM value or the drive won't work or will work with problems.
4) Vertical vibration problem...
5) If you prefer to move everything to a known mechanically good chassis, you have to face some other problems ...

Anyway, the case on my thread (more than 1 yr. old) turned out to be a complete motor seizure AND stiction AND media damage because when spinning down one head was bent. Data recovered but required quite a lot of precision work.

Thanks. I will get the log later.