Hi AO!

I'm back with another linux question.

I have a Red Hat 7.3 server running on a PII 350mhz, 60gig maxor hdd, 384mb ram that keeps making funny noises from the hard drive.

It almost sounds like when you first start a pc, the disk will "jump" and make a little noise before spinning up. Except for the disk is in use when it happens. It is just random from what I can tell. It still boots and I have full functionality from it as of right now.

I've heard the infamous "ping pong" noises that a failed/failing disk has, but it isn't that bad.

This "problem" just started last night and I never really noticed it before, so I made sure to backup all my important data again. The disk is a little more than a year old and I've never had problems with it before.

I am sure to cleanly unmount it too, as it has NEVER froze/crashed on me (well, except for X).

I use it primarily as a media/file server and the rest of the network connect to it and "stream" mp3s/video or install programs from it. It gets decent usage, but only about 4 people connect to it and I use it the most to server my music files.

I have already enabled the S.M.A.R.T. function within the BIOS, but that doesn't show anything wrong with it.

What I'm wondering is:

I know that for m$ there are utilities, like norton utilities and PC Doctor to test disks and other hardware components.

Does linux have anything like this?
What would be a good way to test this hard drive if it is failing with the linux OS installed?

Thanks in advance as always! AOers always come through!