However, the audio did not have any static in the many many hours played on the laptop, whether through its speakers or through my TV via HDMI. Just tighten the screws and you are good to go. Old, mechanical hard drives have a ton of moving components that make them prone to issues, and there is also a chance of data loss.
Notably, there are multiple complaints about a weird noise observed by both Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3 users. But be warned, some of these solutions might require you to open your laptop. Open the Device Manager, and then browse to Sound. But, if your laptop is old and the warranty has already ended, there’s no harm in opening it up and then fixing it. I've looked up other posts online but there is contradictory information and I'm not sure which steps to follow. Plug a set of headphones into your 3.5mm audio jack into your computer, and check to see if the same noise is coming from the headphones as well.
These are just a few tips to help you out and make matters easier for you. Also the performance of a hard drive can degrade over time as well, and a damaged hard drives performance will only degrade faster.
