Computer lags after a click sound from front of case

Question

I am using Windows 8.1 64bit. My specs are: FX4100 CPU, 4GB RAM, HD5570 GPU

When using my computer normally or when playing games, randomly a click sound from front of my case comes (my hard drives and CD drive is there) and the computer lags so hard (about 2 minutes, sometimes even more!) I am not sure this is OS specific. After lag it clicks again and lags again, until I reboot my computer in hard-way. I checked the hard-disks for any r/w errors, nothing is wrong. I have 2 hard drives in my case. They are working properly. I don't use CD/DVD drive so much and it is empty. Anyone knows what is happening? This happens at random. I will be using Debian for some time to see if problem is OS specific. Thanks for any help.

Something looks pretty wrong:

The bottom message says: "Cannot read contents of this filesystem."

Nope. This is just because I shut down the computer in hard-way (long press button)

Answer 1

If the clicking is a mechanical noise originating from the hard drive, then you need to replace it, and soon.

Optimally, you should turn your computer off and leave it off until you have purchased a new hard drive, and them image the old hard drive over to the new.

This would cause lag because the operating system is expecting information to come from the hard drive at a certain time and at certain rates, and if it does not receive that information at the correct time and in the correct amounts it will be forced to wait. This wait for the OS is lag for you.