You may be wondering why I ask such a question.

Well, I bought a Samsung 2.5" 1TB HDD a few months ago. It was running fine but a few weeks ago I heard a dynamic beep (non monotone) and this was proceeded by a very audible click. My first guess at the cause was the HDD head becoming stuck which will cause both the beep and the audible single click as it quickly parked the drive head but this happened while I was using the HTPC normally, it was as if nothing had happened and everything was running fine (me browsing the internet). Would such a HDD failure crash Linux (ubuntu in this case) instantaneously if it were in use at the time or would it not matter?

Ever since, whenever I shutdown my HTPC it makes this audible click which it didn't make before, if it is indeed the HDD which makes this noise I'm guessing its autopark function is now broken and I should be looking for a replacement.