This is what a Laptop hard drive failure looks and sounds like. Backup immediately if you hear weird clicking and rattling noises. Indeed have a regular backup scheduled, regardless of how old your hard drive is.

However, if your hard drive starts to make noise, don’t take it lightly! Backup everything on the drive that you care about, and then get a new one ASAP. Hard drives are not supposed to make noises, so if you hear it, it’s a warning sign that it’s about to die.