Slow laptop, hard disk making noise whilst unlocking screen

[2something]

I think someone had a similar problem a while ago, but I can't find the thread.

My laptop suddenly slowed down from taking 1 second to log in when the screen is locked (i.e the user is logged in already) to taking about 10 seconds whilst the hard drive is making noises.

Right clicked on C: desk, chose tools, choose error checking, it ran on the next reboot, took forever and fixed the problem !!! Laptop is back to being fast again.