Whirring noise when under load?

Hi this sound you hearing could be a symptom of a HDD failing soon, so back up what you have or important stuff external first!, i could crash anytime, another symptom to look out for is computer is lagging and slowing down, then followed by clicking sound until one day it decide not to run anymore, so play it safe and back up first, then try and do a disk check to check for bad sectors, just make sure you observe the sound carefully and often, cheers!

I have the E machine desk top as pictured and the CPU fan is what is making the noises as you access files the the CPU fan increases in rpm's when the file is open and the load is decreases the fan slows down. One problem I have found with this that if your tower is not in a good area to receive air flow the CPU will get hot if just sitting Idle and go to a blue screen of death. just turn the computer off and let cool down and restart.

After using computer for more than a year there is enough dust accumulation on the heatsinks and other surfaces inside to insulate them from proper cooling by airflow. As their temperature rise fans have to work harder (spin faster) making more noise. I recommend to disconnect all the cables take the computer somewhere where compressed air is available (compressed air cans will work too). Chose spot where the dust blown from the computer is not causing problem, take the cover of (usually left side looking from the front). You will find large heatsink on the processor (with fan) and potentially few smaller. Blow thru them from the side along the cooling fins. Also blow some air thru vents on the power supply (box where power cable plugs in). You can carefully blow thru the fans if dirty just hold them so they don't turn. After cleaning make sure that all fans move without drag or buzzing noise when gently turned. Best would be to take computer with cover off and connect it back, power on and verify all fans are turning without excessive noise (replace fans as necessary). Next, turn off power and replace cover.

If the noise is just during DVD operation, than its normal. Remember that the drive in computer may rotate up to 52x faster than regular CD or DVD. It may reach speeds of 10000 rpm. Making quite a racket. Some CDs are a bit off balance which may make the noise worse. And of course please remember to avoid putting labels on computer CDs and DVDs. That extra unbalanced mass may end up destroying CD and even the drive itself.