clicking broke harddrive

[p0Pe]

hi, i have a harddrive that dosnt work... ive tryid all sort of programs but all it do is clicking... i have it connected to a external box with usb, and i just cant seem to get through to it?.. any ideas please???

[Mitternacht]

I got a hold of an xbox with the same hard drive clicking; throw the hard drive away. It's not worth putzin around with.

[FrooP]

yeah.. same here.. its f***ed.. keep it for modding its very usefull for scratchbuilding

[Luke122]

If there's data you need to recover, you have two options.

The first, is a high $$$ platter transplant. Not worth it really, unless it's totally critical information.

Second... and this is totally at your own risk.. FREEZE IT.

Yes, freeze it.

1. Put it into a static bag, and seal it up. Then another bag, and seal that too.
2. Put it into a freezer for a minimum of 8 hours.
3. Remove it from the freezer, remove from the bags, and power it up. If it still wont spin, give it a few light taps with a screwdriver or something.
4. Backup the data ASAP.. it wont last long.

I have successfully done this a few times.. it's not a permanent fix by any means, but it can usually get a dead drive to spin again, long enough to get most (or all, depending on size) of the data off it.

ymmv.

What have you got to lose?

[p0Pe]

thx alot for the advice... it scratces alot?... do you still think i should give it a try... really got nothing to loose as you say

though.. the drive is spinning i think...

[Luke122]

If the drive is spinning, the freezer trick probably wont really help.

I would recommend trying the manufacturer's repair tools, and see if that helps. Also, Spinrite by GRC (www.grc.com) works wonders on dying drives, though there's no demo, so you'll have to buy it. It's relatively cheap for what it does ($90ish I think), but unless you reeeeeaaaaally need what's on the drive, that price tag may be too high for you. I'm pretty sure he offers a refund if it doesnt work though..

[Cannibal23]

If there's data you need to recover, you have two options.

The first, is a high $$$ platter transplant. Not worth it really, unless it's totally critical information.

Second... and this is totally at your own risk.. FREEZE IT.

Yes, freeze it.

1. Put it into a static bag, and seal it up. Then another bag, and seal that too.
2. Put it into a freezer for a minimum of 8 hours.
3. Remove it from the freezer, remove from the bags, and power it up. If it still wont spin, give it a few light taps with a screwdriver or something.
4. Backup the data ASAP.. it wont last long.

I have successfully done this a few times.. it's not a permanent fix by any means, but it can usually get a dead drive to spin again, long enough to get most (or all, depending on size) of the data off it.

ymmv.

What have you got to lose?

there is another option. if you happen to have another drive of the same manufactuer and model in some instances you can unscrew the circut board off the bottom and put the circut board from the good drive on it. back up your data and then switch it back and throw the thing out. done this more then 20 times at work. has a tendancy not to work with maxtor drives for reasons unknown.

[XcOM]

maxtor don't like it becuase i think thers a second board, or a chip inside, if the numbers don't match, it won't work,, i think that what is it anyway.

But yi love the freezer trick, i used it the other week on a HDD, worked for about 30min then seized up again, was long enough to get my data off it first.

[Eclecticos]

You might want to try flipping it upside down.

[Xpirate]

I hope you guys are serious about that freezer trick. I have a friend who has a drive that won't spin. All we need to do is recover about 20 GB of data. I already tried turning it upside down. There are places that do this for about $200 or so, but if the freezer can free it up long enough to recover data, it wouldn't cost anything.