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Dropped WD External HD clicks
mechaThor
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Registered User regular
(I wasn't sure if H/A or the Tech board was more appropriate, so move this if you feel it to be out of place)
So while my dad was unloading a bag from my car my external drive (Western Digital) fell out and landed on the floor (it was in a cotton bag). However, now when I try and turn it on and plug it into a computer, it doesn't read and after a few seconds the drive clicks for about 10 seconds more until powering down. Reading up on drive clicking, it seems that it has something to do with the head and basically without sending it somewhere and paying for a file recovery, i'm more or less screwed. I read an article that said that freezing the drive sometimes condenses the metal and puts the parts back in place, so I've just recently put the HD in a freezer bag and let it sit in there for a bit.
Are there any other options that I have? It was a 500gb HD about 65% full, so even though most of the files are back up's a fair amount are on there to save space on my PC, thus making them the only copies.
Also, if I do have to send it in for repair, how much would a recovery like this cost? Though most of the lost files are purely for luxury, if its not ridiculously over-priced I would consider going down that road.
So while my dad was unloading a bag from my car my external drive (Western Digital) fell out and landed on the floor (it was in a cotton bag). However, now when I try and turn it on and plug it into a computer, it doesn't read and after a few seconds the drive clicks for about 10 seconds more until powering down. Reading up on drive clicking, it seems that it has something to do with the head and basically without sending it somewhere and paying for a file recovery, i'm more or less screwed. I read an article that said that freezing the drive sometimes condenses the metal and puts the parts back in place, so I've just recently put the HD in a freezer bag and let it sit in there for a bit.
Are there any other options that I have? It was a 500gb HD about 65% full, so even though most of the files are back up's a fair amount are on there to save space on my PC, thus making them the only copies.
Also, if I do have to send it in for repair, how much would a recovery like this cost? Though most of the lost files are purely for luxury, if its not ridiculously over-priced I would consider going down that road.
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mechaThor on
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I have had the same problem as you with a few drives. I tried EVERYTHING. Couldn't get it to read.
Sorry to say but yeah. Clicking is bad. You can try the freezing method and copying as much off of it as you can, even try different computers (long shot), but you never know. A quick google about drive recovery shows its about a $400 ding for the whole drive, but it's up to you on how much it's worth. You may be able to find something cheaper. The data should be sound unless the arm has been scraping across the platter.
EDIT: Read the OP again and if most of the data is already a backup, just write it off. The drive is dead. GB's are cheap these days and unless what you haven't backed up is worth it, just forget it and buy a new drive. Getting this broken one working just isn't worth it.
Uh, this is very bad advice. Your more likely to do more damage to fix it then help it.
Essentially the drive would have to be taken to a data specialist and they charge crazy prices. Unless the info is really critical, I would forget about data recovery at this point.
You can't break it more than it already is. If it won't recognize it at all what else could go wrong? The only thing worse would be throwing it down a flight of stairs.
Don't do data recovery though, its ridiculous. I'm a Geek Squad agent, and for us to send it to a clean room it starts at $259 and goes all the way to $1,800. And it gets there quick
In that case, are there any recommendations for a good external drive? I was probably just going to get another 500 or 750gb Western Digital since this previous one worked flawlessly until it was dropped (and it was relatively inexpensive), but if I can get a better bang for my buck I might as well go for it.
I suppose more shock could dislodge the R/W heads even more and if they are already on the fritz could scratch the platters. It could be worse.
Considering your average user can't/won't pay for data recovery, and lightly tapping the side does temporarily fix a clicking issue, no it can't get worse.
Counterpoint: It worked for a broken Maxtor drive that I had.
I managed to get everything off it that I didn't have backed up before it died again.
http://firedog.com/datarecovery/
Just a thought...
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You really need to learn what you're talking about before you post in H/A. If a read head is banging against a platter or resting actually against one, banging it with a hammer is going to bounce that arm across the platter, scraping it and destroying an unknown number of files as a result. Remember that files are not stored in sequential bit order on a hard drive, so if you wreck even just 1000 bits, you could have corrupted anywhere between 1 and 1000 files and a lot of file formats are really unforgiving about this sort of thing.
It COULD fix it, but the freezer trick is a lot safer. In all honesty, if there's anything of value on there I would not re-connect it to a PC at all and research what it's gonna cost to have it torn apart and re-built. If damage to the platters is minimal or non-existent (which would be VERY lucky) it's possible that the drive just needs to be re-built. This is still quite expensive (I'd personally believe that $400 number might be a little low but it sounds possible), but far less than having someone try to recover files from a damaged platter.
Then again, if this is a pure backup drive and you have other copies of every piece of data on there, well whatever. You're not going to be able to permanently fix the drive yourself, at all. You will need to send it in for repair.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Yes, I did actually. It wasn't read by XP and by having it plugged in, it even slowed the machine to a crawl (tested it on 2 machines too, did the same thing on both of them). Using the software in XP's safe mode, it was able to read the drive that Windows XP couldn't find and allow me to get the data off it.
If the drive is not being recognized by windows then GetDataBack wont work...
The reasons data recovery through Seagate is so expensive is because they actually dismantle the drive and physically repair it in a clean room to try and get your data off, as opposed to GetDataBack which is more designed for "Oops I accidentally formatted my hard drive", or "Hey, my partition is destroyed, the drive is failing diagnostics, but is still being recognized by the computer."
Seagate data recovery services are for when the drive does not get recognized by the computer in any way...
During the production of Star Trek Insurrection there was a fire or something that caused the drives storing the special effects for the movie to nearly get destroyed, PAramount had the drive professionally recovered by a data recovery company (We're talking drives that were BURNT here) and they were able to recovery something like 75-90% of the data....
Lemme see if I can get the story on that..
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Holy shit! Sony's new techno toy!
Wii Friend code: 1445 3205 3057 5295
Sure banging it will, but tapping it won't. And the computer should obviously be off when doing it but giving it a few light raps could unstick something. There are multiple tech threads on other boards where tapping is suggested and has been known to work.
@blakfeld: (This is the method that I read about) You basically put your HD in a freezer bag (to prevent condensation) and put it in a freezer for 2~24hours in hopes of condensing the metal to put your broken part back in place.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Yeah, is that the right way to do it?