Is this HDD dead?

[spookyload]

I have a friend who is having HDD issues. I will just post what he did on another forum. Any of you guru's have ideas? Thanks for any help.

I was transfering over a 30gb selection of files from my external HD to one of my internal one's. It got stalled and I had to close down the transfer around 20gb's transferred. Now the external HD justs keeps making clicking sounds (like it's writing/reading) and the status light flashes. My guess is that it is checking the data that is on the HD to make sure it wasn't corrupted or something during the transfer, but I'm not sure. Here's some additional info if it'll help..

- It stops the clicking when the computer is off and starts up again when the computer is turned on again
- Booting up the computer with the external HD on will drastically slow down the boot up speed of the computer
- When it finally stops clicking and I see it listed in my computer and I click it, I get an error called "I/O Device Error" and it says the drive is not accessible

Please tell me I can get this drive up and running. I've got a lot of important stuff on it.

[ctal]

I've had several failures of external hard drives over the years, and the most frequent cause has been the ac power adapter. In two cases the adapter failed such that it caused the drive itself to make grinding noises when turned on, although the drive was not damaged and worked ok when the adapter was replaced. I also had one failure of the interface circuits in the enclosure, and one or two actual hd failures. I think his problem could be any of these, assuming his computer's usb or firewire interface (whichever is being used) is not the problem.

If he doesn't have another power adapter or enclosure readily available, perhaps he can remove the drive from the enclosure, install it in the computer, and see what happens.

Regards,
-- Al

[spookyload]

Here is the update from my friend. Any more ideas? By freezing it he is referring to a post someone else suggested elseswhere that the cold temps might help it work longer by shrinking the metals that could be hitting. I have already explained the heat generated would cause the metals to expand almost instantly and to get it cold enough to help would require more than his freezer could do anyways.

I got it out of the enclosing, I've got it in my computer now. Doesn't seem to have worked, it's still clicking around. The BIOS did however regonize it.

EDIT: Hang on! I got the new hardware found wizard, I'm rebooting now to complete the setup. I saw the drive in "My Computer" too. God I hope this works.

EDIT2: Nope, didn't work Should I try freezing it again but instead wire it through my case? Any other options at this point? Maybe take the HD apart and replace something?

[CommandrX]

After freezing the drive place a cold pack on top of it and boot system. Soon as you can get the data grab what you can.

Do not take the drive apart as you well ruin any chance of data retrieval.

[ctal]

There are lots of tutorials on the web about this technique. Here's one:

How to Freeze a clicking hard drive to recover data | Lancelhoff.com

CommandrX's suggestion of putting a cold pack on top, to prolong the effectiveness of the freezing, sounds excellent.

Regards,

-- Al

[rjs735]

Ctal I've heard of the freeze method but I really like the idea of the cold pack when you take it out and run it. I had not heard that before.

BTW put the freeze pack on the drive cover not on the circuit board and make sure you have something to collect condensation from the thawing.

[Anarchi]

Freezing it works! (if you are lucky)

I had exactly the same problem with my HDD, it just started clicking and had write failures.

I placed the HDD in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes, then connected it to my PC using a USB Adapter.

The HDD came back to life and I was able to copy data for around 15 minutes. Then it started clicking again.

I dont know how it works, I'm guessing it has something to do with metal shrinking when its cold. The head arms may have shrunk which re-aligned to the data tracks, or the arms may have lifted away from the platters resulting in enough clearance to function properly after a head crash, or the bearings may shrink enough to provide smooth motor speed due to worn bearings.

Either way, its worth a try