Storage forum: Hard Drive Clicking

I too ran into a dead end with a clicking DELL laptop HD. Spinrite and HDD Regenerator both failed to even see the clicking drive. I stuck the drive in the toaster oven for about 5 mins at it's lowest temp setting figuring I would try small increments of time and temp to lower the risk of adding any physical damage to the HD...but voila! It worked first shot out of the oven! Great tip!! I was able to recover 100's of digital camera images that had not been backed up yet at the time the clicking began.

Thanks sea4th for the suggestion and bdocko & dataquest2 for the supporting data points that prompted me to try this unorthodox method.

I had the clicking problem with a WDC external drive and it turned out that the jumper had come loose, so when I reset the jumper the drive worked fine from then on.

Since you dropped the drive, it is "possible" that the jumper came loose... However, and unfortunately, a dropped drive is not a good thing so without a "recertification" of some kind, it can be on the way to failing.

your computer might be trying to boot into ur usb device.

I have a good drive that I can boot up with. When I put my clicking drive as a slave the computer will not boot up at all.

I just had this problem with my Seagate Freeagent 1.5 TB external drive this evening. If you have multiple interface options, try switching to another one, or checking the first. My ESata cable came loose, but wasn't disconnected. I switched to firewire and the drive worked fine. Then I tried hooking it back up to the ESata after I had reseated the cord in the port. Worked fine again.

Still, back up your data. This was a huge scare for me because all my photographs for the last 10 years are archived on this drive. Fortunately, I only would have lost a couple months, but still... Backup is your friend.

from what you said from the one diagnostic you ran, the DATA ON IT is quite likely still good.

IF you have one or more local computer repair shops that don't have NATIONAL NAMES on them (we have just two here, and I picked one of them when I had a problem with a drive that had the USB interface fried, but was still running, mechanically), I'd take it to them with a NEW or DIFFERENT external drive with AT LEAST as much free space available as you had OCCUPIED on the "clicking" drive, and ask them if they can find a way to access and copy the data without having to ship it off to some company that uses "clean rooms," which can run into many HUNDREDS of dollars.

In MY case, the drive I had bought for $110 on sale last year around Christmas (discounted from $180), was ALMOST full and I hadn't backed up, but had JUST bought another 250 GB external I hadn't even installed yet, and all the guy had to do was disconnect the drive from its USB interface and connect it to his RAID assembly and copy everything to the NEW 250 GB drive, and all the data was there (I IMMEDIATELY backed up the most important files {pictures I'd taken}) when I got back home -- and it cost me $35 -- WAY LESS than one of the NATIONAL companies would have likely charged, and done in a day or so... Oh, recently I bought a newer compter, which had a spot to add another internal drive, and the same place charged me just another $35 to install that same drive that USED to be an external as an INTERNAL... still works great! (this was AFTER I spent $15 for hardware online to do it, myself, but couldn't get it to work... turned out THAT required some BIOS settings changes and DIP switch changes I had no way of knowing about, lol).

Your "clicking" drive may be much more difficult to remedy, however, than one that just lost its interface connection... When I bought the second 250, it was BECAUSE the first one was almost full... Suddenly I was in the "same boat," since the other one was now in the box again until what I just wrote above happened... But a month or so later, I caught a 600 GB external on sale. Just so happened, my FIRST external was a 120 GB Simpletech I bought at Sam's Club back in 2004, and since I now had PLENTY of HD space, and that drive had LOTS of photos and videos and stuff on it, just for "security," I decided to do a COMPLETE COPY of that drive to the new one... Within 3 weeks, one day I went to reboot and the 120 GB Simpletech drive just made "clicking sounds." That's all it's done since. Luckily, I hadn't stored ANYTHING NEW on it in the meantime, as I had A FEELING it was about to go (the case was getting HOTTER than it used to when it ran).

I've had it unplugged, sitting in a box, for several months, now, trying to decide if I should just throw it away or maybe give it to someone who might use it for parts. I tried all the "tapping tricks" and so forth, mostly just for my own curiosity, as I knew that was likely it, but all it does is... when I power it up... CLICK, CLICK, CLICK -- SHUDDDER... CLICK, CLICK, CLICK -- SHUDDDDER... It repeats that a half dozen or so times before it just gives up.

That's ALL MECHANICAL -- ALL OF IT! I don't really know drive electronics or mechanics very much, but I think the drive gets to the point where either the heads freeze, or the platter freezes, or both. In all likelihood, all the data on MY drive is still in tact, as well, but since I backed it all up, it's no deal. In YOUR case, it might not be quite as bad...

I'd try everything that's been suggested here -- VERY CAREFULLY -- because the things such as TAPPING on the hard drive to try to dislodge whatever's causing the "clicking" COULD, conceivably, also cause a platter crash if you do it too hard and the heads suddenly come crashing down on the platter -- THEN YOU WON'T still have all that data on there.

I hadn't thought about freezing a drive before, but the logic behind that makes PERFECT SENSE to me, as does trying to get it to run on a different side, thus changing its center of gravity, and so forth... If the tapping hasn't worked, perhaps tapping, then freezing, then letting it warm up a little bit before you power it up and tapping gently if it still clicks when you turn it on MIGHT.

If none of that does it, try finding a local place that services computers, and see what you can find out.

Good luck!

When you hear clicking or grinding in your hard drive immediately power the drive down. Continued use can result in damage to your platters. Platter or Media Damage can result in your data being unrecoverable. If your data is important I would take the drive into a Professional Data Recovery Firm like http://www.24hourdata.com They will offer a Free Quote & a No Data, No Charge policy.

Clicking sound can sometimes be due to lack of power either within the PC power supply or via USB (some USB does not provide enuff pwr).

you should also check the drive for damages using the drive's internal smart log'g. u can see the logs with these software. they're free. i keep the aeo3 app in my thumbdrives.

Aeo3 HD Smart
http://aeo3.com/apps/hdsmart/index.html

Speedfan
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

I'm going to second the opinion of others and say there isn't anything you can do to fix things at home. DO NOT smack the drive as some suggest. If you rattle the plates or dislocate the heads, you have huge problems. Also, do NOT try to open it up yourself to replace anything. We have a guy in house who does that in a clean room, and he's been doing it for 30 years, so he can get in and out with no problems. If you've never done it, though, you are MUCH more likely to damage the drive further than actually fix anything.

That said, if the drive is clicking, about 6 times out of 10 it is a bad PCB. It can be replaced, but it won't be cheap. Local shops can usually do it for about 400-500, but a big name national shop will run you at least a grand. The worse scenario is if your heads are damaged or misaligned. That'll run you $600-700 and up depending on the complexity of the drive and how bad it is.

Best case scenario is there is something wrong with the drive motor, which can be fixed relatively easily. Check out some local computer repair shops and see what they tell you, but know that it'll cost you.