Hard drive keeps "clicking" and can't be read - very worried!

[Purpledump]

My hard drive I store data on keeps doing a [high-click,low-click] sound at 1 to 1.5 second intervals after I start up the PC and the whole thing would lock up. Thought it might be that the read / write head was stuck and think it would be a big deal until I did a search on "hard drive mechanical problem" and found that it's the worst type of problem and it could be a headcrash!

www.dataclinic.co.uk/hard-disk-headcrash.htm

Anyone with similar problems share their experience. I've got loads of old photos on that thing. I'm not sure who to approach. There is a PC World nearby, but I've never had experience with their "PC Repair shop".

[marcus]

Time to replace the HD and get the data off there quick. Buy a new one, install it and copy the data off the old one whilst it still works.

[oblivion_6]

I had this happen with my new pc a few months ago and had to get the drives replaced, once it happens theres no real way to save it as its a mechanical failure


Download something like speedfan and run a diagnostics on your drive and it should tell you whats wrong and give you more info to take to a repair shop

Usually I wouldnt recommend PC world as they know next to nothing about pc's but if you feel more secure using them than a small indepenant then go for it

[chaoticjelly]

Specialist hard drive data recovery costs loads, oblivion_6 is right, PC World know sweet FA about PC's, perhaps one tech in the whole store is reasonably knowlegeable, most of them just follow instructions on paper, and their "PC Health Check" service is a joke.

Sounds like your hard drive has died and gone to hard drive heaven, probably doesnt help, but I had one that went the same way, clicking and freezing and then dying, looks like your photos are lost buddy! Always back up! I learned my lesson when my Raid 0 array crashed last year, and I lost all of my uni work! Always back up!

Out of interest what brand of HD was it? I had bad, bad experiences with IBM hard drives. I usually buy Western Digital and Maxtor now.

[Purpledump]

It's a 200gig IDE Seagate. Only bought it 2 or 3 years ago and in fact, that WAS my back up and archive. It was in an enclosure and only hooked it up when space became tight, but I put it into my newer desktop to make it all more convenient. I still have back up of this back up of everything up to a year ago, but I became lazy. It's just I lost all the good stuff since then!

It is possible to fix, though: ?165 for a diagnosis (i.e. seeing how much damage there is on the platter, if any, etc.) then another ?400 for the data recovery (including fixing mechanical problem).

Slowly accepting that my photos are lost (or not lost, just not accessible). Maybe I should cryogenically freeze my hd until cheap and affordable methods become available in 50 years time!

[kernow]

if its dead or dying anyway, drop it from 12" flat onto a table, it might dislodge the head so you can make a last ditch effort to save the data.

note: I don't recommend dropping fully working hard disks onto a table, its just I've used this method before.

[djjimbob]

Try searching for OnTrack EasyRecovery.

You might be able to get a demo copy if LOOK hard enough

[Purpledump]

if its dead or dying anyway, drop it from 12" flat onto a table, it might dislodge the head so you can make a last ditch effort to save the data.

LOL - that sounds like a joke, but it can't get any worse, as you said! Just not sure "how" to let it hit the table. On its side, corner, flat "belly flop". Could go either way.

Having said that, I'm not sure whether the regular clicking noise is the head hitting the platter or the whole mechanism retracting back. It's strange that it would click twice.

djjimbob - I'm not sure whether I can fix this problem with software . Thanks though. In fact, thank you all for replying so far.

[$c8t@]

just a quick note, the company you mention there are excellent, i've used them on a few occasions through work, they have a great customer service and always get the job done, if youve got the money to spend id send it to them

[Purpledump]

Well, dropping it didn't help. Shame, would have been nice. Nothing like giving machines a good ol' whack to get them running again.

If you do a search on "Head Crash" on wikipedia, there is a link to a Hitachi website, whith different wav files of mechanical failures - some of them sound very worrying indeed. Based on that, I don't think the head is touching the platter in my case - it might be that head is retracting snapping back quickly, which causes the regular click-click sound. There might be hope yet. I'm giving Seagate a call. Not sure what the warranty is (another seagate drive I bought came with a 5 year warranty). Apparently they do a data recovery service too.

$c8t@ - I'm saving up for it. If I put away a tenner a week, hopefully by this time next year I'll have enough - I'm still saving up for a CanonEOS and a macBook!! Never seem to get round to those.