My (dropped) laptop says "Hard drive not found" and makes a clicking noise. Can my HD be fixed or is it dead?

Question

I dropped my laptop. When I turn it on it says "Hard drive not found" and won't load any further. I want to take it into a computer repair place (I don't care about the cost because there are digital pictures that are very sentimental to me on my HD that I never had the time to back-up-- I'll never make that mistake again!) but I don't know if I should even get my hopes up that it could possibly be repaired as it sounds like something is broken inside the drive by the clicking noise it is making. Can a computer repair place fix a hard drive that is actually broken inside?

Answer 1

if it's clicking the heads in the drive broke off. drive work similar to the way a record player works with discs, a control arm, and sensor (needle). It's most likely a gonner.

Answer 2

so far I just gave Gray the 3rd "thumbs up". Hard drives fail. Some fail for a good reason, like : falls ( sudden changes in acceleration or G-force); heat ( overheating , cat-hair filled PC stuffed under a desk.. or maybe a fire) ; electrical problems ( power surges, or power dips. All the surge protection in the world can't help you against a 'brownout' or power dip of -10 V every time your air conditioner or laser printer kicks on.. or if your power company just cannot control supply) ; even magnetic fields, ( heavy-duty guitar amps, speakers, CRT-Television yoke, or even Aurora Borealis - cosmic storms + Earth's magnetic field) . Some die because they are old. Some die just because a percentage of brand new drives do. Clicking hard disks are telling you they are dying. and dying SOON. Back up that data. If you really want your data to be safe, then look for more-reliable solutions.. get several hard disks and use them in a RAID configuration ( 2 copies on 2 separate drives is the most basic "Raid 0" ) look for industrial hard disks and not home-user types.. Solid State drives won't be sensitive to gravity & acceleration.. look for drives with longer out-of-the box warrantys. The company KNOWS that a small percentage are going to fail every year. If they offer you a 1 year warranty, vs 3 years or even 5 years.. they know darn well that the 5year drive is built to last longer than the 1 year. Back up to online services ( BUT.. be careful; they could get hacked and lose your info.. they might accidentally allow anyone to copy your files, or they might be offline just at the moment you need to see that file.) Back up to Optical Drives. DVDs and CDs are designed to last around 5 years. You may do better or worse, depending on if you care well for them.. or invest in 20-50 year "archival" quality disks. No matter what - the next click you hear could be the last ( if the drive has not already died.) Back it up NOW. --- fixing it.. not without some heavy-duty microscopic tools, a dust-free ( micron-size particle free!) clean room, and spare parts that exactly match your drive. These cannot be easily found, and will be darn expensive. If the drive fails, you will need to spend ( estimate $700 US - $3000 US) to have a company like Kroll Ontrack / DriveSavers / Seagate labs try to forensically rebuild the drive. ( you only pay the full price if they recover your files. probably less than $100 to examine drive)

Answer 3

Most certainly. Take it to a main dealer. The hard drive can be dismantled and any files can be saved. The only time that a disc would be un readable is if it was exposed to extreme heat, or magnatism, or if it was physically destroyed.

I would advise taking it to where you purchased it from. Or to a authorised service center.

The Data on a 180Gb Hdd would cost around $120 to recover.

I do this type of work everyday in my job and all hope is not lost.

Answer 4

You have a serious problem now. This is a typically head crash. The head is broken or not correct fixed anymore. usually this kind of problem comes when you let fall your Notebook while the Notebook is switched on. If the Notebook is switched off then the heads of the Harddisk are in parking position and it is not so easy to damage them.
If the data on your notebook are extremly important then you can let open the Harddisk from SPECIAL companies (Don't trust your dealer with this) and they will take out the metal plates and read the data to another harddisk for you or write them to DVDs. This is not cheap.

Answer 5

I am having pretty much the same problem with the 300Gb one I have in an enclosure. It got sparked and now it just sets there and clicks like a clock for a few seconds, then goes silent. I think it's a goner.

Your best bet is to replace the drive and start over.

Answer 6

Ok there are 2 posbl ways to let ur hdd work again.. 1st just tell me weather ur laptop shows ur hdd specification wen it STARTS booting.. if yes then try to SCANDISK it with WIN98. If there were some bad-sectors they will be REFURNISHED otherwise just pick ur HDD frm the Laptop and connect it with someother system,and try to ADJUST the jumper ON BACK SIDE OF HDD FROM MASTER TO SLAVE DRIVE,somtimes this also do the magic.if it is detected once there in any of the modei.e Primary Master/Slave or Secondry Master/Slave then first copy ur important data and then try to FORMAT the hdd. InshaAllah this will do the magic for u. take care.

Answer 7

Your hard drive is bye-bye. The data is still there and can be recovered... but companies that do this make it cost prohibitive. Is your data worth $1,500? You decide. There are a number of good data recovery services. If you opt for this, make sure they have a 'clean room' and a good reputation. Otherwise, cut your losses and don't drop your computer any more. ;)

Answer 8

Hey! It do happen when one drop the laptop. Dont hesitate and go to repair shop. I do believe that u will get it repaired. Their must be only some lose fitting!

Hope this will help u!

Answer 9

the drive is dead, the arm crashed into the disk plates, There are companies that can recover the data but it is VERY expensive, you should invest in usb flashdrives they are pretty durable and the price has come down alot the best part is no moving parts to fail.

Answer 10

Computer repair places can easily replace the harddrive so dont worry about that