how to repair external hard drive?

Question

my external hard drive won't start. it lights up initially and sounds like it will start, but then a large click happens, and the start up stops. this process continues over and over until eventually stopping completely after about 7 clicks

my external hard drive won't start. it lights up initially and sounds like it will start, but then a large click happens, and the start up stops. this process continues over and over until eventually stopping completely after about 7 clicks

i have a lot of data on it i would like back. however, the manufacturer says i will invalidate the 2 year warranty if the case is opened. they will replace but not repair my model

thanks everyone for the answers. i luckily have my most important data backed up, it would just be nice to have it all. the freezer trick didnt work, unfortunately

Answer 1

You have to tell us whats wrong with it. If its a cable, or a cord that got yanked out, then maybe it can be fixed if you talk to the right electrician. If the cables are fine, and it plugs into your computer fine, but doesn't perform like it should, then theres nothing you can do

hard drives are sealed units. The minute you open them, they're going to be a nice heavy paperwieght. The space between the head that reads a hard drive and the plate the information is stored on, its very very very small. A 10th the size of a hair, if not more. Dust can get in here and ruin the drive very quickly.

So, if its a problem on the external of the external hard drive ;) lol then it could probably be fixed.... but if it just doesn't work right, and it makes funny noises, i'd say its probably to the dumpster for it. Before you do that though, try it on someone elses computer first!



EDIT, after your edit :) Sorry to tell ya, thats the sound of a dead hard drive. I, as well as probably everyone thats posted on here have heard that dreadded sound before. If you didn't back up your important stuff, you might as well count it gone. The only people that i know who have the ability to pull data from something like that is the FBI and I doubt they'r efor hire :( Data loss happens, kinda like that proverbial 4 letter word that also fits in that sentence. We live, and we learn.

Still though, try it out on another computer first before sending it in on warranty. SOMETIMES if you're lucky, even if the hard drive is bad, you'll get a moment where it will work, and be able to save some of your information. SOMETIMES though, i was able to do it on an old western digital internal drive once. Sorry to give you the answer you didn't want to hear :(

Answer 2

The hard drive is clicking becuase it has been dropped.. Meaning the heads on the hard drive cannot find the sectors and moves back and forward untill it times out. This is what the clicking noice is.

The only hope you will have is : ( This is gonna sound funny but it works for 85% of the time)
1. Take the hard drive apart and put it inside a plastic bag and seal it air tight
2. Put it inside the freezer for a good 5hours
3. Assemble the hard drive back together and hook it up again, this will give you good 3hours to copy any valuable data of the hard disk

Answer 3

I would suggest trying the hdd out on someone else's computer first as the problem could perhaps be with your computer's usb ports rather than the hdd itself. If it came with an external power brick you should also try that.

External hard drives are usually just a 2.5in or 3.5in hard disk plugged into an enclosure using the same standard ide interface your desktop computer uses, so depending on the size of the drive you could perhaps open the external case up, remove the disk and plug it into your computer.

I would however only suggest doing this if you are experienced with stuffing around inside your computer - you can do some damage to that as well..

Answer 4

The clicks you are getting do indicate that the hard drive is dead (as you know).
If you want to get back the data, you will have to get a professional to do it. It is not as simple as plugging the disk into another computer, you'd need to remove the hard drive platters off of the drive and then run a recovery program on them with specialised hardware/software.
This process is very, very expensive and would probably cost you in excess of £500

If the data is that important, then find someone who will do it and pay them, else get the manufacturer to replace the drive.

(tip for next time: if you do have really important data, back it up)

Answer 5

It does sound like it has failed. There are some companies(search on google) that provide a recovery service. They will try and retrieve as much data as possible from the drive but there is no guarantee. If you ran defrag regularly on the drive you have a better chance at recovering the data. It is always wise to back up your data onto cds/dvds and not just rely on the external disk drives as they aren't 100% reliable. This can be a pain if you have alot of data but it is better than losing it.

Answer 6

So..
The file recovery software I like the most is Wondershare data recovery http://bit.ly/1qaHXCv. It saved my life. lol.
It's surely the leader program of its type

Answer 7

sounds like you hard drive has died . you could check it a spear usb port if it clicks again then im sorry to say its dead

Answer 8

como estoy apasionada del mundo de los ordenadores me gusta hacer mi propia configuración de ordenador, como todos las otras componentes los he comprado de sitios web y han sido excelentes, el hard disk también lo compre aquí, el hard disk es exactamente como esperaba, muy buena compra.

Answer 9

What's wrong with it?

Answer 10

depends whats wrong with it...