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Ruh Roh! The click of death....hard drive help por favor

405 views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  Bigceeloc 
#1 ·
So, someone has asked if I can do anything with a clicking hard drive for them because of the files and memories on the drive. I'm not thinking so, but I have heard of some brief success stories that worked long enough to copy data off of the drive.

Any hints, tips and tricks from this community?
 
#5 ·
I don't know about the freezing method, but if you want data off it, take only essential data, don't take a lot at a time which would put more stress on the drive and kill it quickly, stop using it after or if you do don't put important data on it as it could die at any time.
 
#6 ·
Stop what you are doing and DO NOT PROCEED any further. The click of death is a serious matter and you should not keep messing with the drive. Trust me on this one. I see it day in and day out when people would just keep trying to recover their data and cause platter damage. Usually the click of death is caused by a bad head. Not something your average joe is going to be able to do anything about. Time to send in your drive to the pros...

Also, why the hell did you not have a backup? A backup a day keeps data recovery away.

DO NOT PUT THAT DRIVE IN THE FREEZER!

For the love of god no. Just... no. You can cause more damage than good. Not to mention drives are not hermetically sealed either. They breath. So, that being said, the inside of the drive is going to take longer to warm up than the outside. Guess what forms on things that are cold? Condensation. NOT something you want on your platters. If that happens then you got corrosion and possible loss of data or even worse a non-recovery situation.

Like I said. Stop messing with the drive and send it in to the pros. Unless, your data is not worth anything to you. Then, have at it.

Also, whatever you do, DO NOT open the drive. That must be done in a clean room by someone who knows what they are doing. Even a finger print or speck of dust on the platter can cause platter damage.

Or, ultimately, the click of death could be caused from platter damage. Then it is likely not recoverable.

EDIT:

What is the drive make and model?
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Xeb View Post

Stop what you are doing and DO NOT PROCEED any further. The click of death is a serious matter and you should not keep messing with the drive. Trust me on this one. I see it day in and day out when people would just keep trying to recover their data and cause platter damage. Usually the click of death is caused by a bad head. Not something your average joe is going to be able to do anything about. Time to send in your drive to the pros...

Also, why the hell did you not have a backup? A backup a day keeps data recovery away.

DO NOT PUT THAT DRIVE IN THE FREEZER!

For the love of god no. Just... no. You can cause more damage than good. Not to mention drives are not hermetically sealed either. They breath. So, that being said, the inside of the drive is going to take longer to warm up than the outside. Guess what forms on things that are cold? Condensation. NOT something you want on your platters. If that happens then you got corrosion and possible loss of data or even worse a non-recovery situation.

Like I said. Stop messing with the drive and send it in to the pros. Unless, your data is not worth anything to you. Then, have at it.
Professional data recovery is pretty expensive, and usually not an option.

Freezing is about the only thing you can do without paying for a professional. The US military actually uses the freeze method to try to recover data, although it's usually to save time from getting it from backup, not from lack of one.
 
#8 ·
With failed heads which is usually what the click of death is from. Most data recovery places have a free eval and then you can choose to either recover it or not after they give you a price.

I have seen drives come through my shop too many times after the "freezer trick" was done to them... And about 50% of the time they are not recoverable because of corrosion of the platter surface. It really doesn't take much.
 
#9 ·
Awesome thanks for the tips! And yes, the lady will likely not want to send it in to the pros, it's hosed most likely, but I said I would give it a shot for her.

I appreciate your expertise Xeb! But this lady wants to spend the money to do it the "right" way. So I'm looking for more ghetto-fied methods.
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#10 ·
She wants or doesn't want to spend the money? There really is nothing you can do at this point. A clicking drive is a no go till you know exactly why it is clicking. Most data recovery companies offer a free eval.
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Xeb View Post

She wants or doesn't want to spend the money? There really is nothing you can do at this point. A clicking drive is a no go till you know exactly why it is clicking. Most data recovery companies offer a free eval.
I'm a little confused about that one myself, if she wants to spend the money to do a real recovery, not sure why the OP is asking about ghetto solutions.
 
#12 ·
Honestly, I would just stop while you are ahead and leave it alone. Let her deal with it. Tell her you cannot do anything further and the only hope is to send it to a data recovery facility. Yes, it could get expensive but that is how it is. A lot of recovery places also offer payment plans.
 
#13 ·
Yeah she doesn't want to. It's primarily her home machine. Pics and music. She was a bit discouraged about the pics and music, but apart from that, is willing to sacrifice a professional recovery for a possibly successful ghetto one. :/

I will certainlly tell her about backing up her data though!
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