Dropped External Hard Drive

[Tipsynaruto]

Right, i just recently dropped my friggin 1TB external hardrive onto the floor. Its about 45ish cm from the ground and the floor is fluffy carpet. Also, they were in cases (duh). My question is, the one in the Coolermaster X Craft took the plunge to the floor first. Then, the Nextar 3 went after it nad landed on top. The Nexstar 3 was on btw and was standing upright while the Coolermaster was flat.

So, several questions.

1: My 1tb which was in the Nexstar 3 started making a clicking noise when it powers on. I can only, unfortunately, guess it may be the Click of Death. Now, i have around 600GB of stuff on it. Hypothetically, how much would it cost to recover from a professional?

2: The coolermaster actially has six spring suspension under the hard drive. It is still working even after the fall and getting another HD crashing from the top. Would that have maybe helped it from screwing up like the Nexstar?

3: i do not remember all 600 Gigs of stuff on it. Is there any way that can allow me to know what was on it? I dont need to have access to the file. Just a list of sort of what was on it. I dont care if its a rumour or what. Any suggestions would do.

4: Lastly, If the header had touched the platter, would the freezing method of accessing it still work? Of course i aint gonna do this unless the pro's says no dice, but asking wont hurt.

 

[blakstang98]

I'm not a computer expert, but I'll take a crack at this. First off, despite the clicking when powered up, does it actually turn on? I mean, if connected to your computer, can your computer read the data on it? If so, then you wouldn't need professional help recovering data, as you'd be able to retrieve it yourself. This is the simplest solution, but I'm guessing that even though it powers up, it doesn't read.

As far as clicking goes, I would guess that it would be the hard drive fan, which wouldn't necessarily be a circuitry problem, but rather a physical constraint on the fan (maybe a bent fan blade that is hitting a slight hump in either the casing or the circuit board. If its the circuit board, then the spinning fan could damage the circuitry and result in the drive possibly being permanently damaged and make the data unretrievable (highly unlikely though).

If all else fails, then a professional can certainly retrieve all the data on it, so long as the damage isn't too extensive (and by the sound of the situation, it shouldn't be a problem). It takes a ton of physical damage to make hard drive data unretrievable. They would probably put the data on CD's or possibly another hard drive. Then again, maybe they can just fix the problem with the existing one and you'll be able to use it again.

I'm not totally sure if it would work, but maybe you can connect the hard drive to your computer, but not plug it into the wall and maybe you'll be able to read what's on there. If it's a simple clicking problem, you could always do a google browse and maybe you can find out how to fix the problem yourself at home without the help of a professional (which will save money too).

But either way, not all is lost, you should be able to get your data one way or another and move it else where if the hard drive is damaged. Best of luck!

 

[Oblivion_XIII]

Computer geek is in the house
First off to access the files on the hard drive, go to my computer and click on the hard drive name, if you have vista it should be on the top
second, the clicking could just be something that got slightly damaged or the fan but if i were you, i would get a new external and transfer all the files from one external to the other, but otherwise the clicking probably isn't a problem.
That's all the help i can give but hope it works