Naughty harddrive - crying daughter

DiddyDave

DiddyDave

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Hi all

My daughter ran her laptop well, virus protector n all, no dodgy internet surfing!!! And she saved all her images to one of my older external harddrives, a 160gb Toshiba thing

Her lappy died for no apparent reason a couple of months back (it hadn't been used for more than a month and simply would not start - though had been fine up to that point :shrug::shrug::shrug:), and having got her a new one the external HD is playing up too FFS :shake: :'(

When plugged into any pc it merely 'clicks' rather than whirls as I'm sure it used to; the pc makes the 'sound' of something being connected and disconnected, but cannot 'see' it

I'm feeling dead guilty now as it was mine originally; as I'm paranoid about back-ups and my Weddings etc. are always on at least 3 working HDs; and because it represents about 5 years of her schooling, partying and general teenager life !!!:eek:

All help much appreciate - but please note - I am a complete thicky with computers :bang: Of course I can use them well enough, but I don't understand them and especially when they don't work as they should

Here's hoping :)

Cheers

DD
 
Mine does this and I'm not sure how to fix it but what is happening is that the HDD is kicking into gear and starting but then shutting down immediately either due to a dodgy connection or a fault within the HDD, hence why windows makes the noises of it connecting and disconnecting...

Possibly need a computer techy to take a look over the HDD
Sorry I couldn't help :(
 
Sounds like hardware failure to me, nothing to do with how she ran her laptop (so it's not her fault at least!).

The clicking is usually I believe the disk heads doing something that they're not supposed to be, there's a variety of recovery software and options available, send it to a specialist if you're not sure what to do. I could recommend some but they usually do big corporate projects so the prices may be more than you're willing to pay!

It's a fairly regular occurrence and I'm sure someone will be able to be of more assistance!

Chris
 
If it's clicking and you cannot access it then it is game over as far as you're concerned. There are temporary solutions that work with limited success like heating/cooling it.. but these are mostly internet rumours.

As the old TP way of thinking goes.. if you need the pictures, get a pro in and take it to a specialist.

Edit - If it's a Windows machine, then try the PC management in Administrative Tools and look for storage management. If it's not in there... then it is game over!
 
It's called... "The click of Death" /cue thunder crash and loud organ music.

Seriously the disk is read by a sensor on the end of an arm that skims across just above the disk surface, the click is often the read arm trying to move from it's rest position but not being able to. Nothing much you can do about it although 'sometimes' you can kick start a drive temporarily by standing it on its' side and/or tapping it gently to help it along. This is not recommended though unless you have no other course of action to follow.
 
purpleclouds said:
There are temporary solutions that work with limited success like heating/cooling it.. but these are mostly internet rumours.
Click to expand...


I've rescued data off many an IBM 'Deathstar' drive in the past by putting the drive in the freezer overnight, just to get the data off.

Once the drive warms up again its game over and then its just a case of stripping the drive for the super powerful magnets :D
 
Chillimonster said:
I've rescued data off many an IBM 'Deathstar' drive in the past by putting the drive in the freezer overnight, just to get the data off.

Once the drive warms up again its game over and then its just a case of stripping the drive for the super powerful magnets :D
Click to expand...

Yep, and this is something I would suggest having a crack at before throwing in the towel.

Pop the drive in a plastic bag, pop it in the freezer overnight and connect it up as you've done before. You've nothing to lose, and potentially you'll buy yourself enough time to copy her important stuff off.
 
Had one just like that.......actually, still have it. I've backed everything up long ago, but never got around to binning it.

Mine connects just like yours, then disconnects - even though it's still clicking. But, if I leave it running for 20 mins or so, it eventually comes to life. I switch it off & back on again, it connects and runs. Obviously a big problem with it, and I never add anything new to it. Just thought you might want to give it a go before the 'big freeze'!

Good luck.
 
Have you still got the original laptop and the hard drive that was in it? If so, can you not take it out and stick it in a USB caddy to recover the images, assuming it wasn't the HDD that failed when the laptop died?
 
OSB said:
Have you still got the original laptop and the hard drive that was in it? If so, can you not take it out and stick it in a USB caddy to recover the images, assuming it wasn't the HDD that failed when the laptop died?
Click to expand...

This would be my first step as well.
 
The hard drive in her old lap top might still be functional ... if so the pictures and other files could be saved to the new computer. Any teckie could sort it.
 
I have an external drive that clicks if used on the front USB ports, even with dual power lead attached, works fine in any other port, and any other PC?

Paul
 
Taztastic said:
I have an external drive that clicks if used on the front USB ports, even with dual power lead attached, works fine in any other port, and any other PC?

Paul
Click to expand...

Same problem exactly with a usb floppy drive, it's a power thing (or lack of).
 
Loads of things to try but it is usually a case of a dead drive when it is clicking as you say.

Drive in the freezer has worked for me in the past but recovering 160GB of data may be tough as you usually only get a short period of time so make sure you have some where to get the data to preferably an internal drive not USB, I would also be tempted to strip the drive out of the usb caddy and connect it internally as well so things are as fast as they can be.

Removing the drive from the caddy also removes that from the possible fault in the chain.

Taping the drive yeah it works too, some times "dropping" it on to the desk can help but sort of a last resort.

Next you have 2 options, pay for it to be recovered your looking at a couple of hundred at least for this and they often don't get data back. I never minded paying when they recover stuff but when they don't and charge you £250 for the pleasure that really hurts. The 2nd option is to buy another drive of the same model and strip them both down and rebuild the old drive with new controller that may fix it, if not then swap some more parts till it works, has the expense of another drive but and you need the tools steady hands and and a clean room to do it in, or you can do it in the bathroom, shut the door turn the hot taps and shower on to get the room all steamy, then turn it off let all the moisture in the air capture all the dust and clear then you have 5 or so minutes where you have a relatively dust free environment.
 
It might be worth taking it out of the caddy and plugging it directly into the motherboard, if it doesn't work like this then it is almost definately fubar.
 
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