External Hard Drive skipping

Hey,

I have a Western Digital My Book 320GB external hard drive. My nephew knocked it off the coffee table (approx. 2 foot off the floor) and it switched off cos the power cable came unplugged from the back.

When i plug it back in, it makes the ususal whirring noise (i presume this is it "spinning up") but after a few seconds it makes a kind of clicking sound 3 times and then stops. This happens twice more and then nothing. It's kind of like the sounds a corrupted /unreadable CD makes in a CR-Rom drive.

My comp doesn't recognise it at all, as if it's not connected. One of my mates says that it has just knocked the actual drive part "off kilter" and that if i open it up myself i should be able to "right it". I'm kinda reluctant to do this as i don't wanna fcuk it up completely.

Should i try this myself, or bring this to a PC repair shop? If so, anybody know of somewhere in Dublin (preferably Northside or City Centre) that will do this? Is it expensive?

Another one of the lads said that if i give it a decent smack, it should fix it but this sounds dubious.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Regards,

$hifty.

irishshogun

Firstly copy everything that's on it off of it cos its on its way out. If a hard drive starts clicking that's its death rattle, only a matter of time and they're pretty much impossible to fix.

Erm, prob should have said this, but it's less than a year old. Got it for xmas '06. It was definitely the fall from the coffee table that did it. Also, i can't copy anything off it cos my PC won't recognise it.

irishshogun

I know this will sound mad but putting hard drives in the fridge freezer has been know to get it working, at least long enough to get your stuff off it. don't forget to put it in a freezer bag first tho.

irlrobins

irishshogun wrote:

I know this will sound mad but putting hard drives in the fridge freezer has been know to get it working, at least long enough to get your stuff off it. don't forget to put it in a freezer bag first tho.

This actually can work in some situations (I've done it myself), but should be considered as a very last resort.

Khannie

I've heard this freezer trick does actually work sometimes, though I've never tried it myself. Anyone care to put forward a reason for why it might be?

sunny2004

You mentioned it was under a year old ?
So I assume it is still under guarantee ???
Is it externally damaged ? does it look like it was dropped ??
If not then return it !
I do not think the freezer idea will work, as the unit is not been seen at all by your system...

irlrobins

Khannie wrote:

I've heard this freezer trick does actually work sometimes, though I've never tried it myself. Anyone care to put forward a reason for why it might be?

I think that sometimes HD can't read/write as the actuator arm that moves the read/write heads is actually touching the HD platter. The freezing contracts the components, raising the arm off the platter. Obviously as the HD is used it will warm up and retouch but it should give you long enough to get data off.

I used it on a laptop HD. It was making the usual clicky noises, read errors etc and eventually the OS wouldn't boot. Removed it from lappy and inserted it into a USB caddy and connected to desktop. OS was able to detect it no problem but unable to read. Took HD out, put it in a freezer bag (removing all air in the bag to prevent moisture), and put it in the deep freezer for an hour or so.

Reconnected to the caddy and tada, was able to recover all the data. Laptop owner was most grateful.

But as I said, I'd do this method as a very last resort.