WD Elements Caviar Green - Clicking and not recognising? Is it dead?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Pyroglyph

Pyroglyph

Reputable
Dec 20, 2014
3
0
4,510
I recently dug out an old WD Elements 1TB HDD. The warranty had expired, that I know. I decided to use it in my gaming rig for gameplay recording but upon taking it out of the case and plugging it in, I discovered that my PC would not recognise it. Also, It was making some sort of clicking noise every few seconds. So I ran a search on HDDs clicking. Turns out my HDD may be dead.

What I'm wondering is not if I can recover my files (I'm not interested in them), but if I can repair the drive to work again, even if it means wiping it?
 
Solution
SuperSoph_WD
Hey there, Pyroglyph!

Unfortunately, the clicking noise indicates that the damage on your WD Elements is physical which means that it's highly unlikely for it to be working properly again. :(
This noise is due to the heads smacking when trying to park. Even if you re-format it and manage to use it for a while, nobody can actually predict how long it will last. If your data on the drive is very important, you should turn to a professional data recovery company for help. http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=D1sFPz

Hope I was helpful. Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD
Sort by date Sort by votes
S

scottypres

Reputable
Dec 20, 2014
24
0
4,520
If it makes clicking noises and the drive still spins up and maintains spinning, then you may get the data off it. But once it starts clicking, imminent doom is near. If the data was important, you could put it in an airtight bag in the freezer for 30 minutes and get your data. Affordable hard disks aren't meant to last more than a few years, if you get more than 5 out of one, you're very lucky.

If you get it to work and it only clicks every 15 minutes or so, you could try using a utility to exclude bad sectors, however, I'm not sure if that would stop the clicking.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Pyroglyph

Pyroglyph

Reputable
Dec 20, 2014
3
0
4,510


Thanks for replying, I tried the freezer method and it still didn't work.
But is it possible to ever use the drive normally again? Or is the freezer trick meant to just to bring it back briefly to save files? I have no problem with buying a newer (stable) one but I just wanted to know if the one I have now still has some use.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
Hey there, Pyroglyph!

Unfortunately, the clicking noise indicates that the damage on your WD Elements is physical which means that it's highly unlikely for it to be working properly again. :(
This noise is due to the heads smacking when trying to park. Even if you re-format it and manage to use it for a while, nobody can actually predict how long it will last. If your data on the drive is very important, you should turn to a professional data recovery company for help. http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=D1sFPz

Hope I was helpful. Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom