WD Elements 1TB noises

[troubleinkw]

My TB is about a year old, and the other night it fell off my nightstand (only about a foot onto a pile of pillows) however now it is making this awful high pitched noise that almost sounds like nails on a chalkboard or a nail on a grindstone. It's awful, and now my computer can only find the harddrive ever once in awhile. What is going on?

 

[sminlal]

I wouldn't think that dropping it that short a distance onto a pillow would do any damage - but if it was turned on at the time then you could well have caused a head crash. If it's making strange noises and not reading properly then it makes that theory seem more likely. If that's indeed the case, you're probably hooped.

 

[troubleinkw]

Would WD be able to get my info off of it if it's screwed?

 

[sminlal]

I think if you look at the warranty that WD's sole responsibility is to replace the drive. It's possible that WD could recover the data, and there are certainly other specialty vendors who perform that kind of service, but it would likely be very expensive.

This is exactly the reason why people make backup copies of their data.

 

[Rogue77777]

Are you sure your nightstand is only a foot high? If you plan on saving any of your data, you need to start copying as much info as you can off that drive.
Only copy a few folders at a time, just incase you find one you can't copy.

 

[troubleinkw]

The drop from nightstand to pillows was about a foot.
How expensive are we talking? hundred? hundreds? a grand?

 

[sminlal]

The expense depends on how much damage has been done, but I'd think it would start in the hundreds.