Hard disk Makes click sound and gives red light

[prosleo]

please help

 

[kenrivers]

Hate to break it to you but a clicking sound could mean the drive has failed. Is this an internal drive? What brand and model? Old or new?

 

[internetlad]

He's dead, Jim. The clicking is the drive head(the arm that reads and writes data) tapping the side of the drive because it can't find the area it's supposed to start at. Basically the drive is confused and doesn't know how to read it's own data.

 

[whiteodian]

I take it, this is your boot drive? Can you give us more details such as operating system, system specs? Will it boot at all? If it is a SATA drive and non-operational, you could purchase a new drive, install Windows and run the bad drive as a secondary to retrieve data.

 

[ss202sl]

I take it, this is your boot drive? Can you give us more details such as operating system, system specs? Will it boot at all? If it is a SATA drive and non-operational, you could purchase a new drive, install Windows and run the bad drive as a secondary to retrieve data.

If the drive has failed and is non-operational, then you won't be able to get data off of it by installing it as a secondary drive. If it is working , but won't boot, then you can set is as a secondary drive and retrieve data. You could also use a live cd of linux and move files from your hard drive to a thumb drive, and then re-install windows to your hard drive and restore the files from your thumb drive.

I think your drive has failed.

 

[whiteodian]

That's kind of what I said ss202sl. I work in IT and it is worth a shot sticking it in a functioning system to see if data can be retrieved. I have done this before to a clicking drive and saved a user's data. You may not be able to boot from it, but your data may still be retrievable.

 

[ss202sl]

That's kind of what I said ss202sl. I work in IT and it is worth a shot sticking it in a functioning system to see if data can be retrieved. I have done this before to a clicking drive and saved a user's data. You may not be able to boot from it, but your data may still be retrievable.

Wasn't trying to say you're wrong, but it may be easier to find out with a linux cd.

 

[internetlad]

In my opinion, OP should start weighing whether or not he wants to pursue expensive data recovery. I have never got any of my "retarded, simple tricks" to work with the click of death, but i'll list them here anyways if OP is desperate.

1. Find a hard/flat surface. with the drive unplugged and fully spun down (wait about a minute) gently tap the side of the drive lengthwise against the surface. This may help to dislodge the arm and return functionality.

2.wrap the drive in a handtowel, put the towel in a zip-loc bag and put it in the freezer for about an hour. Remove the drive and hook it up externally. You will have 5-15 minutes to recover data off the drive if this works. This can work either if the drive has a short or hardware malfunction. It can cause the shorted components to shrink away from each other, breaking the connection, alternatively if it's a metal-on-metal hardware issue, it would do the same, temporarily shrinking the components.

3. hold the drive flat, about 4 inches over a hard, flat surface while it is unplugged and spun down, and give it a drop. Sounds crazy but this has restored 1 or 2 drives to temporary working order. Problem is it works on blind luck and is the most likely to damage the drive further, but hey, if it's pooched already, why not.

In this case I don't see why #1 or #3 would work, but #2 might.

Worst case scenario you can always send it off to a data recovery service. They can disassemble the drive and swap out the bad part in a whiteroom, or, worst case scenario, remove the platters and take the data off them. Generally they will send it back to you on a USB flash drive, but the service will most likely cost in excess of 1000 dollars from most estimates.

Good luck!

EDIT: I agree with whiteodian. Simply plugging it into a working machine is a good place to start. If it comes up, waste no time in taking your data off, you may only have a few minutes.

If it doesn't, start working on the drive or weighing your options.

EDIT 2: As ss202sl suggested, you might try to boot from a Linux Live cd ( I prefer knoppix at www.knopper.net or use the download link http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/download.php?lang=en&link=ftp://csociety-ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/pub/knoppix/ ) Version 6.7 has a hard disk utility that will read the SMART data and tell you if the drive is good/dying/dead