[SOLVED] HDD- dead for good?

[Pycass]

I just want another opinion on my self diagnosed dead hdd.
I was playing a game (that is on another drive) and all of a sudden I started hearing a weird clicking noise. It sounded like the drive struggled spinning.
I had to cut the power for my pc to shut down.
Few minutes were needed for my pc to turn back on. 15-20 sec is ussual.
Checked disk management and needs to be initialized and does not work. Turning it offline does not work either.
I'm not surprised with my drive being dead since it is 9 years old. It didnt have any important data on it since I knew this day would come, than again if i can get it back without too much trouble I will.
My questions:

1. Is my hdd dead for good?
2. The pc turning on and off very hard is something normal?

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you heard a "weird clicking noise" and now you are having problems, long boot times, etc., then yes, it is VERY probable that the drive has bit the dust. You can certainly test the drive by downloading Seatools for Windows and running the Short drive self test (Short DST) and if by some miracle it passes the short drive self test, then run the extended or long generic test. Likely, it will fail the short drive self test. You would probably need another system to run the tests in and connect the drive to, but honestly it's probably JUST the fact that the drive is done had it.

Does the system power on and POST, go into the BIOS and otherwise act normally if you disconnect the drive? Was this the main drive used for the operating system or a secondary drive attached to the system?

 

[Pycass]

If you heard a "weird clicking noise" and now you are having problems, long boot times, etc., then yes, it is VERY probable that the drive has bit the dust. You can certainly test the drive by downloading Seatools for Windows and running the Short drive self test (Short DST) and if by some miracle it passes the short drive self test, then run the extended or long generic test. Likely, it will fail the short drive self test. You would probably need another system to run the tests in and connect the drive to, but honestly it's probably JUST the fact that the drive is done had it.

Does the system power on and POST, go into the BIOS and otherwise act normally if you disconnect the drive? Was this the main drive used for the operating system or a secondary drive attached to the system?

Thank you for taking the time trying to help me out.

The second I disconnected the drive from the system everything worked as usual. I tried to reconnect it but the drive is officially dead. It is a bit weird since it is not my main drive. It was just a throw away drive where I stored temporary data (games included).

 

[geofelt]

It is probably not worth pursuing a fix for a HDD.
But, if you want to, download the manufacturer diagnostic utility for the drive.
Seatools for Seagate.
Data lifeguard for WD.
You can try connecting via a usb adapter and try to reinitialize the drive.

With ssd prices low, I would only use a HDD for backups and storage of large sequential files such as videos.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The second I disconnected the drive from the system everything worked as usual.

That's just about all I need to know to know the drive is bad, BUT, just to be CERTAIN, it would probably be a good idea to try both a different SATA data cable and a different SATA header on the motherboard, just to be sure one of those isn't the source of the problem. If the result is the same, then throw the drive away.