HDD makes clicking sounds

[shopperen]

My HDD is making mechanical clicking noises. I have opened the drive up to see what happens.

The drive is spinning up, the drivehead is moving to read, but then immediately jumps back to start positions, this pattern repeats itself. The whole process generates 3 clicks.

My question is, do anyone have any experience with this? I am planning on buying an identical hard drive and swapping the mechanical parts. Since the platters are intact, the drivehead should be able to function normally.

Have anyone experienced this situation?

 

[Spudmaster]

Clicking noises usually indicate that the drive is nearing the end of its life.

 

[ahnilated]

You have to purchase a new HDD now, they are NOT designed to be opened. The clicking sound it makes is when the HDD is starting to fail and you should immediately make a backup and put in a new HDD so you don't lose any data.

Also, swapping out the mechanical parts won't work right unless you have a ton of microscope experience and probably not then either.

 

[gregbattis]

You cannot just simply swap mechanics. You should never open the hdd up. You can if the hdd still works backup the documents and reinstall a fresh copy of windows on the new hdd.

 

[Dunlop0078]

If you open the hard drive it will never work again that has to be done professionally in a clean room if any dust gets on the platters it will destroy it. Clicking noises is a tell tale sign that the hard drive is about to fail i would backup any important data you have on that drive right now if you haven't already.

 

[shopperen]

I just wanted to know if any of you have experienced something like this. I have opened the drive (since the drive will no longer boot). Something I have done several times before. But what I have not tried before, is to swap the drivehead.

 

[gregbattis]

No. You cannot swap the drive head. It is most likely ruined. If you have the cash you can take it to a data recovery center and hope they can get the data back.

 

[shopperen]

The driveheads are mechanical and have a simple datacable to connect it to the printboard. I have swapped mechanical parts in HDD's before, and I have so far had success, in that I have been able to recover data from the drives.

 

[ahnilated]

The driveheads are mechanical and have a simple datacable to connect it to the printboard. I have swapped mechanical parts in HDD's before, and I have so far had success, in that I have been able to recover data from the drives.

Just opening the HDD up you risk all the data being useless. They are built in a clean room for a reason. You "can" do whatever you want but we would have told you to get the data off BEFORE opening up the HDD if you didn't already have normal backups made.

 

[rmszaphod]

Erm...I did hdd repair/recovery in the 90's when it was still profitable for a firm that is now defunct...in a clean room, in clean gear...and it was not pretty nor easy.

"The driveheads are mechanical and have a simple datacable to connect it to the printboard. I have swapped mechanical parts in HDD's before, and I have so far had success, in that I have been able to recover data from the drives. "

Doing said work in your garage next to the cat litter box, right near the fan that blows dust off the gardening tools into your face I'm sure...I really don't believe a word of this. If you've opened the drive you've ruined it. You don't have the tools or facilities at your home to repair them. If you do, you have enough money to afford an enterprise grade back up solution and the cost of a simple HDD replacement would nary raise an eyebrow...