Maxtor one touch iii clicking noise

[dblood]

the clicking noise is coming from the center of the disks, where they should be spinning but are not.

Update, I have taken it apart all the way down to the bare harddrive and opened that up. When I power it on, none of the parts are even moving. I am trying the freezer method and at this point I don't care about getting it properly working anymore, I just want the files I had saved on it.

 

[Chainzsaw]

Sounds like a dead hard drive. Is it still under warrenty? If so contact your manufacturer and see if you can get it replaced.

 

[COLGeek]

That is one of the surest signs of a dying/dead HDD. Try this, power the HDD down and lay it flat (if your usually use vertically) or vice versa and then power on. If it comes to life, copy everything you can to another device ASAP.

There are some cases where sticking a dead drive in the freezer (seriously) will revive them long enough to retrieve data. It has to do with contraction of parts.

Good luck!

 

[eoinycroiny]

Sounds like a dead hard drive. Is it still under warrenty? If so contact your manufacturer and see if you can get it replaced.

rofl, im sorry but i had to laugh at that question. he has taken the drive apart so no, its definatly not under warrenty anymore lol

freezer and placing the drive on its side, upside down etc are the only 2 methods iv ever had work for me. it sounds like the motor's are fried if nothing is moving or maybe its a blown capasitor or bad cuircutry or the heads are stuck and are stopping the disks from spinning. check for any black/burnt parts on the cuircut board and see if you can get a smell or burnt from the disk/circuit. let us know how you get on with that.

iv never tried what im about to suggest but iv heard it been done. you can swap the platters into another working HDD to recover the data. its risky and you could end up with 2 dead drives. theirs plenty of info on how to swap disk platters on the net but i think you may need special equipment to do it and a "clean room"

 

[Chainzsaw]

rofl, im sorry but i had to laugh at that question. he has taken the drive apart so no, its definatly not under warrenty anymore lol

freezer and placing the drive on its side, upside down etc are the only 2 methods iv ever had work for me. it sounds like the motor's are fried if nothing is moving or maybe its a blown capasitor or bad cuircutry or the heads are stuck and are stopping the disks from spinning. check for any black/burnt parts on the cuircut board and see if you can get a smell or burnt from the disk/circuit. let us know how you get on with that.

iv never tried what im about to suggest but iv heard it been done. you can swap the platters into another working HDD to recover the data. its risky and you could end up with 2 dead drives. theirs plenty of info on how to swap disk platters on the net but i think you may need special equipment to do it and a "clean room"

Hmm that's odd, i swear he did't take it apart first time I read his question...

As for the op....well what he may want might not be possible, or he may even have to go to a HDD specialist which charge lots of money.

 

[eoinycroiny]

Hmm that's odd, i swear he did't take it apart first time I read his question...

As for the op....well what he may want might not be possible, or he may even have to go to a HDD specialist which charge lots of money.

ah i think he updated/edited the post after you posted that sorry lol

yeah i agree with you, if the 2 idea's i suggested dont work and the info on the HDD is really important, a specialist would be the safest and best option.

 

[dblood]

First off, thank you all for all the advice. I apologize for not making the situation clearer in the first post. I had already disassembled most of the drive when I posted. The drive itself is probably around 8 years old and already out of warrenty. Also, from the information I recieved, even if it had been under warrenty the best case would be for the company to send me a new one, where I would still lose all my data, which is what I really care about.

I have tried all the above methods and nothing seems to work. There is no obvious burnt curcuitry, nor any burning smell on the HDD. Freezing it, and changing its angle of operation did not help either. Was there a set amount of time I needed to freeze it for, or just until it was cold to the touch?

Please let me know if you have any other ideas and once more thank you for all the help so far!

 

[eoinycroiny]

hmm, when you disassembled the drive did you expose the platters? the physical disks inside the drive?

i usually left it for a few hours in the freezer but it really just needs to get cold enough for the metal to retract or shrink.

i think if you really want the data, you may just have to bite the bullet and pay a recovery company to restore the data. as long as the platters are intact, all of your data IS still their, its just a matter of getting the disk to spin and the heads reading it.

my sister is a photographer and blew an external HDD using the wrong power supply. the circuit on the HDD was fried but the platters with all the info were intact. they took the platters out and placed them in a new HDD case with new curcuits, motors and heads and where able to recover her data. it wasn't cheap though

like i said, if the platters are ok, then your data is still their.