Posible HDD failure?

[csbassplayer]

Hello, I have a WD Caviar SE from a buddy of mine that was getting a SATA boot failure on the POST sequence. I took it out and put it into a USB enclosure and am getting the same result in addition to a lot of loud clicking when the drive is trying to spool up. It will click 4 times, then stop, then click a few more times, than stop and restart a few more times. Then it give me the failure message. I'm 99% sure the drive needs replaced, but the problem is that he has valuable info on the drive he needs. Whats the best course of action next? I've read replacing the controller might work, but I've also read that unless you get the exact model it might cause more damage and make data recovery impossible. How much does data recovery cost and is it worth it or is he SOL?

 

[sturm]

Data recovery price depends on what has to be done to recover the drive. It's not cheap no matter what.

You can try putting it in the freezer then quickly put it in the computer and see if it works long enough to get your data.

I would say by the ticking noise that you have a head failure.