External hard drive crash

Hi, I have a firewire/USB2 external combo drive, which is my main backup
drive for my laptop. Tonight it was working fine as normal and then it just
went dead. I have tried both the USB and firewire connections on two
different computers. The computer recognises the device after plugging it in
and swtiching it on and then My Computer window freezes and the disk drive
makes a rythmical clicking sound that I haven't heard before. Please don't
tell me there's no way to recover the files. Half of them are backed up on
another external drive but I hadn't quite finished this secondary bacup
process. Any suggestions as to what may be causing this and any solutions??
Thanks.

pbl wrote:

> Hi, I have a firewire/USB2 external combo drive, which is my main backup
> drive for my laptop. Tonight it was working fine as normal and then it
> just went dead. I have tried both the USB and firewire connections on two
> different computers. The computer recognises the device after plugging it
> in and swtiching it on and then My Computer window freezes and the disk
> drive makes a rythmical clicking sound that I haven't heard before. Please
> don't tell me there's no way to recover the files. Half of them are backed
> up on another external drive but I hadn't quite finished this secondary
> bacup process. Any suggestions as to what may be causing this and any
> solutions?? Thanks.

The clicking indicates with almost 100% accuracy that your hard drive has
physically died. As you request, I won't tell you that there's no way to
retrieve your data - because there is. It is just quite expensive. This is
exactly why the "belt-and-suspenders" backup strategy is A Good Thing. Had
you also burned your files to DVD-R, you would not be this distressed. Hard
drives are mechanical objects and they die eventually, some sooner than
later. It's a fact of life.

The only way to retrieve data from a physically dead hard drive is to send
the drive to a professional data recovery company like Drive Savers (my
preference) or Seagate Data Recovery. General prices run from $500USD on
up. Drive Savers recovered all the data on a failed laptop drive for one of
my clients and it cost $2,700. He thought it was worth the money; only you
know what your data is worth. I understand that some insurance companies
are now covering data recovery charges so check with yours.

Drive Savers - http://www.drivesavers.com
Seagate Data Recovery Services - https://www.seagatedatarecovery.com/

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

"Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:OuiVTmErIHA.3456@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> pbl wrote:
>
>> Hi, I have a firewire/USB2 external combo drive, which is my main backup
>> drive for my laptop. Tonight it was working fine as normal and then it
>> just went dead. I have tried both the USB and firewire connections on two
>> different computers. The computer recognises the device after plugging it
>> in and swtiching it on and then My Computer window freezes and the disk
>> drive makes a rythmical clicking sound that I haven't heard before.
>> Please
>> don't tell me there's no way to recover the files. Half of them are
>> backed
>> up on another external drive but I hadn't quite finished this secondary
>> bacup process. Any suggestions as to what may be causing this and any
>> solutions?? Thanks.
>
> The clicking indicates with almost 100% accuracy that your hard drive has
> physically died. As you request, I won't tell you that there's no way to
> retrieve your data - because there is. It is just quite expensive. This is
> exactly why the "belt-and-suspenders" backup strategy is A Good Thing. Had
> you also burned your files to DVD-R, you would not be this distressed.
> Hard
> drives are mechanical objects and they die eventually, some sooner than
> later. It's a fact of life.
>
> The only way to retrieve data from a physically dead hard drive is to send
> the drive to a professional data recovery company like Drive Savers (my
> preference) or Seagate Data Recovery. General prices run from $500USD on
> up. Drive Savers recovered all the data on a failed laptop drive for one
> of
> my clients and it cost $2,700. He thought it was worth the money; only you
> know what your data is worth. I understand that some insurance companies
> are now covering data recovery charges so check with yours.
>
> Drive Savers - http://www.drivesavers.com
> Seagate Data Recovery Services - https://www.seagatedatarecovery.com/
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> Don't Panic!
>

I see your motto is Don't Panic. Hmmm. Can you tell me how a HDD physically
dies? I mean what is causing the clicking? And is it possible to pull it
apart and fix?

pbl wrote:

>
> I see your motto is Don't Panic. Hmmm. Can you tell me how a HDD
> physically dies? I mean what is causing the clicking? And is it possible
> to pull it apart and fix?

Hard drives can fail in various ways. Consider that a hard drive consists of
several "platters" rotating at 5400, 7200, or even 10,000 rpm. There is a
tiny "arm" with a "head" that reads the data.

What is inside a hard drive:
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/...eHardDrive.asp

If you go to the Drive Savers website there is a lot of information about
data recovery, including a virtual tour.

http://drivesavers.com/

No, you can't just pull your hard drive apart and fix it! Hard drives are
assembled and need to be disassembled in clean rooms.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/clean_room.html

I'm sorry that this information is not what you wanted to hear, but it is
the truth. If you want further details, you can call Drive Savers at no
charge at 800-440-1904. Their phone operators are trained and will assist
you in making a decision about retrieving your data.

I don't work for Drive Savers but I have used their company for my clients
for many years and been extremely satisfied. There are other data recovery
companies in the world which you can check out. I can't speak about them
since I exclusively use Drive Savers.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

"Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:%23MnNB9FrIHA.3616@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> pbl wrote:
>
>>
>> I see your motto is Don't Panic. Hmmm. Can you tell me how a HDD
>> physically dies? I mean what is causing the clicking? And is it possible
>> to pull it apart and fix?
>
> Hard drives can fail in various ways. Consider that a hard drive consists
> of
> several "platters" rotating at 5400, 7200, or even 10,000 rpm. There is a
> tiny "arm" with a "head" that reads the data.
>
> What is inside a hard drive:
> http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/...eHardDrive.asp
>
> If you go to the Drive Savers website there is a lot of information about
> data recovery, including a virtual tour.
>
> http://drivesavers.com/
>
> No, you can't just pull your hard drive apart and fix it! Hard drives are
> assembled and need to be disassembled in clean rooms.
>
> http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/clean_room.html
>
> I'm sorry that this information is not what you wanted to hear, but it is
> the truth. If you want further details, you can call Drive Savers at no
> charge at 800-440-1904. Their phone operators are trained and will assist
> you in making a decision about retrieving your data.
>
> I don't work for Drive Savers but I have used their company for my clients
> for many years and been extremely satisfied. There are other data recovery
> companies in the world which you can check out. I can't speak about them
> since I exclusively use Drive Savers.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> Don't Panic!
>
Okay thanks for the info. I live in Australia so that phone call might not
be free but I'll check local resources.