Hard disk failure

My hard disk is dead. When I plug it in all I hear is a clicking noise. I'm guessing thats the sound of a twisted drive head. I can hear the disk spinning, but it never manages to read anything off of it.

So, what have we learned today kids? Backup. I lost 320Gb of data, most of it irreplaceable. I had dozens of hobby projects there, and Gb of photos. I had backed up some of the programming projects, but not enough. Now I have to get a new disk and start over again.

It feels like my cat died or something. I miss my hard drive.

Long shot.

Doubt it's the logic board if it's making noise

But I'll try the freezer idea. Since it's a mechanical error, that might actually work.

ihoss i just put in a new backup system for this very reason. had a sales reps laptop go down and he lost 5 years worth of info.

What kind of backup system is that?

I had a hd that had a similar sound.

I was going to throw it, but gave this a try: http://www.binarybiz.com/ (the data recovery part). I managed to recover it completely, so I recommend that software, though it's a bit expensive. Don't know if it'd help in your case.

It's an external drive, and windows can't even find it when I plug it in.

Let it rest for a couple of days. Mine was also external. Then I connected it, even though not recognized automatically, i went to the device manager, rescan for all drives, and the drive appeared there, though it said it was unformatted. I mounted it, and still there were 0 files there, but at least that way the software was able to access it and repair it.

Well did it survive the big freeze?

Haven't tried yet. Trying argo's method first

I need another 500 gig to backup 2 drives. Having another copy of my pictures wouldn't hurt. Already have 2.

veritas, backing up the servers to one central server, then a DLO option to get all the notebooks, then from that server backed up to tape giving us two copies a day. one on site one off

I've read about the Windows Home Server, and everyone who has one says its great. I'm considering making a linux version from old computers parts with RAID1 backup drives. Then I can schedule the XP backup feature to back it up to a network location every day or week.

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Originally Posted by argonauta

Let it rest for a couple of days. Mine was also external. Then I connected it, even though not recognized automatically, i went to the device manager, rescan for all drives, and the drive appeared there, though it said it was unformatted. I mounted it, and still there were 0 files there, but at least that way the software was able to access it and repair it.

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I just reconnected it, and now its working! I didn't put it in the freezer, I just let it rest for a while. The clicking was still there when I connected it, but then the computer found it! Now for scheduling automatic backups :D

I'd backup everything up, and get a new one. Typically, once it's dead, it's dead. Even if it does work for a little bit.

yeah, copy the files somewhere, don't trust that it'll keep working

If it gives you anymore problems, try my idea of turning it upside down.

as stated back-up...

I have a NAS that is neat.. just plugs into my router/switch and there we go.. no need for a computer either..

I back-up to it all the time.. as my central file server/storage

also, as an alternate take the external out of the case, and stick it in another machine as a slave, you can usually still grab data from it..even though your machine wont boot from it.

(but if its hardware failure..your just FUBAR'd)

got a link for that whispers?