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Hard drive makes a clicking noise and is not being recognized !! HELP !!

post #1 of 5
12/25/04 at 8:57pm
Thread Starter 
I received a new laptop case for christmas and was testing out the shock absorption, I ignorantly placed the laptop computer while it was on inside the case and gave it a little shake and knock. Next thing I know the computer no longer recognizes the hard drive. Upon bootup it reads "Primary hard drive not found". Even the cmos and bios does not recognize the drive after I re-seated it and everything. Also to note is that the hard drive makes a regular ticking noise upon bootup. It seems as this is a common problem.

http://www.aurora.se/dell-data-recovery.htm
http://www.dataclinic.co.uk/data-re...disk-drives.htm

I have a Hitachi Travelstar 30GB Hard drive for my Dell 700m. My question is if there anyway to retrieve the information still on my hard drive (at what cost and how do i do so ??) or I am doomed to just let warranty replace my hard drive and lose all my valuable information ??
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post #2 of 5
12/25/04 at 10:26pm
What did you knock it against? I would recommend for future reference, not to handle your electronics, especially a laptop in an overly rough maner.

Was the hdd clicking before you knocked the laptop?

I have dealt with a few issues of hdd clicking. In all cases, the drie was dead and I was unable to recover any date.

There are programs that let you recover sectors/clusters of hdd (not actual data), so this is a last resort that may hel pyou get some of your data from the damaged hdd.


^_^_^
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post #3 of 5
12/26/04 at 1:26pm

Lmao

Ok, first off, it's never a good idea to mishandle your electronics equipment.
Second, it's never a good idea to "test" the shock absorption of a laptop - most companies test this on prototypes before the main unit goes into production.
Lastly, more than likely your data is gone. If the laptop doesn't detect the HDD, then you either jacked up the drive or broke something having to do with the drive controller. If you have the resources, pop your laptop HDD into a desktop (using the appropriate converter) and see if it will read (I suggest using Windows 2000 or XP).
Good luck
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post #4 of 5
12/26/04 at 4:31pm
If it's just the mechanical parts that have failed, then you could buy an identical HDD and exchange the platters/disks. That is, if you've got important data on the HDD. I've never done this myself though, never had to, so I can't give you any exact details on how to proceed and there are of course no guarantees it will work...
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post #5 of 5
12/27/04 at 2:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BGD
If it's just the mechanical parts that have failed, then you could buy an identical HDD and exchange the platters/disks. That is, if you've got important data on the HDD. I've never done this myself though, never had to, so I can't give you any exact details on how to proceed and there are of course no guarantees it will work...
This is something that can be done, but is very, very hard to do without screwing up the drive even more. Hdds are sealed from the manufacturer, and if ANY dust or dirt gets into the drive when you try and swap the parts, the drive will rendered useless.

Of course there are companies that do this and guarantee their work, but they charge way to much money. Unless this info is extremely important, it really isn't worth the trouble.

Remember, always back-up your important data to offline storage. Better to be safe then sorry.


^_^_^
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