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External HD ticking and computers won't recongize it

J

john1

Guest
Hey guys, One of the worst things happened tonight, My external western digital is ticking and now my laptop nor desktop will recognize it's plugged in.

I have 5 years of files on it and did a back up on another external a few months ago but would like to figure a way to recover these if i could.

Anyone know any tips on how to get the data off it?

Thanks!
 
Malkin

Malkin

New Member
Let it cool completely and put a fan on it before trying again.
Obviously copy files off ASAP if possible.
 
SignBurst PCs

SignBurst PCs

New Member
Try putting it into the freezer overnight. When you take it out of the freezer, connect it immediately and transfer the files. If it works, but doesn't stay cool enough to transfer all the files, you can often remove the actual hard drive from the case and keep it packed in a cold pack or bag of frozen veggies. It doesn't always work, but it is worth a try.
 
Pat Whatley

Pat Whatley

New Member
Yep, wrap it in plastic wrap, stick it in the freezer, pull it out and pack it in cold packs, hook it up and pray.
 
phototec

phototec

New Member
It is pretty devastating to loose your hard drive, and all the files on it, it is going to happen to everybody some day, you just don't know when.

I do hope one of the cold methods of recovery works for you, I have never been so lucky. However, I do learn from my mistakes.

That's exactly why I use a WD My Book Mirror Edition (RAID) Dual Drive Storage System external hard drive, it has two different one TB hard drives and saves all my customer project work files on both hard drives at the same time, in the event one drive fails, I still have all the duplicate files on the other hard drive.

The drive even came with software, so when one drive fails, you remove it and install another one TB hard drive in it's place and the software will automatically back up everything from the good drive to the new blank drive, that way you always have everything saved on both drives.

Unfortunately, most people only get concerned when there hard drive goes belly up, when it's often too late.

So, everyone reading this now, pretend your hard drive is going to fail in 24 hours. Do something NOW to backup all you important files,

don't wait till it's to late!
 
jiarby

jiarby

New Member
most external enclosures are just plastic hard drive coffins. No air flow, and the drives overheat... the power supplys are also usually bad and can fail themselves or provid ebad current to the drive controller board.

Rosewill makes a good one, with a large built in cooling fan...

Clicking sound is usually the head unable to locate the 1st sector of the platter and it keep slamming back and forth trying to read the drive.

If freezing your drive does work it will only be for a few minutes, probably not long enough to get your data off.


Which one of THESE SOUNDS is yours making?

Do not leave them on 24/7....
 
iSign

iSign

New Member
john1 said:
I have 5 years of files on it and did a back up on another external a few months ago...
Click to expand...

so, if I'm reading right, you only have a couple months worth of files that are not backed up... correct?

first thing I would do, (& have done, each of 4 or 5 times I had WD MyBook drives fail... until Casey steered me to a Buffalo TeraStation) is GET ANOTHER DRIVE & BACKUP THE BACKUP!!!

Assume you can't fix it, and you lost the "few months" work... yeah, that sucks.. BUT PROTECT THE 5 YEARS WORK...

When I had a string of bad luck with WD MyBooks from costco, I never lost any data, because I always had two identical 1TB drives, EXCLUSIVELY for back-up and archive... meaning i didn't write to them on a daily basis... I had different procedures for those files, including sometimes not having them backed up... but like you that was a few months worth at the most...

On average i think i was getting 18 months out of these WD books, but ONE TIME, I had a second one fail inside one month of the first one... and i had put off purchasing & writing a TB of data to a new drive for over a week... but I KNEW this was an insane risk to take, so i made myself do it finally... and two weeks later... I had to do it again.. but thank god i still had the TB of data to deal with again... in fact that was probably when I called Casey at Signburst... and now I've never had a single problem like that for over three years
 
J

john1

Guest
Got it working again, no ticking or anything now.

I simply unplugged it for 10 mins and plugged it back in.

Thanks guys!
 
CheapVehicleWrap

CheapVehicleWrap

New Member
phototec said:
It is pretty devastating to loose your hard drive, and all the files on it, it is going to happen to everybody some day, you just don't know when.

I do hope one of the cold methods of recovery works for you, I have never been so lucky. However, I do learn from my mistakes.

That's exactly why I use a WD My Book Mirror Edition (RAID) Dual Drive Storage System external hard drive, it has two different one TB hard drives and saves all my customer project work files on both hard drives at the same time, in the event one drive fails, I still have all the duplicate files on the other hard drive.

The drive even came with software, so when one drive fails, you remove it and install another one TB hard drive in it's place and the software will automatically back up everything from the good drive to the new blank drive, that way you always have everything saved on both drives.

Unfortunately, most people only get concerned when there hard drive goes belly up, when it's often too late.

So, everyone reading this now, pretend your hard drive is going to fail in 24 hours. Do something NOW to backup all you important files,

don't wait till it's to late!
Click to expand...

How do you expect them both to survive a lightning strike? I had one once that would have taken them both out. Also had the same TV in two different houses struck. Pretty neat watching a high end surge protector buzz along the top of a desk.
 
Custom_Grafx

Custom_Grafx

New Member
I wonder if this is one of the reasons why some printers specifically state that your file gets deleted after 2 years... I mean on top of the running out of storage reason...
 
MikePro

MikePro

New Member
I've had the clicking issue on my WD portable hard drive when trying to run it through my Mac's keyboard usb input. Finder showed the disk image for the WD software, but wouldn't show me the drive for my files.
Plugging it into the back of my computer works most of the time, but every now and then the gremlin comes back out and I can only read it via my PC.

(also noted, I formatted the hard drive on my Mac... I still don't get why I have issues reading it sometimes)
 
M

MrG

New Member
USB low & higher voltage

Some USB devices like hard drives require more power to operate than low power devices like mice and keyboards! It is almost always best to plug your USB gadgets in the "main" USB outlets on your computer to make sure they are getting enough juice.
If you have an iMac like me, and don't want to reach around to the back to plug in your USBs, you can get "extender" USB adaptors which just sit on your table, etc. Mine has 5 extra ports on the back and two ports on the top - which is VERY handy! You can get them at Best Buys or even Staples for about $40.
 
J

john1

Guest
Things is, i found i plugged the wrong ac adapter cord into the HDD. Plugged another in and there was no ticking and it worked fine.

I was rearranging and got the cords mixed up i guess.
 
round man

round man

New Member
there is a gyroscope inside most hard drives that calibrates the heads so they won't contact the plates,it drives me crazy to see someone pick up an external drive while its still spinning as this can cause a drive to crash and at the very least screw up the calibration process making it easier for the write heads to come into contact with the spinning plates of the drive.this is the so called clicking many hear when a drive starts to fail the heads banging against the plates of the drive. If the drive starts to sound like a kid from Florida standing in a tub of icewater with his teeth chattering you know you are in for trouble, it is time to back that drive up before you have read write errors and or corrupt files.
 
jiarby

jiarby

New Member
there is a gyroscope inside most hard drives
Click to expand...

Tell me more about this... I have taken apart hundreds of hard drives and never seen a gyroscope in one.
 
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