[Zaine7673]

hey guys,
hope all is good with everyone.

I have an external hard drive which i have been using for almost 2 years now. Its attached to my laptop. Normally i back up my data to the desktop hard drive but recently i have been abroad and haven't had the chance to back anything up.

I came back and found that the external hard drive which once used to work fine started to make a distinctive clicking sound. First, I thought it might be the case making the noise... 2 days later the HDD is not even coming up on the computer. I switch it on and the computer recognizes that there is a usb device attched but the HDD doesnt come up under my computer.

It is very important for me to recover the data that was on it. Its my life's work so i would appreciate any help...

thank you.

[Advertisements]

UHOH! Bad news, if you don't have another copy of that data, then things don't look good. This happened to me once (except with my only computer hard disk) and I lost everything. The ticking was a mechanical failure, and the hard drive was done. No SMART warnings or anything. I wasn't happy.

You might be able to get a professional data recovery company to get it back, not sure how much it costs where you are, I couldn't afford it myself at the time...

Or you could hope I'm wrong, and wait for someone else to come along and tell you a simple trick and viola!

Good luck!

[Troy]

UHOH! Bad news, if you don't have another copy of that data, then things don't look good. This happened to me once (except with my only computer hard disk) and I lost everything. The ticking was a mechanical failure, and the hard drive was done. No SMART warnings or anything. I wasn't happy.

You might be able to get a professional data recovery company to get it back, not sure how much it costs where you are, I couldn't afford it myself at the time...

Or you could hope I'm wrong, and wait for someone else to come along and tell you a simple trick and viola!

Good luck!

[Zaine7673]

NOOOO!!

this cant be.... I normally do back it up but recently my dad passed away and i've jus been really busy and stuff.
I'v read about some freezing trick that apparently allows the hard drive to come back to life somehow for a short period of time. Im trying this as a last choice hoping i can copy some of the more important data...
If anyone knows anything else plz let me know. I really need that data

[Neil Jones]

It sounds like your external drive is dying.
The freezer trick is something to try but its not a guaranteed solution.

Unfortunately if the drive is on its last legs and making clicking noises like that, its suffering from mechanical failure, so what was on it may never be recoverable even professionally. Even then, professional recovery solutions are still no guarantee depending on what damage the drive has.

[Troy]

2 days later the HDD is not even coming up on the computer

This tells me the freezer trick probably won't work either...

So sorry to be the bad news deliverers I hate it when this kind of thing happens, especially to someone such as yourself who does backups...

EDIT: woops - I mean the two days factor from above, not that it just isn't coming up anymore...

Edited by ruthandtroy, 18 June 2007 - 04:59 PM.

[Zaine7673]

YES!
the freezer trick gave me enough time to recover all my data...
I left it for around 6 hours then took it out and put it in the case. at first it didnt work... i left it in for a little while then eventually it was recognised.
tanks for the help guys anyways.....
take care

[Troy]

Oh wow! That is such good news, I'm going to go and put my old hdd back in the freezer...

Let me just say I AM GLAD I WAS WRONG!!!

Good on you for ignoring me...

[vally]

Two things about the freezer trick.

First - You need to keep the hard drive dry. Put it in 2 sealed bags so it doesn't get damp.

Second - It can help for small periods of time. So don't let it run without being used .

Deep freezing has said 2 b better.

I have seen hard drives that were ticking and after a rest (the disk totally cooled down) were connected in the computer (not external) with a different jumper setting agreed to work.

Once I even managed to find that the disk worked fine as long as you did not access a certain file. (It was discoverd wile tying to make an image.)

Good Luck

[Zaine7673]

Oh wow! That is such good news, I'm going to go and put my old hdd back in the freezer...

Let me just say I AM GLAD I WAS WRONG!!!

Good on you for ignoring me...

I had to try anything i could to retrieve that data. 2 YEARS OF WORK!!!
I've learnt my lesson.
now i have 3 backups of those files. lol
I even have them on DVD discs just incase.

[Kat]

I'm so glad you were able to recover everything! let this be a lesson to everyone... DO YOUR BACKUPS! Make the time, and then make a backup of the backup if the work is important.