Hard drive dead by click of death.

[Worgen]

So one of my drives just died. The only HDD I had in my computer, when its plugged in I get a nice clicking and it refuses to be recognized by an OS. Pretty sure the drive is just dead by hardware failure and could be recovered by a data recovery service, but the data on it isn't worth a thousand dollars to me, but I would prefer not to lose it. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Summerstorm]

So one of my drives just died. The only HDD I had in my computer, when its plugged in I get a nice clicking and it refuses to be recognized by an OS. Pretty sure the drive is just dead by hardware failure and could be recovered by a data recovery service, but the data on it isn't worth a thousand dollars to me, but I would prefer not to lose it. Anyone have any ideas?

Hm, Let's see.
I would say: Get another Disk (Same size or bigger) and then boot from a Usb-stick (Or third HDD) a Linux-based system. Than try using something like:

Ddrescue - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)

Data recovery tool

www.gnu.org

You can then tell it to just keep trying to read the defective disk and copy it to another. After that you might be able to recover and salvage data from the new one.

 

[Worgen]

Hm, Let's see.
I would say: Get another Disk (Same size or bigger) and then boot from a Usb-stick (Or third HDD) a Linux-based system. Than try using something like:

Ddrescue - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)

Data recovery tool

www.gnu.org

You can then tell it to just keep trying to read the defective disk and copy it to another. After that you might be able to recover and salvage data from the new one.

Hmm, might give that a shot, but first I need to see if my bios is even recognizing the drive, since if its not then doing that is pointless.

 

[Summerstorm]

Ah yeah, when the controller is shot or it just is mechanically TOTALLY broken... yeah. No dice for a layman. Never used them, but apparently there a businesses out there who rebuild your disks into a new HD (Controller+Case, Motor) but that is superexpensive.

 

[Worgen]

Ah yeah, when the controller is shot or it just is mechanically TOTALLY broken... yeah. No dice for a layman. Never used them, but apparently there a businesses out there who rebuild your disks into a new HD (Controller+Case, Motor) but that is superexpensive.

Yeah, I'm sure the data is till on the platers but I think the failure is hardware so would be cool if I could get it to read but I have a feeling its a lost cause without spending more then the data is worth.

 

[Baffle]

I have scrolled down and read this as dead dick of death so many times!

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Low percentage options include: checking your power supply and hard drive power connections just in case its a low power problem; wrapping the drive in a ziplock and freezing for a couple hours, then transfer data off immediately (super unlikely to work unless the drive is like a decade old. Will likely cause damage to a newer drive)

 

[Worgen]

Low percentage options include: checking your power supply and hard drive power connections just in case its a low power problem; wrapping the drive in a ziplock and freezing for a couple hours, then transfer data off immediately (super unlikely to work unless the drive is like a decade old. Will likely cause damage to a newer drive)

Tried connecting it with an external drive adaptor I have, no luck. The drive is also from like 2016 or 17 so the freezer thing probably won't work, I might still give it a shot since I've pretty much written the drive off and am planning on destroying it soon.

 

[Gergar12]