The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Help...

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by mstevmac, Dec 9, 2007.

  1. mstevmac

    mstevmac Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I have an external 2.0 USB hard drive that I use. This morning I tried to plug it in, and now my computer won't recognize it. But the worst part about it is that the hard drive is making some strange noises. Like not the normal humming noises a hd makes. It's making a clicking noise, like the needle of the HD is having a hard time reading stuff (I think that's what is happening). It also make buzz noises that are different pitches and different loudness.

    What should I do?

    Thanks.
     
    mstevmac, Dec 9, 2007
    #1
  2. klutchrider

    klutchrider Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    21
    Messages:
    538
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Sounds like the portable is on the blitz
     
    klutchrider, Dec 9, 2007
    #2
  3. Johnny T

    Johnny T Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    6,092
    Messages:
    12,975
    Likes Received:
    201
    Trophy Points:
    481
    oh dear...doesn't sound good...might be HDD failure...
     
    Johnny T, Dec 9, 2007
    #3
  4. mstevmac

    mstevmac Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Anyway I can get the info off of it without paying out big bucks. I'm a poor college student and it has all my papers, pictures, music on it. Thanks.
     
    mstevmac, Dec 9, 2007
    #4
  5. mstevmac

    mstevmac Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    bumpedybump
     
    mstevmac, Dec 9, 2007
    #5
  6. uw748

    uw748 Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    71
    Messages:
    78
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Is the hard drive 2.5" or 3.5"? Does it use an additional power adapter? Is your USB port not supplying enough power to the drive?

    Or is the USB control chip in the enclosure failing? You could try to remove the actual hard drive from the enclosure and plug it directly into a computer (is it IDE or SATA?)

    Give more information and try not to freak out first.
     
    uw748, Dec 9, 2007
    #6
  7. notyou

    notyou Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    652
    Messages:
    1,562
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    It's possible, I googled this and got:
    http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?p=421733

    If this doesn't work then I guess you'll have to get in contact with a specialty firm for data recovery (unless you don't care that much about the data).

    If the drive had been clicking before this it's kinda your fault for not realizing what was happening (just google clicking hard drive and see how many responses come up) and backing everything up.
     
    notyou, Dec 9, 2007
    #7
  8. dleewo

    dleewo Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Clicking sounds aren't good!!!

    There are companies that can recover your data, but unless you have some super-valuable data on that drive, it's probably not going to be worth the cost. E.g, I know I have no data on my home computer (or home network for that matter) that I would pay to recover.

    Having said that, all my data is saved in 2 places. I use a free app called SyncBack that will mirror files on a drive or directory to another drive and I have this run each night so when (not "if") a drive fails, I am covered.
     
    dleewo, Dec 9, 2007
    #8
  9. mstevmac

    mstevmac Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    It just started clicking for the first time in the morning when I woke up. It is a 2.5" IDE. It doesn't use an alternate power source. It is an internal hd but I bought an enclosure to put it in to use through USB.
     
    mstevmac, Dec 11, 2007
    #9