While it's not entirely an accurate title - nor 100% related to unRAID - I have an external WD 1TB hard drive that I've held on to for a year+ that has the ticks of doom. I must have bumped it while moving and it hasn't ever worked since. (I have not freezered it to try to recover the data). I did get a few quotes a while ago, and they were in the $1000.00 range.

 

I wouldn't expect free, but if anyone can offer services/references/recommendations, I'd greatly appreciate any and all!

 

Thanks, Community!!

-jamie

I once had a WD drive that did that.

I ended up just letting it spin for a while to heat up.

After it was warm I was able to access the data.

Thanks for the note back.

 

I'm under the impression that, if this is a heads/platters issue, more damage could occur if left running. Have you only tried the procedure once? Any recommendations about how long to leave it spinning/clicking for?!

 

Anyone else got anything (hopefully not freezer related) ... ?

 

-jamie

I have found that sometimes the position the drive is in can make a difference.  I had one seagate drive giving me clicking noises but managed to get data off it by holding it at a 45 degree angle.

Freezer has worked for me twice, but the drives were only small compared to yours. I successfully got my data back off of both hdd's

 

 

Anyone else got anything (hopefully not freezer related) ... ?

 

-jamie

 

Well, this is sort of freezer related...

 

I once had a HD that went bad on me. It would spin, but would over heat and stop reading. I placed the drive on a "cold pack", with another cold pack on top, and wrapped the bundle in a towel to keep moisture to a minimum. That worked long enough for me to read the data off to another drive.

 

Bruce

Thanks for the note back.

 

I'm under the impression that, if this is a heads/platters issue, more damage could occur if left running. Have you only tried the procedure once? Any recommendations about how long to leave it spinning/clicking for?!

 

Anyone else got anything (hopefully not freezer related) ... ?

 

-jamie

 

When I did this, It was not intentional. The machine failed to boot. I got upset, walked away. I came back a few hours rebooted and the clicking stopped. I backed up the hard drive as soon as I could.

I could only surmise that leaving the machine running for a while and coming back allowed the hard drive to warm up enough to find the tracks better.

As far as software remedies go, GetDataBack NTFS/FAT has been astoundingly successful for me in the past.  Well worth the $80 price tag.

 

Clicks of death do usually require some sort of physical intervention, such as those suggested above.

 

I do offer a data recovery service, so PM me if you are interested.  I'll be honest, though - clicks of death generally drop my success rate down to around 50% or lower.

Thanks everyone for the, warm and cold, responses! 

 

When the ticking began I removed it from it's external enclosure. So, I will try to prop the drive on the side, will possibly leave it running for a bit(?!), but am still going to stay away from the chill methods - even though they are very popular on this board and on the web. (My 1TB is full of documents, pictures, movies, mp3 - you name it and it's there. So I don't want a partial recovery then kerplunk).

 

Raj, I have tried data recovery programs, however, my drive is not being recognized as hardware at all (I will, of course, double check this). But, I'll PM you regardless...

 

Anyone else though? The data really is worth 1000 to me ... I obviously just HATE to have to think about that route.

Do you have or can possibly acquire (ebay?) another drive that EXACTLY matches the one you are trying to repair?

 

If so you can try booting the working drive then place the it in standby mode so it spins down.

Remove the drive from the attached circuit board, put the non-working drive in it's place. Spin the drive up and see if you can copy the data off.

 

Like any other option it's not 100%, you may be wasting your time. If the drive wasn't dropped, burned, shot, flooded or otherwise abused this method can be successful.