The Dreaded Clicking Noise

[nathan]

My main hard drive stopped working today. All of the sudden I started hearing the dreaded clicking noise. Moments later the computer crashed. Anyone know of any ways to get it to work for at least a small amount of time so I could transfer stuff to my other drive or to my external drive? I have heard turning it upside down or put it in the fridge for a little while.

This drive (I think it is made by Hitachi) is the second drive I have had fail in the last two years (first was a WD). It's annoying.

 

[Ryanwb]

I have put hard drives in the freezer before... it works but as soon as it warms back up it fails again

 

[nathan]

I've taken the covers off and now there is no longer a clicking noise. The drive seems to spin, but I still get the blue screen and a "Unmountable Boot Volume" message

 

[Chaz]

I've taken the covers off and now there is no longer a clicking noise. The drive seems to spin, but I still get the blue screen and a "Unmountable Boot Volume" message

Does the BIOS recognize the drive?

You may boot from another drive and see if you can access the bad one.

The section of the drive with the boot info could be corrupted but you might be able to pull other information off the drive before it gets any worse.

 

[Gee!]

Dude just take the case off, clean the fan. Youll have about 2 days worth of use for it. I know from experience. Clean the dust.

 

[nathan]

Does the BIOS recognize the drive?

You may boot from another drive and see if you can access the bad one.

The section of the drive with the boot info could be corrupted but you might be able to pull other information off the drive before it gets any worse.

It seems to know that a drive is there, but just can't boot off of it. My two other drives don't have Windows on them, so I can't boot off them.

 

[Chaz]

It seems to know that a drive is there, but just can't boot off of it. My two other drives don't have Windows on them, so I can't boot off them.

You could try to image the drive to another with a program like Ghost.

You would then have to repair the Windows installation most likely.
The only question is would it last long enough to create the image.

If there are really important files on there I would remove the clicking drive, install Windows on a new drive, and then connect the offending drive and try to read/copy the files you need.

Good luck.

 

[thirty-two]

I thought this was another "my jaw clicks" thread.

Sorry bout yer comp!

 

[Chaz]

I thought this was another "my jaw clicks" thread.

Sorry bout yer comp!

I hear the freezer thing works for that too.