Chosen Solution
When I plug it in to my laptop or any computer it no longer gets recognized. On top of that I hear a slight clicking noise inside when it is powered on. Anyone know how I can fix this or get my data back? A lot of important stuff on there.
If it’s a drive in an enclosure, I’d start with seeing if you can remove it, and plug it directly into a computer or transplant it into a different external enclosure. If it’s USB powered, often the USB port will not provide enough power to run it, and you’ll get funny noises/no response from the drive. I’ve had a pretty good success rate with freezing drives to recover data from a dying/dead drive. Much simpler and cheaper then most other methods of data recovery. Freezing the drive shrinks everything inside, sometimes freeing up stuck/seized/trapped components, or keeping an overheating component from shutting the drive down right away. Stick the drive in a ziplock bag(to seal out moisture) in the freezer. While it’s freezing, set everything up to quickly transfer your files off the drive if it does work. After a couple hours in the freezer, plug the drive in and see what it does. It may only work for a few minutes, for hours, or weeks. Pull your data off as fast as you can, if it stops again, re-freeze it and start where you left off. I’ve frozen drives 3-4 times to get everything off.
This is going to sound very dumb, but I one time fixed a hard drive clicking problem where my disk was not reading properly, by turning my computer (or in your case your external hard drive) upside down. This seemed to re-seat the needle head onto the disk, and my computer has worked great ever since. I originally laughed my friend off for giving me this absurd suggestion of turning my computer upside down so that it would turn on, but it worked, and I owed him a solid thank you. :) It’s a very slight chance, but you never know.
I just managed to get my clicking drive working by plugging the usb lead into one of the ports on the PC instead of a hub. Data currently being transferred to main hard drive before being backed up to Dropbox!
i am afraid, this drive is beyond repair. if the clicking noise is there, usually, the logic board of the drive is broken. you cannot buy them, cannot change them… if drive is in warranty, get it replaced. for data recovery, i would suggest some specialist firm, they have lot more options and experiences…
Segate told me that each controller board is “married” to the HDD to which it attached, and the tracks and cylinders are unique to the controller board that is attached to it. I bought a controller board for a Segate external drive that was exactly the same model code. It did not fix the problem (clicking) and my data remains locked in the inaccessible drive! There is a data retrieval company (Crucial Data Recovery Support) which will “attempt” to recover your data (no guarantees). They charge $750 if they are successful (from 1 - 100%) and $0 if they cannot recover any data at all (0%).
I’ve just followed Paul Jones’s suggestion and it seems to have worked. No more clicking and it allows me to delete OSX back-ups which it didn’t before. Fingers crossed. any yes I am going to back it up elsewhere. It’s a Belkin powered hug by the way. Thanks Paul.
Take off the logic board from the hard drive. Set it as level as possible on a good work surface with some washers wood blocks, ect… Use a heat gun on the hi setting, heat the board for about 30 seconds to a minute while constantly moving the air gun around. So as not to heat one spot too hot and burn something. Hold the heat gun higher up and reduce heat. You are cooling the board with out letting it cool too fast and get possible stress cracks. What you have just done is a reballing on the logic board. flip over and repeat. Works about 50% of the time.
