How to repair a clicking HDD?

[mateuko]

Is it possible to repair a clicking hard disk drive at your own? Is it a disk BIOS's problem? In modern HDDs BIOS is an integral part of main processor, how to re-program it?

 

[eltonjohn]

if the problem is to recover preciuos data .one way is to get a similar hard drive and swap the board controller .To try to repair may be HARD because the components used usually are not easy to get

 

[vsmGuy]

clicking HDD is a mechanical fault and will require HDD revival procedures which need a advanced lab..

Try data recovery services

 

[banjo]

Some drives make a intermittent clicking noise, but still work. It is caused by the drive parking the heads at the wrong time. Western Digital has a problem with this on some of their laptop drives. There is a BIOS upgrade to address the issue.

It the drive is working, go to the manufacturer website and make sure a patch or upgrade does not exist.

 

[cyberrat]

Backup all the data now...

Then look for a replacement, it will eventually fail on you. Not exactly something that is repairable by the users.

 

[vsmGuy]

Ah... that's what I have been saying... all along

 

[Sergiu_Q]

Is it possible to repair a clicking hard disk drive at your own? Is it a disk BIOS's problem? In modern HDDs BIOS is an integral part of main processor, how to re-program it?

funny ...but the hdd is clinking because of the power supply. I spent some times to find that but after I changed my power supply the hdd works great. I was at the point to consider that hdd is a garbage, but in fact my PS was the problem. I'm sure you have same problem

 

[vsmGuy]

The faulty power supply was breaking up supply to the HDD... it was restarting over and over again.

Make sure the HDD is ok...

 

[echo47]

You can sometime cure the problem by swapping the control board (if you can find an identical model), but usually the fault is inside the drive, such as a head failure.

That happened to one of my 5-year old 200GB 7200 RPM Maxtors. First I saw lots of intermittent bad sectors, then the servo started going "click beep, click beep, ..." forever. Swapping the control board didn't help. Lots of Maxtors die that way.

 

[ta2ctp]

Dear friend,
1-) You remove to bottom pcb. (Hdd Pcb).
2-) Re solder via heat gun to pcb (All components).
3-) Dont touch it (Pcb). 2-3 mins after it must be cold.
4-) After montage it.

And now, not clicking the HDD.
Goodlucks
ta2ctp

 

[Toki]

Implement a RAID5 array with several HDD to avoid loosing data. A clicking HDD means that the drive is, or will very soon, become out of order...

 

[pulsarfm]

What brand is your HDD? I know that the hitachi travelstar series (previous IBM) are very vunerable for this kind of behaviour.

The advice is mostly to save all the data while you still can, a sudden failure of the HDD heads can happen sooner or later.

It's advisable to destruct the HDD and not use it anymore, don't think about the money you spend for buying it, a suddenly failing HDD loosing valuable information is worth more than a new one.

If your boot sector is on the ticking HDD please buy or lent an external USB plug in cabinet for HDD's. And plug it in in a secondary PC for restoring the data. This because you dont want to freeze up your system if it hits a specific error point on the HDD