External Hardrive problem

[Guy312]

Yestereday while downloading some stuff onto my external, there was a power cut which obviously killed everything off. On reboot, everything works fine apart from my external, It just makes a clicking sound over and over.
It's not recognised as a mass storage device at all when plugged into pc, It's just dead.

Should I just return it as its still in warrenty, or could I do something here?
cheers

[Joe Forster/STA]

If I were you and had important/sensitive/hard-to-reproduce data on that disk, I would consider the following:
- If there's a standard hard disk inside it and you can take the box apart without voiding your warranty then try to connect the hard disk directly into a PC. If it works, "only" the electronics of the box got fried.
- Take it back to the shop BUT ask them to only have a look at it; don't try to repair it and especially not send it back to the factory. If they're allowed to take it apart without voiding your warranty then they may be able to salvage the disk, with your data on it.
- Always backup everything and buy a UPS.

[Guy312]

The ironic thing is, I ordered a UPS last week and it hasn't arrived yet, If I had received it on time... argh.
Alright I'll try what you said, thanks

[DABhand]

Oooh someone is flush to be able to buy a UPS :P

For people who dont know a UPS is an uninterruptable power supply

It happens with HD's when power cuts happen especially if the disc is being written too, it can scratch the surface badly or the pin ends up in an awkward angle that when you start up the HD it snaps or loosens the pin.

[TippeX]

my external usb drive also did the click thing, then died (windows wouldn't 'see' it anymore) so i got pissed off, opened it, connected it directly to the ide controller (it was an ide->usb enclosure), then it magically came back, turned out the circutry for the converter wasn't covered too well, moisture got in, and promptly fried the circut board, yet the damned thing lit up and appeared to be operational...

[Joe Forster/STA]

Originally Posted by DABhand

It happens with HD's when power cuts happen especially if the disc is being written too, it can scratch the surface badly or the pin ends up in an awkward angle that when you start up the HD it snaps or loosens the pin.

That may have been true in the past but not anymore. Hard disks have been automatically parking the heads whenever they go off, whether it's because of a power cut or a normal shut down, for more than a decade. Also, they rotate all the time and the head "touches" the disks (read: hovers on an air pillow over the disks or, for laptop hard disks, touches some kind of grease on the disks) all the time so there's no difference between reading/writing or running idle.

However, even if you're getting mad about how bad your PC is behaving, try to NOT keep bashing its case because sudden movements (read: great acceleration) can kill the hard disks, especially when they're on (read: the head is over the data area, not over the parking zone). Keep bashing the keyboard instead as they're cheap to replace; I know from experience.

[Guy312]

Victory! Today I randomly tried booting it up again, and it works fine with no problems!
I wonder what happend to it

[Joe Forster/STA]

Back it up while it works. (It may work for a further several years but it can fail forever tomorrow, too: you never know in advance! )

[Guy312]

Yea wise words
Cheers