GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - HDD failure. What can be done to recover files?

Gaybucks · 01-28-2007, 01:20 AM

The "click of death" is generally caused by the heads not being able to read the tracks correctly, attempting to reset themselves, and hitting the stop at their end-of-travel.

Don't even THINK of changing the logic board on the drive or opening the sealed assembly; the logic board (even from an identical drive) contains info in firmware that is unique to the individual drive and you will make matters worse. And opening the sealed assembly, except in a clean room, will pretty much destroy the drive.

There is one thing that you can try that has actually worked for me a few times. It sounds crazy, but putting the disk in the freezer (inside several plastic bags, to prevent moisture) and then trying to read it while still frozen may buy you a few minutes of read time. I'm not sure why this works -- one theory is the cold makes a minute difference in the head's relation to the platters -- but I've tried it on about 8 drives, and it's worked about half of the time. But if it does work, you will get maybe 5-15 minutes of good read time before it starts failing again, so get your most important stuff off first.

Generally speaking, no software will work on a drive with a click-of-death problem, and running a drive that is constantly clicking will cause further damage to the drive (either the platters or the heads) so if the freezing solution doesn't work, send it off somewhere for recovery.

Hope that helps!

01-28-2007, 01:20 AM
Gaybucks Confirmed User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 451	The "click of death" is generally caused by the heads not being able to read the tracks correctly, attempting to reset themselves, and hitting the stop at their end-of-travel. Don't even THINK of changing the logic board on the drive or opening the sealed assembly; the logic board (even from an identical drive) contains info in firmware that is unique to the individual drive and you will make matters worse. And opening the sealed assembly, except in a clean room, will pretty much destroy the drive. There is one thing that you can try that has actually worked for me a few times. It sounds crazy, but putting the disk in the freezer (inside several plastic bags, to prevent moisture) and then trying to read it while still frozen may buy you a few minutes of read time. I'm not sure why this works -- one theory is the cold makes a minute difference in the head's relation to the platters -- but I've tried it on about 8 drives, and it's worked about half of the time. But if it does work, you will get maybe 5-15 minutes of good read time before it starts failing again, so get your most important stuff off first. Generally speaking, no software will work on a drive with a click-of-death problem, and running a drive that is constantly clicking will cause further damage to the drive (either the platters or the heads) so if the freezing solution doesn't work, send it off somewhere for recovery. Hope that helps! __________________ Gaybucks.com 100% exclusive American guys - hosted movie galleries - NATS - Boyfunk.com - Boysfeetclub.com - AJsCloset.com- SkylerDeVoss.com ICQ 272-995-402