[CTS] Re: Hardrive Problem?

  • From: Davisunit <davist@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: computertalkshop@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 20:56:06 -0300

The clicking sound is not good news for sure. You may have to resort to Vern's suggestion, but before hitting it, I'd try removing it from it's bay, and let it sit in an opposite plane. For example, if it is mounted horizontally, remove it, and let it hang vertically. I've also seen it suggested to placing it in the freezer for a period of time, reconnecting quickly, and extract what you can off it before warming up. Of course all of these suggestions are last ditch efforts, and sorry to say, but none may work.

Terry

Elaine Gairy wrote:

Thanks Vern, I have nothing to loose. I will give it a shot. I'll keep you informed. Elaine


From: Vernon Balbert <vbalbert@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 2004/05/21 Fri AM 10:22:13 EDT
To: computertalkshop@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [CTS] Re: Hardrive Problem?

I'm sorry to say this, but it sounds like your hard drive has bit the big one.

However, there is a slight chance you can at least get the drive going for a short time. (I just KNOW I'm gonna get flack for this one.)

The clicking noise you heard is likely to be the read/write head assembly getting stuck, most likely due to the automatic head parking mechanism not working properly; i.e. not releasing the heads when the drive is brought online.

Because this is most likely a mechanical problem, it is possible that hitting the drive (yes, I said hitting it) may release the heads and you will be able to bring the drive back online, at least long enough for you to back it up and replace it.

To do this, remove the drive from the computer, bang it sharply against a hard surface. Don't bang a corner of the drive as you might warp the chassis and cause even more problems.

Do NOT do this while the drive is connected to the computer. Doing this while the drive is powered up might cause a head crash which is when the heads of the drive actually touch the media and gouge the surface. (The drive heads float above the drive with very tight tolerances.)

Most drives can handle a little bit of knocking around. In fact, one of the specifications for hard drives is how much force they can safely endure. However, this is not something I recommend unless you're out of any other options.

Good luck and I hope you can get your data back.

Vern


Elaine Gairy wrote:


Yesterday my hard driving starting making this constant click . . . click . . . click noise. The screen froze so I did an Alt/Ctrl/Delete and I got the dreaded blue screen with a load of stuff on it. I wrote it down but am not at home so can't share it now. I shut the computer down by holding down the power button. When I re-booted things were very quiet and eventually I got a black screen with the message "Operating System Not Found". I've tried a boot disk and the recover disk from HP and it seems it's not getting to my hard drive. Does anyone have an idea on this. Does it sound like a hard drive problem or a SCSI Card maybe? I'm sick that I might have lost everything on my hard drive. Thanks, Elaine


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