WD My Book 3TB clicking sound after drop

[koni]

Hello everyone, im hoping for some help about my external. I bought last year a 3 TB WD my book because my old one was making weird sound and i thought to make back ups. After i passed everything on the new external most of the stuff i did the mistake to delete from the old.
The other day i had my external on the couch and connected to my laptop, not doing something in the time, i went to make a coffee and in that time my 2 cats were playing and dropped it on the floor , on the fluffy carpet ! Im writing all the details because im not good with these stuff and i dont know what can be important.
Anyways, since then the external when connected to laptop makes a clicking sounds. It shows on devices, it shows down right for safely removal but not as letter! And i have used a couple recovery programs (minitool partition wizard, PC inspector) and it shows the Disk without partitions as 0GB.

I really need to find a way to recover somehow at least the pictures that i have in the external. Someone told me that it might be that the needle has stucked and it cant spin. I have already opened the case and took the external out but im too afraid to open it and try to fix it alone.

Does anyone know what can be done or what the problem could be?
I would appreciate ANY help. Thank you

 

[fireberd]

It sounds like a "head crash" (there is no "needle"). There is really nothing "user serviceable" in a drive. Depending on how it crashes whether or not you can retrieve data from it. There are companies that can retrieve data from a crashed disc but the cost is $800 and up.

For reasons such as this, NEVER have your data, such as pictures, on one media only. At least two separate media copies are needed, then if one fails for whatever reason you still have the other. This is also a reason for backups, not for "if" they are ever needed but "when" its needed.

 

[koni]

What is the head crash??? Do i have a chance to save my data? I dont want to give it to a company and the truth is that its too expensive too.
Is there anything i can do alone to fix it? Im not an expert but a thing or too i know about computers and fixing stuff. With the theory i have the problem, because i dont know what the external has.

 

[fireberd]

A "head crash" is when the read/write head(s) which floats above the disc surface touches the disc surface. When this happens it can cause a loss of data in the "crash site", damage to the read and/or write head. With the "tick" you have it sounds like the disc platter (or platters) are touching in one spot.

There is nothing really "user repairable" in a hard drive. Drives are assembled or repaired in a dust free environment and with specialized tools and test equipment. If a drive fails, in almost all cases your only option is to replace it. The high cost of disc recovery (and its not guaranteed to be recoverable or 100% of the data recovered) is usually not an option for home users.

 

[koni]

I am seeing a lot of DIY youtube videos and reading that from hearing the sound that the external makes someone can anderstand what is wrong with it. If it is clicking or beeping or whatever else.

fireberd, since you were kind enough to answer to my questions, is there a way to show here how mine sounds? because i made a video when i took it out of its box?

Im not ready to give up on my data just yet. I will try everything!

 

[softwaremaniac]

I have a couple of these ext. HDDs (3 WD Mybooks and one Seagate) and they all click and have been doing this from the very first day I bought them. My friend's too. No bad sectors and anything and they have been working like a charm for more than five years.

 

[fireberd]

You need to ask someone else. I am a computer tech and former guitar amplifier tech but I would never attempt to work on a disc drive.

But, its your drive and you can do what you want with it. Its not working now so you can't hurt it.

 

[softwaremaniac]

No, I don't have a problem. I just comment on the user's issue. It would be a good idea to check the drive with HD Tune.
Oh, his fell on the floor. That explains it. There might be an issue, yes.
Mine haven't fallen at any time. They have been clicking (rarely) from day one.

 

[popeye]

Pretty sure it is permanently messed up if dropped, even on carpet, especially if the heads weren't parked and the drive was spinning at the time.

 

[softwaremaniac]

I agree.

 

[koni]

First of all im a she Second thanks for all the answers, im really comfused about what to do. So many opinions that i read, half say open it other half say no.
Yes mine fell on the carpet but it was not doing anything in that moment, it was just connected and on stand by. I dont know what for deference that makes.
Is it allowed here on the forum to post a youtube link? I have uploaded the video on my account. Maybe someone can figure what that sound means

 

[popeye]

Koni, first you can not open up a hard drive and fix it yourself. It takes very specialized equipment and a clean lab to work on hard drives.

It has already been explained what the noise most likely is, the drive heads are most likely broken, the arms that attach to the head are also very fragile. Hard drives almost never come out good after being dropped.

You could run a SMART test on it.

You can post YouTube videos using the film icon at the top of the post screen.

 

[softwaremaniac]

Yes, you can post it. It would be a good idea to test it with HD Tune if that doesn't work, the drive probably has some housing, so you should take it out and try to connect the HDD via usb cable to PC. There is an adapter that allows you to do that, but an expert should do it.
EDIT: The colleague was faster.

 

[popeye]

Take it to the local repair shop, see what they say.

 

[koni]

i have run WD Drive Utilities but it dont let me do the tests. I have ordered a new housing already, wait next week to be here. Someone told me to try that to another laptop when the housing comes.
With all the programs that i used to find and recover the stuff, the external shows up but as blank.

Here is the link. The reason i asked for someone to hear the sound it is because i read that beeping and clicking can mean two different things for the external. The one means that is total broken and the othe that there is hope for recovery.

[video=youtube;SuZz4yxk_Xk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuZz4yxk_Xk[/video]

 

[popeye]

Sounds broken to me. I don't think a new enclosure is going to fix it. Hope I'm wrong.

EDIT: Also, showing up as a drive in My PC or Device Manager is one thing, being able to read/write to it is another.

 

[Itaregid]

If you can see the drive under Computer or in Device Manager, then I would try Recuva from the makers of CCleaner to see if you can recover any of the files. But I fear as the others do, that when it was dropped, the read/write (R/W) head was physically slammed (crashed!) into the drive's "platters" - the actual disks where the data is stored, resulting in Grand Canyon sized gorges (microscopically speaking) in the platters, and perhaps physical damage to the R/W head, and/or the mechanism the moves the R/W head over the platters.

The R/W head should never ever physically touch the platters but instead, just float a millimeter or so above the platters where it can then use magnetic fields to read the magnetic particles on the platters, or write (arrange the particles) data on the platters.

I fear at the very least the arm that moves the R/W head across the platters was knocked (bent) out of alignment and the clicking sound is the R/W head banging into the "end stop" trying to figure out where it is.

 

[brycefoster]

I'm afraid the clicking sound is made by heads in the hard drive. since it was just bought last year, you can ask help from after-sale support. many be they can help you recover data and repair hard drive

 

[Mark Phelps]

The link is to the WD page for drive recovery services: Western Digital Data Recovery - DriveCrash

Their site mentions estimates -- which involves packaging the drive in original package and sending it to them. They will then examine it and provide an estimate for the recovery. While I don't know their prices, I have worked with other such services and starting fees are around $1000 USD -- regardless of the capacity of the drive. It is so expensive because it involves disassembly, repair, and reassembly of the drive in a clean-room environment.