External HDD makes clicking sound

[anon]

My external drive started clicking all of a sudden. I did a search and that's not good. At all.

Damn, you really never know what the hell life will throw at you next.

[Master Razor]

My external drive started clicking all of a sudden. I did a search and that's not good. At all.

Damn, you really never know what the hell life will throw at you next.

The HDD can't read/write a specific area on the disk. The disk's SMART should automatically relocate them if the error occurred while writing. Reading a damaged sector won't repair it.
Either format the whole disk, removing everything on it including the mbr which holds the partition table (ie. removing all partitions) OR find out exactly where the problem is and work on that specific location (oe. partition).
Eitherway you need to format it by filling the drive/partition with zeros. Windows 7's own formatter does this (as opposed to xp's boot cd formatter).

[anon]

Thanks a bunch for the tip. Unfortunately, it's the terabyte drive and it's 62% full - I don't have enough room anywhere else to relocate the data before formatting (would happily do it otherwise).

Is there a way I can do the same but without formatting? Like a surface scan?

[saebrtooth]

Thanks a bunch for the tip. Unfortunately, it's the terabyte drive and it's 62% full - I don't have enough room anywhere else to relocate the data before formatting (would happily do it otherwise).

Is there a way I can do the same but without formatting? Like a surface scan?

Try this GRC | SpinRite 5.0 to 6.0

@Blocker
Hiya Blocker :)

[anon]

Try this GRC*|*SpinRite 5.0 to 6.0**

Didn't SpinRite take a long time to run?

Anyway, that's not a problem if Razor can also assure me this would work - I'll do it. Just want to fix the problem before it degenerates into something worse. I have many important files on that drive.

It just had to be this disk, you know? I recently removed a 20GB internal one that had been running for nearly half a decade on two computers, and it never had any problems. I've had this drive for less than two years and always been ultra-careful when handling it, and it's clicking. :sleep:

[Mihai]

My external drive started clicking all of a sudden. I did a search and that's not good. At all.

Damn, you really never know what the hell life will throw at you next.

That's not good at all. Did you tested it with some software to check its health?

[Mihai]

Try this GRC*|*SpinRite 5.0 to 6.0**

@Blocker
Hiya Blocker :)

Last time I tried this software my hdd failed for good If the hdd has problems, as in physical problems the best solution is getting another one and backing up your data soon because the inevitable will happen soon.

[Mihai]

I misspelled and had the edit my last 2 posts... my god this heat is killing my grammar and attention.

[anon]

That's not good at all. Did you tested it with some software to check its health?

That's a good idea. Speedfan lets you see the SMART data of your disks, I will see what it has to say.

Last time I tried this software my hdd failed for good If the hdd has problems, as in physical problems the best solution is getting another one and backing up your data soon because the inevitable will happen soon.

Why, oh why...

[saebrtooth]

Why, oh why...

if its the platters spinrite can be run for ages np. If its the heads or something else then transfer the files asap.

Spinrite is the best at what it does but it will make your frail hdd jump thru hoops

[Master Razor]

Download gSmartControl and copy/paste all the details here.

[anon]

It says no additional information is available.

smartctl 5.41 2011-06-09 r3365 [i686-w64-mingw32-win7-sp1] (sf-win32-5.41-1)
Copyright (C) 2002-11 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

Vendor:               ST310005
Product:              28AS            
Revision:                 
User Capacity:        1.000.204.886.016 bytes [1,00 TB]
Logical block size:   512 bytes
Device type:          disk
Local Time is:        Mon Jun 18 17:39:36 2012 UTC
Device supports SMART and is Enabled
Temperature Warning Disabled or Not Supported
SMART Health Status: OK

Error Counter logging not supported
Device does not support Self Test logging

[Master Razor]

Did you try it like this: smartctl /dev/sdX (where x is the number of your drive).
It should output a table composed of SMART data. I'm pursuing this because it may give us an easier clue for that clicking.

[hellman]

My external drive started clicking all of a sudden.

Dude i strongly recommend you to not to use it an anymore coz who knows how mych time it has left..... First buy a new one and make backup.. data is important u see.. i faced similar problem 2 years back...
tell me the details .. its wd or seagate and 3'5 inch or 2'5 inch portable? and serial no and all that.. n when does this clicking occurs.. i tested mine with software but no results.. if every software fails to test it means u are in deep shit.. it can b problem with head too... just pray its not the "click of death"

plus record your clicking sound n make a attachment here or just pm me....

[hellman]

even if your hdd fails (though i wish it should'nt happen cuz i knw the pain man) u will b able to still save your data but it will cost u a fortune... there is a device also availble in market for such things.. attach any hdd with that n voila u can recover all your data... 95 % success chances (sad news - this device is a bit costly too) not that much but u'll say fcuk that m gonna buy a new hdd