The noise says a lot about what has failed and how fast it is getting worse. Clicking indicates that the heads are unable to track themselves to find out where they are. A scrape indicates the heads have made contact with the platter. Either way, whatever happens at start-up is not going to improve with a subsequent start-up. The total recovery will depend on how many rotations the drive completed after the first signs of failure appeared.
Clicking means there is no way for the heads to know exactly what position they are at. Grinding means the heads are rubbing against the surface of the platters. Neither will improve as you try again. The amount that can be eventually recovered from the damaged media tracks very close to how long the drive was operational after the first signs of damage appeared.
You don't have to use the correct terminology. These are the actual explanations we receive, and each points towards a specific area of concern.
“It’s clicking like a metronome.” A continuous rhythmic pattern, once or twice per second. This pattern continues without end. The head is moving back into place and has to re-calibrate since it could not locate any position information which it required. This is the "click of death" people refer to when talking about a faulty head/servo unit.
“It clicks a few times then goes quiet.” The drive will park itself after three or four tries. In general, this is a firmware/service area issue as opposed to a mechanical/physical failure. Better than the metronome, and also generally recoverable without disassembling the drive.
“It sounds like sandpaper.” Scratching/rasping — a rough grind noise while it spins. The heads have contacted the platter, and have removed the coatings that you write your data onto. There is really no time to lose here.
“It buzzes but never spins up.” Every few seconds — a short strain or shudder, and the drive is not rotating. Either a bearing has seized up, or the heads are stuck to the disk surface due to prolonged time powered down. Both faults result in the same procedure: stop.
For the most part, most of what will be decided when the drive arrives in a lab has already happened somewhere else.
If a drive’s head begins to fail, then it is not just poorly reading; it may be running lower than intended or intermittently contacting the disk. Every single pass under each head will go over the entire length of the track while rotating at 5,400 or 7,200 rpm. If you were to run the drive for ten minutes after the noise began, versus restarting it every day for a fortnight, the difference shows up as "scored" areas that cannot be accessed using any form of access.
It should be emphasised how much control you have over this part of the outcome. There isn't a piece of equipment available today that can recover a lost surface. Shutting down the drive immediately upon failure of the heads is the most important action that can be taken.
The majority of the time, the time frame for this process will depend on matching parts, and it is the reason why two drives that appear identical can vary by a week.
A donor is not simply another drive of the same model. Head assemblies are matched to the platters they were manufactured alongside. Head count, pre-amp characteristics, firmware version and manufacturing batch all have to align. If two drives share a common model number on their labels then the internal configurations could be different due to when they were made. Using the incorrect head assembly will not result in a partially recovered drive, but instead results in a new "clicking" behaviour in your drive.
Therefore sourcing is a genuine restriction. Most standard consumer devices can be found on shelves. Enterprise versions, atypical storage capacity and any device over ten years old would require a search. Therefore older version devices take longer to complete without being any less recoverable. Once installed the drive will then undergo imaging using short controlled passes with a "per head" timeout. A transplanted drive may provide only one usable read, and it is spent deliberately on the directories you requested first.
Why this type of job is different from all the others.
Clicking/grinding drives are from £300 +VAT, with the price fixed after the initial free 48hr diagnostic. Unlike most jobs done here, this one requires a 50% deposit, because prior to ordering a donor part and booking bench time we have no way of knowing what the state of the platters is and therefore how much data can potentially be recovered.
The remaining amount is only due if the recovery is successful. If the diagnostic shows that your platters are severely damaged and that very little data can be recovered, we will advise you of this before taking any money for the deposit – i.e. there is no benefit to us in doing a job that ultimately won't be completed.
Please send us your device along with a brief description of what happened. This diagnostic process has no cost and the price for the next phase of service will be fixed in writing prior to commencing work.
This is the only step that requires input from you and nothing else can happen until the device is on our bench. Package your item properly and include all the information we require about you and your item(s), then ship them to us. Then comes a no-cost diagnostic, followed by a written quote.
Posting it? Use a tracked and insured service. The value of what is on the drive far exceeds the cost of postage. Bringing it in? Weekdays from 9am to 5:30pm, and it still needs packing as described above for the journey.
Tell us about the item in question, tell us how it has been behaving lately, and let us know if there is anything you have done as far as troubleshooting goes so that our engineers may provide a realistic estimate of success and a probable cost range prior to sending your items off.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 0161 871 0788.
The most common questions we get regarding clicking and grinding drives.
If you're hearing a consistent click one to two times per second from your head assembly, it's retracting back to its mechanical stop point for calibration each time. This continues because the head cannot detect its servo positioning data. The heads are failing and, if they are physically compromised, any further attempts to read/write will result in the loss of surface material.
Usually, yes. Three or four sequential clicks followed by silence often indicates the drive has detected a failure and is attempting to park. In these cases, the issue is likely in the firmware or service area rather than physical head damage, and may be recoverable without needing to open the drive.
This is the worst possible noise a drive can make. If the heads are scraping against the platters, it's destroying the magnetic media as it runs. Turn off power now. Minutes count here in a way they don't with clicking.
No, but it’s here that most recoverable data gets destroyed. One additional pass over a scraped drive could widen the damaged band permanently. Whatever that file is worth, it is not worth the value of the remainder of the disk.
This is because each head assembly is designed to be used with the matching platters that the heads were produced alongside. All must match in head count, preamplifier characteristics, firmware revisions and batches. For common models we can normally get them off the shelf. But for enterprise, uncommon or older model drives we may need to source them.
The price will be from £300 plus VAT with 50% deposit as there has been an investment made in both donor components and bench time prior to knowing what your platters look like. The remaining amount will only be collected upon successful completion and before you pay anything you will know whether or not there has been significant scoring on the diagnostic.
Each and every repair is supported by a 10,000-piece donor inventory, begins with a free written diagnostic report and generally speaking if the job fails then the customer pays nothing. Start today.