My uncle told me to never trust the 'quick fix' for a corrupted hard drive.

He said if the drive is clicking, just power it down and send it to a pro. I ignored him, ran a $90 recovery software I found online, and made things WAY worse. The lab in Chicago said the platters got scratched because I kept trying. Has anyone else had a family member give them tech advice that saved or ruined their day?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_shane3mo ago

Yeah, that clicking sound is the kiss of death for a drive. My old boss at a computer shop drilled that into my head. We had a guy bring in a drive he'd been running software on for two days, and it was toast. The rule was always to pull the power the second you hear that noise. It's a physical problem, not a software one. Trying to fix it yourself just grinds the broken parts together. Saved my own photos once by just shutting it off and taking it straight to a place.

xena_fisher4929d ago

Hold on, I actually see it a bit differently. That clicking sound is bad news for sure, but pulling the power right away isn't always the smartest move. I had a drive start clicking once and I shut it down immediately, turned out the head was just stuck on a dirty spot on the platter. A careful power cycle or a gentle tap in the right direction actually freed it up and I was able to copy everything off. If I had taken it straight to a data recovery place, they would have charged me an arm and a leg for what was a simple stuck head. The real trick is knowing when the clicking is just a head parking issue versus a full on mechanical crash, and that takes a little experience to tell apart.

kaib1829d ago

Oh, I have to push back a little there, xena_fisher49. That clicking sound is almost never a "stuck head" from a dirty spot the way you're describing it. A drive's head doesn't just stick to the platter like that; if it's clicking, it's usually the head trying to find its position and failing, which is a sign of a serious alignment or motor issue, not a little dust ball. Your story about power cycling it and making a gentle tap "freeing it up" honestly sounds more like you got lucky with a drive that had a different problem than a classic click of death.

hill.jade3mo ago

Oh man, that is a ROUGH lesson to learn. Your uncle was totally right about that one. It's so tempting to try the DIY fix, especially when a pro service costs so much. But when you hear that clicking sound, it's basically the drive screaming for you to stop. I've seen similar things happen, and it just makes the recovery way harder, if not impossible. That sinking feeling after you realize you made it worse is the worst.