Data Recovery / Repairs for Portable Hard Drives

Lfuturesailors on 18/01/2018 - 11:22

Hi, I have a western digital hard drive that I am no longer able to access the files from. PC recognises when it is plugged in, but will not open and does not show any data. When plugged in, it makes a clicking noise. I believe that it potentially needs repair or replacement of parts internally.

Does anyone have any recommendations of services that might be able to help out? I have seen a few data recovery services, but they havent listed specific services to what I need, more for mobile phones and PC. Cheers

Computing

Comments

  • geek001 on 18/01/2018 - 11:35
    +1

    I have recently fixed one for a relative. Clicking or grinding noise is easy to fix. It is most likely that the head is stuck. All you need to do is open it up and move the head back yourself, close it back up, plug it in and copy everything off it as soon as possible.

    • Clear on 18/01/2018 - 11:37
      +3

      And even easier to properly stuff it up.

      • geek001 on 18/01/2018 - 11:52
        +2

        You may be right, I guess like most things, some common sense is needed, ie. do your research on youtube first, etc.

        You can pretty much tell whether it is the head or not when you open it up. If it is the head, the head would be stuck on the platter. Worse case scenario, it is not the head but the PCB, then close it up and take it to the data recovery people.

        • myusername on 18/01/2018 - 13:03

          so how do you go about preventing any dust getting on the platter?

        • geek001 on 18/01/2018 - 13:08
          +1

          @myusername: You don't. I would imagine this cannot be avoided if you open it up; unless you have access to a clean room. The point is to save the data, not the hard disk. A little bit of dust might get in, but the hard disk should work long enough for you to save the data off it.

        • myusername on 18/01/2018 - 13:09

          @geek001: hmmm good point i do understand the logic here now

  • futuresailors on 18/01/2018 - 11:42

    One thing I forgot to mention is the WD hard drive I have is the model where there is a plate attached to the usb slot. I have read that opening them & putting back together is trickier than the usual

    • geek001 on 18/01/2018 - 12:00
      +1

      I don't think that matters as you will be removing the screws at the top and getting the cover off. Just fyi, there is always one or two screws hiding under the sticker, so best to peel off the sticker so that you can see all the screws. The cover plate should come off with a gentle pry from the side, otherwise you might have missed a screw.

      I would not try and fix it for further use. You can never trust the hard disk after you have opened it up.

      Which model is it? Does the clicking sound happen right after you plug it in or does it happen after a minute or so?

      • futuresailors on 18/01/2018 - 12:17

        The model is WDBUZG0010BBK-05, 1TB volume. Clicking starts about 5 seconds after being plugged in.

  • ItsMeAgro on 18/01/2018 - 12:05

    Data recovery is much more expensive than simply having a few more hard drives, and doesn't always work.

    Data recovery shouldn't ever be needed from a single hard drive failure. You should always have more than one backup of anything important (like photos).

    Hard drives always fail, its just a matter of when.

  • tritty on 18/01/2018 - 12:28

    Which city are you in?

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