Dropped External Hard Drive making noises like an old Telephone/Modem

[Voy Por Ustedes]

I knocked my friend's Maxtor external hard drive on the floor last night and when I plugged it in again it started making noises like a cross between a ringing telephone and an old 56k modem when dialling.

The power light still goes on, but my laptop no longer recognises it as present.

Have I just broken it? Is there anything I can do? What's this crazy noise?

Thanks,

VPU

[SpartMan1]

The fall probably messed up the actuator arm and/or the platter(s). The noise would be the result of the actuator arm moving over the spinning platters. With either of these messed up, I could imagine some rather interesting noises coming from the HD. You're probably SOL for fixing it, but I don't know enough about repairing HD's to say for sure.

[LuckyTxGuy]

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The fall probably messed up the actuator arm and/or the platter(s). The noise would be the result of the actuator arm moving over the spinning platters. With either of these messed up, I could imagine some rather interesting noises coming from the HD. You're probably SOL for fixing it, but I don't know enough about repairing HD's to say for sure.

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct. That is most likely the case and while it could most likely be fixed, it wouldn't be feasible unless there is some very important data on there, since it would be very expensive to get repaired.

[ohgeetee]

if he can still see the data, get it off asap. the drive is done, and depending on the brand, a replacement is cheap. If its just an external enclosure, get a replacement drive. If its a builtin gimmick, just get an enclosure and hdd replacement rather than buying a nother builtin deal.

[psionic storm]

you should probably smash it against the wall to offset the damage

[SpartMan1]

[ QUOTE ]
you should probably smash it against the wall to offset the damage

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QFT