12/03/2013 data recovery | Computer Repair
In most cases, if the hard drive starts making strange sounds, this indicates some kind of malfunction. We'll talk about which ones below. The main thing I want to draw your attention to is: as soon as these sounds appear, you should take care of saving backup copies of important data: in the cloud, on an external hard drive, DVD, in general, anywhere. The likelihood that soon after the hard drive begins to make sounds that were unusual for it before, the data on it may become inaccessible is very different from zero.
Let me draw your attention to one more point: in most cases, sounds indicate a malfunction of some HDD component, but this is not always the case. On my own computer, I encountered the fact that the hard drive began to click and turn off, and after a while, spin up again with a click. A little later it began to disappear in the BIOS. Accordingly, initially I assumed that the problem was with the heads or spindle, then with the firmware or printed circuit board (or connections), but in fact it turned out that everything was fine with the hard drive and the power supply was to blame, which I did not even expect. And lastly: if after clicks, creaks, etc., the data has become inaccessible, it is better not to try to restore the hard drive yourself - most data recovery programs are not designed for such situations, and, moreover, they can cause harm.
Differences
Naturally, the hard drive is not the only drive that records the data we need. Previously, the floppy disk was popular. There are some differences in how they work. The main element in the railway is rigid plates made of aluminum or glass. They are coated with a ferromagnetic material, such as chromium dioxide. In this case, one or more plates are placed on one axis. The heads of the reading mechanism do not touch the disks, so the service life of the devices is much longer, and problems with the hard disk have been significantly reduced.
Also, hard drives at one time became associated with other components in the system, such as a drive or an electronics unit. Therefore, they are non-removable devices. Hard drives are now being replaced by faster but more expensive SSDs.
Sound
If you hear your hard drive beeping, you should sound the alarm. If he makes any sounds, it means he is “indignant”, which means he needs something. It turns out that by his “voice” you can determine what exactly the problem is. Even if it’s not precise, it will be possible to at least roughly predict the breakdown.
Before dealing with the problem, try to save all the files you need in the cloud, on other drives, if, of course, the PC still allows you to log into the system. Most likely, if you only heard sounds from your hard drive, it will soon stop giving access to its internal information.
In addition, as mentioned earlier, if you hear the hard drive clicking, then it means that some specific component is malfunctioning. It happens that the same problem can “sound” differently. All interpretations of sounds are just the most popular options. In addition, the disk may behave completely unpredictably or react with a squeak to a problem with another PC component.
Reason #1: lack of nutrition
One of the simplest problems could be that there is not enough power being supplied to the electronics board to run the drive motor. This can be observed quite often on external hard drives in which the adapter from the drive interface to an interface, for example, USB, has failed. The solution is quite simple: first you need to check the drive at different outputs and different connecting wires. If the situation has not changed, then the adapter will need to be replaced. You can find an adapter from the same drive, or, by purchasing an external case for the HDD, remove the device from the faulty “box” and mount it into a new one. Typically, these actions are intuitive and do not require much effort from the user.
So, if the hard drive beeps, you shouldn’t immediately sound the alarm: first of all, check whether there is enough power supplied to the board.
Recovery
If you were sitting calmly at your computer and then saw a “blue screen” in front of you or the system stopped responding to you, do not panic. It is advisable to immediately disconnect the hard drive from the power supply, since destructive processes can occur in it, which consequently leads to the loss of files. As long as the damaged drive is connected, the computer will continue to write data to it, determine the free space, fill it with something, etc. It is better to immediately turn off the entire system and deal with the drive separately. If you do not have a second PC to which you can connect the drive, then it is clear that you will have to take the device to a service center. If you have the opportunity to fix everything yourself, then you need to install a disk cloning program.
There are a large number of programs like EASEUS Disk Copy for this. This is free software that clones hard drives by sector. The disadvantages are the presence of additional “junk” software during installation, as well as the lack of a Russian-language version. Paragon Drive Backup Personal is a good backup program that is used for cloning. The software can be launched from bootable media and from the OS. The pleasure of such a feature-rich application will cost $40. In addition to these, you can also name Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image, Farstone RestoreIT Pro, etc.
The cloned drive will have to be run through several recovery programs, since it is unlikely that all the data will be returned the first time. To do this, you will need the following programs: TestDisk, Restoration, Recuva, Undelete Plus, etc. In general, there is a huge amount of such software, so finding one will not be a problem, as long as it is not too late.
Design
To understand what errors and malfunctions may occur, it is worth understanding the design of the drive. After all, you can understand whether a hard drive can be restored only after diagnosing it. To see the main components of the device, you need to unscrew the screws and get rid of the top cover. Below it we will find the main elements.
The printed circuit board is usually green and is a kind of analogue of the motherboard in a PC. It also has a processor, represented by a controller, and more than one. This interface turns binary code into commands understandable to the system.
Magnetic disks, or plates, or “pancakes,” as we said earlier, are made of durable materials. They are made of glass or aluminum and coated with a magnetic layer. There may be several or one. They store all the data that is so important for us not to lose.
Reading heads remove information from the surface of the plates. As mentioned earlier, they do not directly contact the surface of the disk, but are literally nanometers away from it. The laws of physics, which create air flows and a dense layer, allow them to read information. Most often there are two such heads. If they break off, once they fall onto the platter, they destroy all data on the surface.
Damaged servo markings
During HDD production, so-called servo markings are recorded. They are needed in order to synchronize the rotation of the disks, as well as to correctly position the heads.
These are rays coming from the center of the disk. They are located at the same distance relative to each other. Each tag stores its own number, place in the synchronization chain and a number of other important information. This is what helps to accurately identify areas of the disc and ensure stable rotation.
A servo marking is a collection of many servo marks. If it is damaged, certain areas of the hard drive may not be readable. In this case, the HDD will try to read the data. The process occurs with symptoms such as delays in work and loud knocking. The knock comes from the head, which at this moment is trying to communicate with the damaged servo tag.
It is worth noting that damage to the servo markings is a serious and complex problem. Depending on their number, the HDD may continue to work, but performance will drop noticeably. Or a complete failure occurs.
You can fix the problem using a servowriter. Yes, now you can find a number of programs and utilities that are supposedly capable of performing low-level formatting. In fact, this is a fiction. Only a servowriter, that is, a special device, can correct problems.
Damage to connectors and cables
In such a situation, you may encounter not only overheating and clicking, but also a loss of connection with the hard drive, which is not detected. Therefore, it is worth starting diagnostics by checking the physical condition of the elements that are used to connect the drive.
The cable may be broken, not inserted tightly enough, etc. If possible, try taking another cable and check if the disk does not click after that.
Debris and dust can accumulate in the connectors. The reason is trivial, but sometimes it is precisely this that leads to hard drive clicks.
Physical damage
Despite its weight and massiveness, the hard drive is actually quite fragile. The following influences are unacceptable for him:
- strong vibrations;
- shaking;
- blows;
- falls, etc.
More often this happens with HDDs on laptops. Although users of regular desktop computers should not rejoice. It is not necessary to hit or drop the device. Sometimes debris penetrates the system, ends up under the writing head, and an almost irreversible process of deformation and destruction begins.
There are several possible reasons why the hard drive may click and not be detected:
- The head is damaged. This can be determined by a few clicks, after which the HDD’s operation slows down noticeably. This is also why it happens that sounds occur continuously over a certain period of time.
- Spindle failure. In this case, the disk will first start to start, but then the process will be interrupted.
- Broken sectors. The appearance of unreadable areas cannot be ruled out, which is caused by problems at the physical level. In this case, the use of software recovery methods no longer gives anything.
No answer
Of course, you won't always hear the hard drive beeping. Sometimes he can “die” and still not make a single sound. This is the saddest outcome that can happen. Most often, there is only one way out of the situation - buying a new device. But not everything is so bad, there is a chance to bring the device back to life. If the drive stops responding to the computer, most likely the problem is with the board.
Previously, craftsmen found a working board and replaced the damaged one. Now this is not easy to do, since the architecture and technology have changed, and each hard drive receives its own microcode. And even if it is possible to replace the board structurally, then, most likely, you will have to say goodbye to all the materials.
There may be several reasons for such a breakdown. These are also voltage drops, during which one of the diodes or some other component of the board suffers. The developers are trying to eliminate such problems, so they install a pair of diodes with different voltages. Replacing a diode is generally easy. If you have to change the entire board, then you need to find the ROM block and transfer it to a new one. But this is not always easy to do, since some developers embed the microcode from the ROM in the firmware, and therefore replacement is not possible.
Learning to listen to your HDD
Against the background of various sound compositions created by faulty drives, you need to know how a working hard drive works. We have compiled a summary table of the dependence of some other malfunctions on the sound of working hard drives.
Noises and other symptoms
Probable defect
First aid
The hard drive spins up and successfully initializes, but the data access procedure is accompanied by a monotonous clicking sound. Data transfer speed is greatly reduced.
There are probably unreadable sectors on the disk, or the supply voltage for external USB drives is not normal.
Sounds
If the hard drive clicks, but starts up, then the problems are related to the read head. And, perhaps, not even with one. Sometimes this sound is caused by damage to the plate coating. It is unlikely that you will be able to solve this problem on your own, so it is better to immediately send the device to a service center. There you will need to open the device. This is done in dust-free rooms so that it does not immediately become magnetized to the plates. Replace the head and restore the data. If you just heard that the hard drive is making a sound, then you need to turn it off immediately, and turning it on again will lead to the loss of all information on it.
Mode of normal operation of the disk and typical sounds accompanying each stage:
1. The motor shaft spins up to the rated speed and emits a uniform, growing hum 2. When the block of magnetic heads is removed from the parking zone, the disk makes a single, rather loud click 3. During the period of reading information from the platters, hard drives are characterized by a uniform chirping sound 4. Turning off the computer is accompanied by a dry click inside housing, indicating the fact that the head block is parked
We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the section - basic malfunctions and methods for restoring hard drives
Freeze
If there are problems with the sectors of the hard drive, it is activated, the PC notices it, but freezes during an access request. Experts say that this is caused by damage to the surface of the magnetic plate. The device works fine until it starts reading bad sectors. To diagnose this problem, you need to conduct SMART monitoring. If it turns out that you have a broken hard drive, you will have to image it, and only specialists will do this properly.
Of course, you can try to fix this problem yourself. But you need to understand that the risk of losing data is high. In addition, software that can be freely installed usually has limited functionality, so it may not complete the cloning process or interrupt it, and most commands are issued from the BIOS.
Squeak
It doesn't matter whether the external hard drive beeps or the internal one. The problem is almost always the same: “sticking” of the magnetic heads. The engine tries to start the system and mechanisms, but cannot. It happens that after the next job the head parks incorrectly, remains directly above the surface of the plate, and later sticks to it.
If you encounter such a problem and hear the hard drive beeping, then most likely you will not be able to intervene in this matter yourself. More precisely, of course, you can try, but the thing is unsafe. Because you will have to open the device, and this must be done in the absence of dust around. Inside, you will have to remove and replace the heads, which is also not something everyone can do. In general, this breakdown is only in the hands of specialists.
But if your hard drive is beeping, it could be an indicator of another problem. There is a possibility that the spindle, the axis on which the plates rotate, is blocked. This usually happens when the device is dropped or hit. Only a professional can fix this problem, since it is necessary to replace the axis or rearrange the magnetic plates in another hard drive, which is called a donor.
Why does my Seagate hard drive make sounds?
Desktops and laptops that have a seagate hard drive installed inside them can sometimes show signs of malfunction:
Invisible
Usually, if the PC does not see the hard drive, the user does not hear any sounds, but sees various kinds of inscriptions on the screen that indicate problems with the hard drive. The first thing that may occur in this case is uncertainty with the BIOS. There can be a huge number of people to blame for this problem; there are ambiguities with the power cable, the motherboard, and the hard drive itself.
There is also a situation where the BIOS sees the disk, but the system itself does not find it. If another hard drive is installed in the PC, then you will be able to start the PC, but if it was the only drive, then most likely the computer will not start at all.
It is also possible that the user thinks that the PC does not see the hard drive, although the system displays something like “The disk is not formatted.” These problems are related to the logical drive. Physically, everything is fine. But the user, before understanding this, begins to carry out all sorts of manipulations that lead to the irreparable.
In general, a hard drive is a delicate thing. Various kinds of problems often occur to him. There are defective models, broken sectors, etc. It is best not to experiment on your own, but to give the device to specialists who will quickly find faults without doing a lot of unnecessary operations first.
Disk setup in Windows
The most common situation when the computer does not see the hard drive is installing a new, just purchased drive into the system. Typically the drives are not partitioned or formatted, and we will need to do this using the built-in Computer Management , in which we will need the Disk Management .
To launch it, press the Win + R , enter compmgmt.msc and click “ Ok ”.
In Windows 10, running this utility is even easier. Just right-click on the “ Start ” menu and select “ Disk Management ” from the menu that opens.
The utility is running. We need to handle it very carefully, carefully checking the disks on which we will work, because the wrong choice of disk can destroy all the information on it !
Among my disks, the one that immediately attracts attention is this one, marked in black and labeled “unallocated area” Disk 0 . This is the disk that is not visible in the system.
First you need to initialize the disk. Right-click on it and select Initialize Disk .
A window will open asking you to select a section style. Two partition styles are available: MBR and GPT . Select MBR for a drive smaller than 2 TB and GPT for a drive larger than 2 TB.
Now right-click on the unallocated disk and select Create simple volume .
The Create Simple Volume Wizard opens Click Next .
The Volume Size Indications window appears . The maximum possible size is already entered in the input field and you just need to click “ Next”.
