External hard disk dropped on the floor just now...argh!

[jellyfarm]

Sorry to bother everyone but I've been having a slew of technical difficulties lately. :-( First the problem with the audio on the PC and now this...

My external Samsung 100GB hard drive dropped on the floor this morning and just now I was trying to read some documents from it and both my Mac and PC doesn't read it and I hear this odd clicking noise. Its spinning but the disk doesn't read. I'm really afraid that I lose the data in there because all my precious scripts, WMV files, and proposals are backed up in there. I've already lost all the data on my PC due to the reformat, I hope now it's not going to hit my hard disk too...geez!

I tried opening it up and readjusting the plate that hooks up to the hard disk but no difference. I'm thinking it's in the hard disk itself but I don't have any tools to unscrew it and check.

Any suggestions before I bring it over to see a technician about it?

 

[Scott Free]

The arm which holds the head that reads and writes data to the HD was probably knocked out of kilter by the fall. The good news is that your data is fine but the bad news is recovering it is going to be costly. You need to find a company that will take the HD apart and recover the data by placing the disks in a new enclosure; this has to be done in a "clean" room. Your probably looking at a couple of thousand dollars.

You could try and use some quality data recovery software which can sometimes compensate for the armature being out of alignment but I personally wouldn't bother.

It could be that something electrical broke (a wire etc) and the problems not really that bad, but still, send it to a professional if your data is really that important.

I'm almost 100% sure the data is fine from your description of the problem.

BTW, external HD are a very poor choice for backing up data as they are prone to failure because of heat issues.

 

[shadowshiv]

Scott gave some pretty good advice, Jelly. It may not end up costing as much as he is estimating, though. I would call around and see what place would be the cheapest, but would also do a good job(and not end up making it worse).

I hope it doesn't end up costing too much. I also hope that you have some good luck heading your way regarding your computer, as you deserve it.:-(