i was sat playing a nice game of C & C generals when all of a sudden my screen turned off, so i restarted and my hdd was gone and kept hearing this clicking noise like something was shorting, i cant feel the hdd spinning now but the chips on the bottom still get warm!! its a maxtor diamond max 9 im guessing its the hdd but hoping not!!

Sounds like it's died to me mate. Have you done the obvious and checked all cables etc? Might still be under warrenty if your lucky.

yep tried it in 3 pc's now!!! no spinning just getting warm, just been on maxtors website and luckily its under warrenty, just a shame to loose all the data!!!

thats befo a HDD problem matey :gag:

ahhh another diemax.... we've stopped using them and now use seagates. They're vunerable to firmware failure caused by power variations.

you can get the data recovered but it'll cost about £1000

Originally posted by Pete1024
you can get the data recovered but it'll cost about £1000



There are also ways you can do it for free yourself (Linux/Unix Forensics/Recovery Live CDs are available) with a little time and knowledge (easily gained).

Helix and Plac are both pretty good forensic distros.

Trinity & SRCD are the recovery disks I use.



All can boot from CD and contain many tools, most partitions can be accessed (FAT16, FAT32, NTFS etc). Some of the distros even utilise a GUI too;).


Though this case sounds a little more severe (the clicking is usually synonymous with a failure of the stepping motor or a head crash).

thats the wierd thing this morning i just turned it on with no drives connectad at all, only grpx and cpu cooler, and it still made the noise i narroed it down to the system speaker making a fast noise like a shorting circuit, so dunn if other things are on the way out, maybe i had a poer surge will have to wait for my new hdd!!!

Could well be the PSU. Switchmode power supplies can do that when they die, Dell GX150 base units have PSU failure as a common problem and that is one if the symptoms, that and a flashing orange light.

Originally posted by sccsux
(the clicking is usually synonymous with a failure of the stepping motor or a head crash).

I Think they stopped using "Stepping Motors" for hard drives in 1946 LOL. They use "voice coils" now old timer ;)

Originally posted by sccsux
There are also ways you can do it for free yourself (Linux/Unix Forensics/Recovery Live CDs are available) with a little time and knowledge (easily gained).

Helix and Plac are both pretty good forensic distros.

Trinity & SRCD are the recovery disks I use.


Can you provide a d/l link where I can get these tools please :thumbsup:

it doesn't matter what software tools you can come up with if the disk isn't even spinning up. Software can allow you to recover data errors, but to recover from a physical failure requires some serious kit and probably a clean room environment. Hence the cost for commercial recovery companies.
All your data was backed up though, right?

Originally posted by sccsux
There are also ways you can do it for free yourself (Linux/Unix Forensics/Recovery Live CDs are available) with a little time and knowledge (easily gained).

Helix and Plac are both pretty good forensic distros.

Trinity & SRCD are the recovery disks I use.



All can boot from CD and contain many tools, most partitions can be accessed (FAT16, FAT32, NTFS etc). Some of the distros even utilise a GUI too;).


Though this case sounds a little more severe (the clicking is usually synonymous with a failure of the stepping motor or a head crash).