So, I ‘accidentally’ dropped my external hard drive while it was on. Now it makes a clicking sound and its not being detected. So obviously I broke it, question is can I recover data off of it? It’s Cavalry - CAUM37500-B.
Re: External Hard Drive
The short answer is a data recovery service and they will charge you close to a $1000 for data retrieval.
If you want to do it yourself, but an identical drive (same model #) and then open the bad drive and move the platters to the new drive.
You can’t fix your current drive because the motor/head part of the drive is damaged and I actually won’t recommend you turning it on anymore because if the arms inside the drive are damaged/bent, then they’ll contact the platters and damage the platters as well.
Re: External Hard Drive
Thanks for the reply! I will now bug my brother to do that for me.
Re: External Hard Drive
Please don’t open up any hard drives. Just the dust in the air would mess up the platters. Those recovery people have “clean” labs where they do this stuff.
If its very important data then put the drive in a ziploc bag and put it in the freezer for about 24 hours, then take it out and hook it up to the computer and copy everything out fast.
The way your issue sounds, there’s some mechanical failure, so this little trick won’t work.
Try knocking it again on the floor, only on the other side 
Re: External Hard Drive
wat tofibaba said…
if its detected…u can do recovery urself…the basic stuff…like through a software…
Re: External Hard Drive
LOL, I really should drop it on the floor again eh 
Okay, so Tofi, you are saying I can’t do the freezing trick because its a mechanical problem?
Re: External Hard Drive
what were u doing with the hard drive btw?? 
Re: External Hard Drive
Clicking sound may not be a mechanical failure and freezing technique might work.
This is from the net
Re: External Hard Drive
I have tried freezer trick a coupe of time but it did not work for me. Some swear that it worked for them.
Re: External Hard Drive
Do you want step by step instructions on how to break yours?
Well it was plugged into my laptop and the hard drive was on the nightstand. I moved the laptop off my lap and cord pulled which led to hard drive dropping.
My brother abducted it for now, I shall go check on him and the hard drive. Will see if I can still try the freezing trick. Thanks everyone.
Re: External Hard Drive
same here, never worked for me either. once the motor spins it warms up pretty quickly to negate the freezing effect.
And yes sorry, I should have mentioned the ‘clean room’. You shouldn’t open a hard drive in a regular room; which unfortunately means you’ll need to visit a recovery facility.
Re: External Hard Drive
If you have Ghost or Acronis True Image there is another option (if you still have your drive). Hit me up if you’re interested in getting down and dirty.
Re: External Hard Drive
Just to update, the freezing didn’t work. I plugged it in but it was still not detectable and after a min or so the ticking sound came back. Now, the drive is dead beyond repair.
Re: External Hard Drive
Doesn’t sound like something I’d want to do tofi haha too late though…the drive is gone 
Re: External Hard Drive
Send it to Pak. I shall get it repaired for you
Re: External Hard Drive
Saby, you do hard drive repairs over there? I have a few drives that need fixing
Re: External Hard Drive
^ I dont do hard drive repairs. But I do have a friend who has this computers and peripherals repair shop in hafeez center. They do this data recovery for around 30-50 USD depndiing on the size of data. so send em over if you wanna and I can get those sorted for you.
Re: External Hard Drive
Send it to Cow town-YYC C/O DMD
theek hoo gaye tau apni fees samjh kay rakh loun ga
na theek hui tau wapas bhaij doun ga
Re: External Hard Drive
To make sure it does not happen again on your next hard drive use a longer usb cable, ive noticed the ones they supplky with extrenal drives are really short like 1 foot. Also keep hard drive in middle of table not right on the edge. I would personally keep it on the floor where it cant fall any further. (out of range of and coffee or drink spillage).
Re: External Hard Drive
Or buy a solid state hard drive they are not prone to these kinds of accidents. This issue has been resolved forever by some genius engineers.