A hard drive head crash is a serious problem that presents a loss of data. The hard drive can be recovered, but the success of the recovery and depends on the extent of the original damage to the hard drive. The term “Click of Death” is referred to hard drive crashes because the clicking sound originating from the storage systems indicates that the device has failed. This generally means a file read or a writing error. The error is most likely the cause of a physical breakdown of internal components (a manufacturer’s error). Read on to learn how to repair a head crash.
What to Do
Most experts recommend a quick home solution for this catastrophe. Place the hard disk drive inside a plastic bag (or a ziplock bag — the point here is to seal the contents in an airtight container so that the components do not get further damaged). Then place the bag in a freezer for about an hour.
The reason to make the drive colder is because the lack of heat makes the internal components of the drive more compact, thereby minimizing the friction/mismatch between the physical parts that may have caused the problem.
The louder the problematic noise is, the more drastic the problem — in worse cases, a professional’s help is advised to change the head mechanism on your hard drive. Stop operating the problematic drive if you hear extensive noise on your drive under operation.
In requesting professional’s help, you must package the hard drive to send it to a professional. Wrap the drive tightly so that air will not get in and make sure that the hard drive stays stable inside the package. If it is loose, internal parts may collide and cause further damage.
If you feel as if the noise is minimal and there isn’t too much damage to the drive, try a different operating system (such a Linux) to see if it works under different settings. Linux is recommended because it skips over some imperfections in the data and still operates under adverse conditions.
Additional Help
If you feel like you need professional help on how to repair a head crash, TalkLocal can help with finding the correct local experts in this case, saving you time and energy in what may be a stressful situation.
