major problems with hd:clicking, corruption, and general breaking

[Yggdrasil]

i got 2 hd's, primary master has system/application/downloads partitions, primary slave has media (eg mp3s)

few days ago i was scanning through my mp3s on winamp and it started freezing a little, and i could hear one od the hdd's clicking (like thr click when you turn comp on or off, the head seating itself?)

windows ran chkdsk on the next startup, and it froze while scanning one of the primary master paritions.

first thing i did was unplug primary slave hdd, and the master wasn't recognized (wtf? it was set on master mode so jumpers not the issue). then i plugged primary slave back in, and master was still not reckognized. then it started working again and has not been an issue....

so i put in winxp boot disk, when it shows me the partitions it sees everything but my applications drive is not fully recognized. it is stated as 30gb, but the file system wasn't specified. so i deleted that partition hoping it would fix stuff (it didn't)

now i cant even boot up into windoes, my WINDOWS/SYSTEM/something file is missing or corrupt.

i just entered the windows recovery console, but do not know exacrty what to do. i ran chkdsk twice and each time it found errors (i had to use /p the second time cuz it was all like "we think your hdd is fine", which it still wasn't).

any help or am i shit outta luck?

thanks

[Matrox462]

Ouch... sorry to hear about that.

If it can't even recognize the filesystem, it sounds like the allocation tables and what not are getting corrupted... I doubt there is much you can do :( I don't know, but the more you run it, the worse it might get... if there's really important data on it, you might want to just not play around with it till someone else has a suggestion on what to do. Sorry I don't have one... Good luck

[RancidWAnnaRIot]

similar thing happened to me.... out of luck my friend.. out of luck

[Yggdrasil]

so rather than work, ive been trying to fix my comp. i ran chkdsk with /r and it seems to have repaired stuff, and the hdd no longer clicks (for now). now its all like "Windows sucks and the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" and tells me to go to the repair coonsole from the winxp boot cd.

i dont know what to do once i hit the repair console. any help?

thanks again

[RancidWAnnaRIot]

I'm telling you.. back up whatever you can.. and get a new drive.. it's gonna die eventually.. same exact thing has happened to me.. and countless others.. check disk and all that other crap.. will find stuff and fix it.. but it's gonna get fux0red more and more and more.. till it's dead.. just back up your stuff.. and if you want ride it through.. but back up back up

[Yggdrasil]

yeah backng up important stuff right now. a quick google search told me how to fix the windows loading issue.

only problem is, my registry was fried so i had to repair it with a new one (almost reformatting, but files still all there).

is there any way i can un-delete my applications partition? I just got rid of the partition table, so there should be a way to undelete it and get all my files back right?

as for the hdd, i think it was due to some bad sectors? i gotta do some more checks, and see how the warranty is (though if i remember corectly, my warranety ended a week ago.........................................)

[M11]

I'm telling you.. back up whatever you can.. and get a new drive.. it's gonna die eventually.. same exact thing has happened to me.. and countless others.. check disk and all that other crap.. will find stuff and fix it.. but it's gonna get fux0red more and more and more.. till it's dead.. just back up your stuff.. and if you want ride it through.. but back up back up
This is sound advice. Clicking is a symptom of a physical problem, and should be an instant RMA.

What you have is a timebomb. Deal with it immediately-get the data off and decomission it.

[RancidWAnnaRIot]

once you delete a partition.. it's gone for good.. i've never heard of programs that can restore partitions..

[Yggdrasil]

if you just rewrite the partition table won't you be able to recreate the partition? or maybe make a new partition and somehow salvage the MFT?

as for the hdds, my warranty ends in ~20 days so i quickly filled out an RMA and WD sent out the replacements already (yeay WD!)

frys/output has a seagate 120gb for $50 AR and they have a 5yr warranty now, mebbe its time for me to get a new hd?

[RancidWAnnaRIot]

As far as i know.. you can't do that... true that your data is there, and the partition table is gone.. but as far as i know.. people always say.. once you get rid of the partition table.. that data will never be accessed again..

[Scorpionjwp]

I'm not sure about if you wiped out your partition table you loose all your data. I formatted my drive once and was still able to DOS command Dir and find files that I thought was deleted.
Yes I have had trouble with HD's clicking and a HD cooking one time or another. I was able to get data off a drive after it clicked one to many times or died on me, and no I didn't send it into someone to get my data off. I'm sure everyone has read Pc magazine, I just happen to read this idea out of the magazine, but has anyone tried the freezer trick to recover your data from your drives?

It helped me to recover at least 5gb or more of data from a dead drive.

[Yggdrasil]

ok so i got 2 new HDD's from WD, and the same problem is happening!!!

when i first installed it, the new hdd was on primary master (master jumper), i did it with one of the old hdd's and it clicked and wasnt detected, so i put it to cable select (still primary master though) and it was working fine.

a week ago, like the 2nd or 3rd day i had it running, my comp froze. then last night it started clicking again, and when i went to turn it off it froze at the windows logoff screen.

now it freezes when i try loading windows!
:confused: :mad: :(

can this be a problem with my PSU? Its an antec truepower 420W, and the heat from it seems pretty hot compared to my other exhaust fans.

or could it be my mobo is just too old and the IDE channels are fucked up?

or maybe my cables?

or, by some strange chance, the hdd's are still fucked?

help!!!!

[Scorpionjwp]

Hard drive clicking= dead drive, Rma the drive.
I really doubt that the powersupply has something to do with it, when the HD goes it doesn't give you a certain warning if just goes. If you have another computer handy try the drive in the other computer, if you boot all the way into window on the second computer and don't see the drive in the My computer, then it doesn't work. If you have windows 2000, right click on my computer, go to manage, go to disk management. If you are prompted for detecting a foreign drive, and activate it, then seeing the drive chances are the drive is still good.

I really won't say what is bad and what isn't, try the least obvious, but HD clicking continously usually means bad drive.

[Yggdrasil]

i did RMA the clicking drives.

now the new drives i got after RMA-ing are clicking!!!

[Scorpionjwp]

sometimes they get a bad replacement batch in. This happened to me last month, I had RMA a 60gb to WesternDigital after it had started clicking, I had no problem with this drive, had it for one year, then it died. I got the replacement drive back, hooked it up into my computer, I installed Xandros Linux the same day. Turned on the PC a few days later, click, click the HD died on me.
I thought like you did, I RMA the faulty drive, got a replacement and now the replacement gave up the ghost within a few days. And now you ask yourself, how can my HD do this even after I RMA the drive.

I Emailed the HD Company told them what had happened, within a week turnaround, they sent me another 60gb replacement. I recieved it, put it in my computer and what do you know, the HD worked smoothly, used my computer, and left it on straight for two days. No problem with the HD, So you might have to RMA it again.

Before you do, email the place where you bought it, or find out the company who makes the drive and email them. Tell them what had happened, with your HD and tell them you also RMA the first drive and got a bad one back.