Hard Drive Recovery

Mechanical hard drives that contain spinning platters make clicking (or ticking) sounds for different reasons. As part of normal functions, the drive will make clicking sounds whenever the computer or the external drive are switched on. You can even hear a recognizable rhythm to the sounds emanating from the drive when it first spins up.

 Beyond these perfectly normal sounds, a hard drive that clicks repeatedly can indicate a problem that could cause serious data loss. If your data is properly backed up, you can typically replace the drive with a new one and restore your data by transferring it to the new drive.

However, if you find that your important files were not backed up, switch off the computer or the external drive as soon as possible and contact Ontrack for a free consultation.

Standard hard drives that contain internal spinning platters require a cleanroom—a special static and dust-free environment that allows technicians to access components inside the drive housing. It is not safe to open a hard drive outside of a cleanroom and doing so allows dust particles to enter the mechanism.

Even airborne microscopic particles can cause the drive to malfunction, and the read/write heads will damage the platter surfaces. This reduces the chances for your data to be recovered and makes future attempts by a professional data recovery company difficult to impossible. If your files are irreplaceable and no backup exists, call us immediately for help.

A cleanroom is a static and dustfree environment that protects a hard drive's platters during the data recovery process. If a hard drive has suffered mechanical failure or physical damage, the sealed mechanism will need to be opened in a cleanroom to access internal components such as the actuator assembly, read/write heads, and the magnetically-coated platters that hold data.

Because traditional hard drives have delicate moving parts inside, they are more susceptible to failure than newer solid-state drives (SSDs). But, both types of drives can fail, making your data inaccessible and requiring a data recovery service professional to extract the needed files.

Some of the most common ways that traditional hard drives fail is circuit board or motor failure, impact damage, media damage (head crash), and “stiction” where the read/write heads are stuck to the magnetically coated platters.

Solid-state drives provide a more durable solution and are less susceptible to failure. But, like traditional hard drives, they too can suffer from electronic failure, firmware corruption, and simply wear out over time.

Historically, hard drive manufacturers assigned a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rating to their storage devices based on testing in a controlled environment with a number of continuously running drives. The MTBF was the manufacturer’s best guess as to how long a hard drive could function properly before it needed to be replaced.

More recently, manufacturers have begun using a different way to rank drive reliability known as the Annualized Failure Rate (AFR.) AFR provides an estimate of how likely a hard drive is to fail during a full year of use.

Traditional hard drives—those which contain spinning hard disk platters are currently rated to last approximately three-five years. Because solid-state drives (SSDs) do not have moving parts, they may last longer, but it depends on how much they are used. Whenever you purchase a new hard drive, it’s a good idea to review the specifications to identify its expected lifespan.

Generally speaking, you should consider replacing your hard drive every three to five years, particularly if you are using your computer for tasks that require lots of drive usage such as video editing, audio production, graphic design, gaming, or high-end functions in a server environment.

You may have come across the phrase “click of death” when searching the Internet for answers about your clicking hard drive. The term is frequently used to describe the repetitive clicking sound a hard drive makes when it is unable to access specific areas on the platters or because of firmware corruption.

Originally, the phrase was used to describe issues that were specific to removable media produced and sold in the late 1990s. It was later adopted by owners of hard drives who experienced similar symptoms with their hard drives.

The clicking sound itself is caused by the hard drive recalibrating as the read/write heads inside try to locate inaccessible data. In some situations, the problem is caused by the corruption of firmware, which contains programming data needed for the drive to function properly. In other cases, the problem is caused by damage to the hard drive platters, which is known as a “head crash.” In the latter case, discontinue the use of the drive as soon as possible and contact us for data recovery. Continuing to allow the hard drive to spin and click can cause irreparable damage and affect the outcome for potential data recovery.