External HDD Failure: Fell on the ground and now only beeps

Question

My 3,5" portable drive fall on the ground from 40-50cm high.

• I connected USB cable to computer. It ran (I heard rotation sound), but the disk not shown under My Computer.
• Then disconnected it. While stopping, it sounds like a rotating object rubbing on a surface.
• On my subsequent tryings, HDD starts to make beep sounds periodically and no rotation sound heard.

What do these beep sounds mean?

Solution

As mentioned by @Raystafarian a trip to the freezer may help. However, I would leave the drive in the case and place it in a Zip-lock type bag and remove as much air as possible from the bag. 24 hours is a good start. I then wrap the drive in a heavy towel or something to insulate it and plug it in.

It may need longer or more than one freeze but this has worked for me many times. Unfortunately, not always.

If a couple of tries fails, then it may be time to remove from the case and eliminate the electronics in the case as an issue.

A recovery business may recover the data but will void the warranty and be fairly expensive. US$ 2000.00 last one we had recovered.

Comments

[Ramhound]

It means you damaged the device.

[ChrisF]

I suspect that it means that the drive is completely broken.

[Raystafarian]

Remove the drive from the casing, seal it in plastic and put it in the freezer. After about a day, try to boot it up internally and get the data you need off of it as quickly as you can. It's possible you've broken the enclosure, but it's also possible you've damaged the drive itself. Removing it from the enclosure will eliminate that possibility. Freezing it might shrink some parts and move them back into place, but only until it heats up again. The noises you hear make me think you damaged the drive, what is the beep series and model of the HDD?

[mmdemirbas]

Thanks. 3TB Seagate GoFlex Desk. Beep intervals are about 1sec. This is not my boot disk, it is an external disk. Actually, warranty period continues, but they only replace the disk without recovering data.

[Raystafarian]

And the computer doesn't recognize the drive via USB so you can't run troubleshooting. You have to determine if you want to remove it from the case and possibly void the warranty to recover the data, or if you want to send it for a new drive.

[mmdemirbas]

Yes, computer doesn't recognize disk. To recover my data, it is OK to make warranty void. But, I'm not sure if I can achieve recovery myself. I read some forum posts talking about need to cleanrooms and professionals.

[user]

For a likely explanation of the "rubbing" sound, see head crash.