IE7 install Broke My External Hard Drive

LeoxStryker · 11-28-2006, 04:29 PM

I installed IE7, clicked the reboot button, and was screwed after that. Windows was paused on the "windows is starting up" screen, and the hard drive was making "click click click" noises every few seconds. I turned off, removed it and windows loaded fine. Any time i plug it back in, the clicking resumes, and windows is somewhat frozen. It responds (you can still click the start menu etc) but any programs you try to run won't until the drive is disconnected. Windows detects the hard drive (and plays it's sound) but it won't show up in my computer. And everything worked fine up until IE7 was installed.

Tried system restore, but that's a fat load of good becase it wont run with the drive attached.

Suggestions anyone?

**cjessee** · 11-28-2006, 04:32 PM

I would suspect that the clicking noise would indicate a mechanical failure in the drive. Is the drive under warranty? Have you tried plugging the drive into another computer to see if it works? I would first try to rule out that the drive has failed.

LeoxStryker · 11-28-2006, 04:47 PM

It shouldn't have failed because nothing was wrong with it before and i've never had problems with it. And the warranty expired a while back.
Tried it on a laptop, and it's still doing the same thing

EDIT:
After leaving it running on the laptop for sometime a new hard drive has shown up, but is simply called "Local Disk" rather than picking up the name
I thried clicking it and after some time the following error appeared

E:\ Is not accessible.
Error Performing inpage operation

**cjessee** · 11-28-2006, 04:51 PM

Harddrives have a tendency to show their malfunctions when the power is stopped to them... Because of the internal workings of a hard drive, they may actually warp or break... but the drive may act normally until you shut the power off to the unit...this is generally when I find that I have a failed hard drive. It may force you to think that IE7 caused the problem, but it probably failed on the reboot. But if the drive acts poorly on all machines... it is probably a mechanical failure in the drive.

LeoxStryker · 11-28-2006, 04:56 PM

Just a note to point out that i edited my last post while you posted yours

LeoxStryker · 11-28-2006, 05:04 PM

device manager can detect the hard drive and says it's working properly...

**cjessee** · 11-28-2006, 05:07 PM

Go to start-Settings-Contol Panel-Administrative Tools-Computer Management. Under this you should see a "Storage" heading... check under the removable storage and disk management to see if the drive is listed there.

**cjessee** · 11-28-2006, 05:08 PM

I'm sorry... you just have to check under Disk Management.

~~Girderman~~ · 11-28-2006, 05:09 PM

The clicking noise is called "The Click of Death" and is a classic symptom of a dying hard drive. Go to the manufacturer's web-site, download & install the disk utilities for that drive and use that software to verify it's either good or bad.

LeoxStryker · 11-29-2006, 12:32 AM

Well it DOES show up in disk management. And it shows up as healthy (active). That said it does also say theres 100% free space, which it shouldnt have

~~Girderman~~ · 11-29-2006, 12:44 AM

Did you download and install the manufacturer's diagnosic utilities ?

**STINEHART** · 11-29-2006, 01:42 AM

Makesure you get all data off of it you want. The drives dying if it's clicking. Drives are getting really cheap rightnow. If your looking for a replacement let me know what your looking for and I can point you to a good deal.

LeoxStryker · 11-29-2006, 01:59 AM

can't seem to find a diagnostic tool at the moment. Tried looking on the official site for it (http://www.freecom.com)

It's a freecom external hard drive (FHD Classic 80GB)

Thanks for the offer stinehart, but i recently bought a 400GB drive, which is carrying the big files. This one just had the odds and ends, including all my music (which is a major loss)

**STINEHART** · 11-29-2006, 02:05 AM

I lost a 190G last week.. lost some stuff I thought was mirrored. Prices are nice right now.

Ticking is not a software issue.. Its hardware. You can't repair a ticking harddrive. Yu can try to recover things (a few tricks), but theres no salvaging it.

LeoxStryker · 11-29-2006, 02:11 AM

I don't really care if it dies, so long as i can at least recover a few things off of it first so all is not a total loss. What tricks are these then?

And can i get a diagnostic tool from anywhere else?

**STINEHART** · 11-29-2006, 02:27 AM

you can try removing the bad hard drive.. put it in a ziplock bag. Put it in the freezer overnight. Unwrap and reinstall fast. It might get moving parts to shrink enough to allow everything to run smooth for a short time.

LeoxStryker · 11-29-2006, 02:42 AM

Sounds a bit random, but i've got nothing to lose, so i'll try that tonight. Any other tricks i could try? And suggestions for a diagnostic tool?

And thanks for your help so far.

**cjessee** · 11-29-2006, 05:45 AM

I have had luck with freezing a drive... it works... but you had better work fast... they can run anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours after you do this. The only thing that I caution is doing it as a last resort.... 9 times out of 10, you only have one shot at doing this....after it stops working after that trick you are probably going to have a hard time getting it started again using the same method.

LeoxStryker · 11-29-2006, 11:31 AM

Thanks for the heads up.

Anybody else have any more suggestions before the hard drive gets the big freeze?

**cjessee** · 11-29-2006, 11:35 AM

Here was a helpful article that I stumbled across:

http://tech-hints.org/?q=node/3&page=0%2C0

11-28-2006, 04:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
LeoxStryker Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18 OS: XP	IE7 install Broke My External Hard Drive I installed IE7, clicked the reboot button, and was screwed after that. Windows was paused on the "windows is starting up" screen, and the hard drive was making "click click click" noises every few seconds. I turned off, removed it and windows loaded fine. Any time i plug it back in, the clicking resumes, and windows is somewhat frozen. It responds (you can still click the start menu etc) but any programs you try to run won't until the drive is disconnected. Windows detects the hard drive (and plays it's sound) but it won't show up in my computer. And everything worked fine up until IE7 was installed. Tried system restore, but that's a fat load of good becase it wont run with the drive attached. Suggestions anyone?

11-28-2006, 04:47 PM	#3 (permalink)
LeoxStryker Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18 OS: XP	It shouldn't have failed because nothing was wrong with it before and i've never had problems with it. And the warranty expired a while back. Tried it on a laptop, and it's still doing the same thing EDIT: After leaving it running on the laptop for sometime a new hard drive has shown up, but is simply called "Local Disk" rather than picking up the name I thried clicking it and after some time the following error appeared E:\ Is not accessible. Error Performing inpage operation Last edited by LeoxStryker; 11-28-2006 at 04:55 PM.

11-29-2006, 12:32 AM	#10 (permalink)
LeoxStryker Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18 OS: XP	Well it DOES show up in disk management. And it shows up as healthy (active). That said it does also say theres 100% free space, which it shouldnt have Last edited by LeoxStryker; 11-29-2006 at 12:36 AM.

11-29-2006, 01:42 AM	#12 (permalink)
STINEHART Aut viam inveniam aut fac Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Norman, OK Posts: 2,178 OS: OS X 10.6.1 My System	Makesure you get all data off of it you want. The drives dying if it's clicking. Drives are getting really cheap rightnow. If your looking for a replacement let me know what your looking for and I can point you to a good deal. __________________ Free 10MB Image Hosting \| Streaming Catholic TV \| -Smilies.- \| Report Suspicious or Suspected Terrorist Activity Here

11-29-2006, 02:05 AM	#14 (permalink)
STINEHART Aut viam inveniam aut fac Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Norman, OK Posts: 2,178 OS: OS X 10.6.1 My System	I lost a 190G last week.. lost some stuff I thought was mirrored. Prices are nice right now. Ticking is not a software issue.. Its hardware. You can't repair a ticking harddrive. Yu can try to recover things (a few tricks), but theres no salvaging it. __________________ Free 10MB Image Hosting \| Streaming Catholic TV \| -Smilies.- \| Report Suspicious or Suspected Terrorist Activity Here

11-28-2006, 04:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
cjessee Uh oh. Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 794 OS: Windows NT/2000/XP, Dictaphone, Windows 2003 Server	I would suspect that the clicking noise would indicate a mechanical failure in the drive. Is the drive under warranty? Have you tried plugging the drive into another computer to see if it works? I would first try to rule out that the drive has failed.

11-28-2006, 04:51 PM	#4 (permalink)
cjessee Uh oh. Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 794 OS: Windows NT/2000/XP, Dictaphone, Windows 2003 Server	Harddrives have a tendency to show their malfunctions when the power is stopped to them... Because of the internal workings of a hard drive, they may actually warp or break... but the drive may act normally until you shut the power off to the unit...this is generally when I find that I have a failed hard drive. It may force you to think that IE7 caused the problem, but it probably failed on the reboot. But if the drive acts poorly on all machines... it is probably a mechanical failure in the drive.

11-28-2006, 04:56 PM	#5 (permalink)
LeoxStryker Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18 OS: XP	Just a note to point out that i edited my last post while you posted yours

11-28-2006, 05:04 PM	#6 (permalink)
LeoxStryker Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18 OS: XP	device manager can detect the hard drive and says it's working properly...

11-28-2006, 05:07 PM	#7 (permalink)
cjessee Uh oh. Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 794 OS: Windows NT/2000/XP, Dictaphone, Windows 2003 Server	Go to start-Settings-Contol Panel-Administrative Tools-Computer Management. Under this you should see a "Storage" heading... check under the removable storage and disk management to see if the drive is listed there.

11-28-2006, 05:08 PM	#8 (permalink)
cjessee Uh oh. Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 794 OS: Windows NT/2000/XP, Dictaphone, Windows 2003 Server	I'm sorry... you just have to check under Disk Management.

11-28-2006, 05:09 PM	#9 (permalink)
~~Girderman~~ Troubled Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,096 OS: XP Pro	The clicking noise is called "The Click of Death" and is a classic symptom of a dying hard drive. Go to the manufacturer's web-site, download & install the disk utilities for that drive and use that software to verify it's either good or bad.

11-29-2006, 12:44 AM	#11 (permalink)
~~Girderman~~ Troubled Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,096 OS: XP Pro	Did you download and install the manufacturer's diagnosic utilities ?

11-29-2006, 01:59 AM	#13 (permalink)
LeoxStryker Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18 OS: XP	can't seem to find a diagnostic tool at the moment. Tried looking on the official site for it (http://www.freecom.com) It's a freecom external hard drive (FHD Classic 80GB) Thanks for the offer stinehart, but i recently bought a 400GB drive, which is carrying the big files. This one just had the odds and ends, including all my music (which is a major loss)

11-29-2006, 02:11 AM	#15 (permalink)
LeoxStryker Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18 OS: XP	I don't really care if it dies, so long as i can at least recover a few things off of it first so all is not a total loss. What tricks are these then? And can i get a diagnostic tool from anywhere else?

11-29-2006, 02:27 AM	#16 (permalink)
STINEHART Aut viam inveniam aut fac Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Norman, OK Posts: 2,178 OS: OS X 10.6.1 My System	you can try removing the bad hard drive.. put it in a ziplock bag. Put it in the freezer overnight. Unwrap and reinstall fast. It might get moving parts to shrink enough to allow everything to run smooth for a short time. __________________ Free 10MB Image Hosting \| Streaming Catholic TV \| -Smilies.- \| Report Suspicious or Suspected Terrorist Activity Here

11-29-2006, 02:42 AM	#17 (permalink)
LeoxStryker Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18 OS: XP	Sounds a bit random, but i've got nothing to lose, so i'll try that tonight. Any other tricks i could try? And suggestions for a diagnostic tool? And thanks for your help so far.

11-29-2006, 05:45 AM	#18 (permalink)
cjessee Uh oh. Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 794 OS: Windows NT/2000/XP, Dictaphone, Windows 2003 Server	I have had luck with freezing a drive... it works... but you had better work fast... they can run anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours after you do this. The only thing that I caution is doing it as a last resort.... 9 times out of 10, you only have one shot at doing this....after it stops working after that trick you are probably going to have a hard time getting it started again using the same method.

11-29-2006, 11:31 AM	#19 (permalink)
LeoxStryker Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18 OS: XP	Thanks for the heads up. Anybody else have any more suggestions before the hard drive gets the big freeze?

11-29-2006, 11:35 AM	#20 (permalink)
cjessee Uh oh. Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 794 OS: Windows NT/2000/XP, Dictaphone, Windows 2003 Server	Here was a helpful article that I stumbled across: http://tech-hints.org/?q=node/3&page=0%2C0