Strange WD External HD Beeps

princeofnam · 05-30-2009, 02:49 PM

Recently I've had a strange problem. When I plug my 20 GB WD External HD in, the computer recognizes the HD, but it doesn't show up under my computer. If I listen to my HD when I plug in, it'll give me three beeping noises and then give up. Does anyone know if that's indicative of anything?

Thanks

**raptor_pa** · 05-30-2009, 03:59 PM

Anything here sound like it? My guess owuld be preamp or spindle/motor issues
http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php

princeofnam · 05-30-2009, 05:57 PM

It sounded most like :

Western Digital laptop hard drive with stuck spindle trying to spin up with siren.

How would one fix that?

**raptor_pa** · 05-30-2009, 06:56 PM

If that is the actual erro, that is a job for a pro. Would require an identical donor drive and moving the platters, head stack and circuit board to the donor HDA in a clean room. Probably talking about $1000 at a minimum. Before I sent it out tho, I would remove the actual drive from the enclosure and attach it directly to a PC just to make sure the problem isn't caused by low current from teh USB enclosure.. If it does spin up and is recognized as a slave on a desktop, then immediately copy your data off to another drive.

princeofnam · 05-30-2009, 07:23 PM

the problem happened right after i dropped it though, and before that I never had usb problems. could it have come up later?

**raptor_pa** · 05-30-2009, 07:28 PM

If you dropped the drive, then in all likelihood it is a spindle issue. Knowing that, do not attempt to spin the drive up if you are going to send it for recovery, you could be doing more damage to the platter surface making chances of recovery less.

princeofnam · 05-30-2009, 07:32 PM

there's probably no chance i'm going to send it for recovery. the loss is saddening, but not $1000 saddening. oh well

princeofnam · 05-30-2009, 07:33 PM

i did have the data on a drive of a computer i once owned. i deleted all data and emptied the trash can. i doubt that drive has really been touched since i last owned it. simple data recovery programs could restore my files right?

**raptor_pa** · 05-30-2009, 07:46 PM

If you just deleted the data, then yes they could, if you formatted it, you could get the files back but may not get the filenames and directories. So long as nothing has been written to the drive, and you didn't delete with one of the secure deletion programs or zero wiped the disk, then yes you should be able to get the data back from that other drive.

princeofnam · 05-31-2009, 03:03 PM

thanks! do you have any suggestions for good data recovery programs? i've seen several, but it's hard to filter through the ones that'd actually be effective and easy to use.

**raptor_pa** · 05-31-2009, 04:10 PM

Freeware, you could try recuva, my personal favorite is r-studio, which is about $50.00 US but in demo mode it will show you the files it can recover.

princeofnam · 05-31-2009, 11:39 PM

i ran a scan, and noticed there were about 10 "recognized" subdirectories. i also noticed that each of them seemed identical. i'm not sure what to do with this observation. is that in fact true?

**raptor_pa** · 06-01-2009, 05:05 AM

Sounds like a scan with r-studio - those are recognized possible partitions, start witht he grren or yellow ones, best chance that is intact.

05-30-2009, 02:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
princeofnam Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 7 OS: Windows Vista	Strange WD External HD Beeps Recently I've had a strange problem. When I plug my 20 GB WD External HD in, the computer recognizes the HD, but it doesn't show up under my computer. If I listen to my HD when I plug in, it'll give me three beeping noises and then give up. Does anyone know if that's indicative of anything? Thanks

05-30-2009, 03:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,820 OS: XP	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps Anything here sound like it? My guess owuld be preamp or spindle/motor issues http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php __________________

05-30-2009, 05:57 PM	#3 (permalink)
princeofnam Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 7 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps It sounded most like : Western Digital laptop hard drive with stuck spindle trying to spin up with siren. How would one fix that?

05-30-2009, 06:56 PM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,820 OS: XP	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps If that is the actual erro, that is a job for a pro. Would require an identical donor drive and moving the platters, head stack and circuit board to the donor HDA in a clean room. Probably talking about $1000 at a minimum. Before I sent it out tho, I would remove the actual drive from the enclosure and attach it directly to a PC just to make sure the problem isn't caused by low current from teh USB enclosure.. If it does spin up and is recognized as a slave on a desktop, then immediately copy your data off to another drive. __________________

05-30-2009, 07:23 PM	#5 (permalink)
princeofnam Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 7 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps the problem happened right after i dropped it though, and before that I never had usb problems. could it have come up later?

05-30-2009, 07:28 PM	#6 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,820 OS: XP	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps If you dropped the drive, then in all likelihood it is a spindle issue. Knowing that, do not attempt to spin the drive up if you are going to send it for recovery, you could be doing more damage to the platter surface making chances of recovery less. __________________

05-30-2009, 07:32 PM	#7 (permalink)
princeofnam Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 7 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps there's probably no chance i'm going to send it for recovery. the loss is saddening, but not $1000 saddening. oh well

05-30-2009, 07:33 PM	#8 (permalink)
princeofnam Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 7 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps i did have the data on a drive of a computer i once owned. i deleted all data and emptied the trash can. i doubt that drive has really been touched since i last owned it. simple data recovery programs could restore my files right?

05-30-2009, 07:46 PM	#9 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,820 OS: XP	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps If you just deleted the data, then yes they could, if you formatted it, you could get the files back but may not get the filenames and directories. So long as nothing has been written to the drive, and you didn't delete with one of the secure deletion programs or zero wiped the disk, then yes you should be able to get the data back from that other drive. __________________

05-31-2009, 03:03 PM	#10 (permalink)
princeofnam Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 7 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps thanks! do you have any suggestions for good data recovery programs? i've seen several, but it's hard to filter through the ones that'd actually be effective and easy to use.

05-31-2009, 04:10 PM	#11 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,820 OS: XP	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps Freeware, you could try recuva, my personal favorite is r-studio, which is about $50.00 US but in demo mode it will show you the files it can recover. __________________

05-31-2009, 11:39 PM	#12 (permalink)
princeofnam Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 7 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps i ran a scan, and noticed there were about 10 "recognized" subdirectories. i also noticed that each of them seemed identical. i'm not sure what to do with this observation. is that in fact true?

06-01-2009, 05:05 AM	#13 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,820 OS: XP	Re: Strange WD External HD Beeps Sounds like a scan with r-studio - those are recognized possible partitions, start witht he grren or yellow ones, best chance that is intact. __________________