Dead TC Hard Drive.

Question

Level 2

157 points

Dead TC Hard Drive.

Unable to revive my older thread which is here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3533689?answerId=16877260022#16877260022

After all this time I finally had the nerve to open this old TC and take out the hard drive. Put it into a SATA HDD external box and prayed it would work.

Sadly, the drive, which has not been used since 11/11 is making a clicking noise. As soon as I heard it, turned it off.

Now I am back at square 1 wondering what to do next. It is a 1TB drive that contains family photos and personal data that is needed.

I really need a solution that will get this data back.

Thanks in advance for you help.

Posted on Feb 11, 2014 11:58 AM

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Answer 1

sam jones Author

Level 2

157 points

Feb 11, 2014 12:11 PM in response to sam jones

To further describe the sound, you can hear it power up cleanly, then once fully powered it goes, what sounds like Pisha Key, Pisha Key.

It will not show up in disk utility.

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Answer 2

Feb 11, 2014 12:11 PM in response to sam jones

A clicking drive is dead. "The click of death" It is probably a WD drive.. !!

There is nothing you can do at home. It will need to go to specialist data recovery centre.

They pull the drive apart .. remove the platters and extract the data.. this will cost you the better part of $1000.

The data you get back can be badly scambled so ask a lot of questions and get some quotes before you start.

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Answer 3

sam jones Author

Level 2

157 points

Feb 11, 2014 12:16 PM in response to LaPastenague

DiskSavers.com will look at it for free, but last time I got a quote they stated it could be as high as $5K.

I am in the US, any suggestions on who might be best?

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Answer 4

Feb 11, 2014 12:41 PM in response to sam jones

I am not in the US.. so you will need to get recommendations from others in the US..

$5K seems a bit high.. my friend here does them for around $1K. Look for a smaller outfit but they need a clean room or clean facility to open the drives.

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Answer 5

sam jones Author

Level 2

157 points

Feb 11, 2014 2:20 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks. The estimate is now between $1200 -$4600, we'll see. Very expensive lesson to learn.

I have 3 TC's. 2 are 1st Gen one is 4th Gen. Both 1st Gen pretty much bought the farm 18 months into it and the 4th Gen is making a clicking noise when it awakes.

I need to find a service that I can back up pictures, files, etc. Been looking all day and most just back up your computer, not external hard drives, etc.

If you are anyone has a reco, would appreciate it.

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