Trying to diagnose failed Toshiba MK3265GSX

[silvias]

Hi,

I have a Toshiba MK3265GSX laptop drive that causes my computer to hang at boot time if it is plugged into the SATA port, and isn't detected at all if it's connected via an external enclosure. After reading http://forum.hddguru.com/toshiba-mk6465gsxn-help-needed-please-t20792.html which sounds like the same problem symptoms, and http://forum.hddguru.com/toshiba-mk3265gsx-with-firmware-issue-t20878.html which is almost the exact same drive with a firmware issue, I was hoping someone could help me sort out what it might be.
I don't have much experience with troubleshooting hard drives but I would like to learn, I enjoy figuring this stuff out. The data on the drive is not too important to me, but I would be very pleased if I could recover some of it.

The last thing of note is that when I was using my laptop before it started freezing at boot, everything was really, really slow. I got it past the boot screen once after a very long time, but my Linux install failed to boot with a "bad MBR" or similar message.

I'm not sure what one of these drives is supposed to sound like when it's functioning. When it is connected to my computer via USB, it does spin up, but I can't hear anything unless I put my ear directly on the case, and then I hear a few quiet ticks and then a period of whirring, then the ticks again, then whirring...whereas with my perfectly functioning WD Passport external drive I only hear smooth whirring, no ticks. So perhaps it's not the firmware after all. I've tried to record the sound but all I have is a small handheld recorder that doesn't pick it up.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[northwind]

Yes ticking could be some mechanical problem (heads) in which case there isn't much you can do, really.
It could be lots of other things too, but in order for someone to tell for sure, proper diagnostics are needed.
On the other hand, if it is firmware related, there still isn't anything you can do i'm afraid.

Sorry