WD1001FALS clicking noise, failure to start

[Dunge]

First of all I'm sorry if this has been asked times and times before on this forum, but I prefer to have a personalized diagnostic of my problem instead of trying to assume things from parts of other posts.

My "data" disk just failed. I knew there were some problematic sectors since over 2 years but when not trying to read/write on this particular sector didn't cause any problem so I just left a dummy file over it and never had any problem using the rest of the disk. SMART status was still "good" last time I checked a few weeks ago.

Yesterday I was installing something on it and it went through, but then it began to make clicking noise. Panicked, I restarted the computer. Now, since then every time I boot the computer it starts to make clicking noise for about 1 minute then stop. Disk still seems to be rotating afterward (slight vibration), but it's hard to tell.

The BIOS don't seems to see anything on the sata port. In Windows, if I go in "Device Manager", right click and "Scan for hardware change", it appear a "ATA Device", but that's all.

I doubt it since it seems to be an hardware trouble, but is there any application that I could try to diagnose something more?

Disk is still under warranty, but if it's possible I would prefer to restore my data than having a new one. I have some important stuff in there, but on the other hand not enough to pay over $500-1000 for a "professional service" restoration. That's where I found out about this site and the possibility to do a PCB swap to repair it myself, which would be awesome.

I saw a few sites selling "replacement pcb" which seems to be pretty cheap. I just don't know where to start, I know I have to find a similar one, but what exactly? Also, is it simply unscrew the board and swap it or do I need to switch a chip using soldering too? (I know someone who could do that for me if it's needed). A guide or something for this HD model would be appreciated.

Here's all the information I could find on my drive (more than not enough since I don't know what most acronyms means):

Front sticker
-----------------
S/N: WMATV0501506
MDL: WD1001FALS-00J7B0
WWN: 50014EE001032AB8
Date: 18 dec 2008
DCM: HANNHV2AB
LBA: 1953525168
5VDC: 0.68A 12VDC: 0.55A
R/N: 701567
Product of Malaysia
NMB: 003 Classe B
WDT: 701567 (B)

Back PCB
-----------------
Sticker: 2061-701567-400AC XW 6T09 1YMX 6 0006250 9256
Engraved: 2060-701567-000 rev. A

Thanks for any help you can offers!

[poehere]

Clicking drive means no PCB swap this will not help you out. If it is clicking the problem is else where. Could be heads hard to tell by what you have said. If you can not get a full diagnostic of the HDD it is hard to tell you where to go on this one. Sorry but a description of such can not say yes it is PCB or yes it is heads, or yes it is SA FW issues. You need proper diagnosis in order to move forward with repairing your problem. Just to get a PCB and swap out adaptive will not fix your problem on this one. Sorry

[BlackST]

The PCB myth is hard to die....

[Dunge]

Ohh ok sorry in this case, I just read PCB swap from every other threads here (and a few youtube videos) so I though it was the way.

poehere: What can I do for that "proper diagnosis"? What should I check for?

[harddriverecovery]

I think the key problem with a PCB swap is that it does work on a very rare basis. But unfortunately, this is very rare.

Still, most people assume they can work all the time and a result end up spending an extra hundred bucks and a ton of time looking for a PCB. Then, they find themselves with the same dead hard drive.

A clicking hard drive is (almost) always best addressed by a professional.

[Dunge]

I'm no basic clueless user, but if you say there's nothing I can do to diagnose it more without specialized machinery, I guess RMA is the only way now

[Dunge]

Oh god! I tried the last resort solution, what I never though would work. A few punch and extreme shaking when it try to start doing that clicking noise... after 5 tries IT DID WORK!! BACKUP TIME!!

[northwind]

A few punch and extreme shaking when it try to start doing that clicking noise... after 5 tries IT DID WORK!!

[pcimage]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mr_spokk]

Sounds like pure BS...

[dick]

On an ironic note...... this should be another for the toolbox.
So if it clicks its either the pcb or it needs a punch and extreme shake.

[SquaL]

Sadly some will fall for this.

[BlackST]

To me it seems supa-dupa fresh-from-the-oven sparkling BS.

( Or the problem was elsewhere so even an eyesight could have worked ! )

[northwind]

so even an eyesight could have worked ! )

Or meditation

[Keatah]

Percussive Maintenance.

The same thing can be accomplished by going to a Heavy Metal concert and putting your drive next to the speakers! As a bonus, all the vibration will shake loose any dirt on the platters..

[poehere]

No way I feel like we all need to wear waders now from all the BS that is coming here on this forum. Seems all have a super BS solution of what works now a days and they all have back thier data. I can not believe this one at all.

[Keatah]

Desperate measures for desperate times. A lot of folks can't afford even $300 US Dollars for the most basic of services, like a logical recovery of a small amount of files.

[Dunge]

I though I would come back here to see if someone replied to this thread and could explain what happened, didn't expect tons of reply thinking I'm a liar/troll though. I'm serious and honest here, I shook it when it was "booting" and probably turned the disk a little and the head managed to get in. Never had any problem with it since.

[BlackST]

I though I would come back here to see if someone replied to this thread and could explain what happened

Honestly? Then there wasn't "exactly" a problem before you gave the drive a good spank.

didn't expect tons of reply thinking I'm a liar/troll though.

Well... "too good to be true" then ? usually for MUCH LESS SHOCK WDs "va-va-vooma" ( = FUBAR = R.I.P.)

Never had any problem with it since.

I wouldn't be so optimist

[itchy]

Subject: WD1001FALS clicking noise, failure to start

I [thought] I would come back here to see if someone replied to this thread and could explain what happened, didn't expect tons of reply thinking I'm a liar/troll though. I'm serious and honest here, I shook it when it was "booting" and probably turned the disk a little and the head managed to get in. Never had any problem with it since.

Dunge, I feel for you, man. You just got shill slapped by the data recovery industry reputation managers who prowl this site to convince newcomers that nothing short of their professional expertise is allowed to be true.

But, frankly, all professions have their shill acts in one way or another. I can't count how many times "professionals" in various protected and unprotected disciplines have told me that something can't be done, you'll destroy it if you touch it, yadi yadi yada, where it turned out that they either had no clue what they were saying or they were just trying to hook me into some expensive & unnecessary service.

Having said that, and though not being an "expert" myself, if it were me, I would not trust that drive for any critical mission.