Unresponsive HD204UI

[hddnovice]

Hello All

I have an HD204UI with the following symptoms:

[*]When power is applied, it emits a high pitched noise for about 5 seconds then there's a gap of about 1 second. It repeats this nine times, then briefly clicks and makes no further sound. Listening closely, the high pitched noise starts at one pitch before dropping to a slightly lower pitch. I can provide an audio recording if it would help the diagnosis.
[*]Unsurprisingly, it is not recognised by any host.

The disk is one of a batch that I have, purchased in November 2011; all of the others are working fine and have been stored and used under similar conditions.

The most important information from the unresponsive disk is backed up elsewhere, but I'd still like to recover the remaining contents of the disk if possible. The disk contains an encrypted TrueCrypt volume, so I would need a complete DD of the disk.

So, my questions are:

[*]Has anyone encountered these symptoms before with HD204UIs or similar disks? I've encountered quite a few clicking drives over the years but I've never heard any making the high pitched noise I hear from this one.
[*]If so, was recovery of the contents possible and by what means?

If you need any further information to make a diagnosis then please let me know.

Thanks!

HDD Novice

[northwind]

I believe heads are damaged and/or are unable to unmount from ramp and/or there is media damage to drive, but for the sake of it, I'd like to hear a recording of the sound.

If my assumption is right (heads) then it can be costly. It is also definitely NO DIY. But a good pro would most likely recovery it's data, in case there is no media damage (which in your case is likely).

Let's hear the recording.

[hddnovice]

As requested, here is an audio file of the high pitched noise.

[It's a WAV but saved with a TXT extension to avoid BB restrictions]

Attachments

Faulty_HD204UI.wav.txt

High pitched noise produced by faulty Samsung HD204UI HDD when powered on. This sound is produced nine times with one second pauses before the HDD falls silent.

(176.27 KiB) Downloaded 378 times

[northwind]

Hm, this sounds like stiction to me.

[hddnovice]

Having looked at information about stiction in other posts and elsewhere am I correct in assuming that there's a good chance of recovering the contents using a professional data recovery company?

If so, does anyone have recommendations of data recovery companies in Prague? I'd rather not ship the drive elsewhere if I can help it.

[northwind]

Yes if problem is indeed stiction, then there is a good chance a data recovery company will recover it. In fact, if heads are not ruined due to stiction and surfaces are intact, it will cost you less money than what you thought.

I do not know anyone in Prague, sorry. Don't know anyone in Czech actually
Maybe someone else does.