Diagnose this sound?

[Oldmanstan]

Hi friendos.

Long story short. Old iMac wouldn't boot, made a weird noise. Data is more important than the machine (specifically, one audio recording).

Ripped the HDD out, put it in a 3.5mm USB enclosure. Doesn't mount ...same noise.

It's a very specific sound. I'm sure this might sound familiar to one of you professionals: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nUm7b1AAcjZO5ynC_NOE0o9MgsdjSskg/view?usp=sharing

Fingers crossed that there might be a fix. Also emotionally ready to hear that it's unsalvageable.

Thanks in advance for your wisdom!

[mr_spokk]

Thats an WD clicking...what model, please upload picture of both sides, or write model from label + pub number (etched).
Could be a quick-fix by faulty pub or it could be heads.

[Oldmanstan]

Thank you for taking the time to stop by!

If I'm reading correctly, it is a Hitachi HDS721010KLA330. Photos here: https://imgur.com/a/SKxDYnP

[mr_spokk]

Yeah, on a second listen the heads clicked to fast to be a WD...
So the problem is most likely bad head(s)...a not a pcb problem.