My 1.5TB external harddrive fell from a desk while being in operation. Full of photos, videos with last backup 6+ months ago.

Makes a repeated short buzzing sound when powered up. According to all the other posts I have read, it is a seized spindle.

I am in SoCal - any good recommendations where I should take this drive - and what would be the ballpark cost? The data on it is irreplaceable..

Thanks!

It could also be stiction, which is much less serious.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Quite unlikely.

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Data Recovery Ireland

MOST unlikely. I vote for spindle.

About pricing : cleanroom work is required , maybe head change (impossible to guess until you see them) and there could be some media damage that may or may not affect data (impossible to predict) so it is not in the low end of the list. Get the drive preliminary diagnosed.

OK.

It is currently inside the external housing and everything. I was first planning to take it out of there and try to plug it into a HDD docking station to see if that changes anything. But after reading more, I first posted here.

I've never used any data recovery places before - you see a lot of advertisements on google when you search for it, but difficult to know what is a good value.

Should I just take the drive as is to some location? I am in San Diego, and there seems to be a lot of data recovery companies locally. Don't which are reputable and which aren't. I will continue reading reviews to figure out which one I will try.

Any recommendations more than welcome.

If it's buzzing, 99% certain it's a spindle motor seizure which unfortunately is definitely a DIY job - taking it out of the enclosure won't help. As far as pricing goes, it's going to be expensive - it's one of the more difficult jobs for a DR company to do. Best thing is for you to phone around and get a feel for what the company is offering. Ensure they have cleanroom facilities on-site and that they sound competent.

I'm sure someone here can give you a recommendation...

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Data Recovery Ireland

I believe CK meant to throw in a "Not" in there, aka "not a DIY job".

San Diego ? I have some contact. Check here later (I have to be sure they can handle a referral) or is there someone who can / will handle this case ?
IMPORTANT : DON'T LISTEN to any advice about TAPPING, SLAPPING OR BUMPING THE DRIVE FROM OPPOSITE SIDE as you won't solve anything, make eventually more damage and put your irreplaceable data at risk.