I have a Seagate Momentus ST9500420ASG drive that suffered a sudden failure. All evidence suggests that it suffered an all to common ‘click of death.’ A bit of Googling makes it clear that this model, and similar models that are only different on size, frequently die with the ‘click of death.’ I have bought an identical ST9500420ASG drive brand new, currently in perfect working order.

This is where I need the help of a serious hdd guru.

Since there has been an enormous number of Momentus drives of this and similar models that have all suffered a click of death failure, I’m hoping that someone has repaired one of these drives to recover their data.

What I’m hoping to do is to swap parts between the good drive and the defective one. I have done this before on larger, older drives for my customers. My greatest chance of success lies with knowing in advance which component usually fails in these drives causing the click of death.

A little about me: I have been a computer technician for over twenty years. I’ve recovered a lot of data for customers from allegedly failed drives. Sometimes I use the freezer trick; sometimes I slap them on the table to free a frozen motor. Sometimes I open the drive to spin the plates or move the heads by hand to free them in order to recover data before too much dust gets in. That sort of thing.

About the drive: The drive suffered a sudden failure with no warning. It can not be recognized by bios. External USB SATA adaptors can not recognize it either. When powered on, it spins up, clicks 12 times, spins down, clicks once, spins up and repeats this pattern.

What I’ve tried so far: I swapped the PCB boards between the new and old drive. The old drive spun and clicked the same repeating pattern. To verify that the drives where identical, and that the PCB board wasn’t defective, I ran the old board on the new drive. Strangely, the new drive with the old board spun up, clicked 12 times, but continued spinning and didn’t click after that. It also wasn’t recognized by bios. I am unsure if this means the drives have been revised, since the model number is the same.

Dell has an updated bios for this drive which they say fixes a problem with the drive making noisy clicking sounds while it’s working. I read in a forum that it also fixes the click of death. I do have a Dell but of coarse I can’t flash it since it’s not recognized by bios. I did attempt to flash the new drive. The flash app did recognize the correct type of drive, but stated the bios version was wrong for the upgrade. It’s either already upgraded or revised in some way.

Any ideas, suggestions, help would be greatly appreciated.

First of all the 'click of death' isn't a problem, it's a symptom. A symptom that can happen to any drive of any model and any brand, not just the ST9500420ASG.

Most often it is a head failure. Sometimes it can be PCB related on some brands. The key is in the diagnosis. You cannot merely swap PCBs as each PCB has information on it specific to the drive from which it came.

I'm glad no one I know has ever brought a drive to you...putting it in the freezer, hitting it on the table, opening and moving the platters around before too much dust gets in. I hope you are not serious about this? You do understand by doing this you permanently risk, and have probably destroyed, people's data.

If you need to recover data then you should contact a professional data recovery company. There are many reputable such companies and individuals in your country.

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You are serious?? This is how you treat other peoples sensitive and important information??

Twenty years experience as a computer technician does not justify the permanent and irreversible data loss I am sure you have and will cause by attempting to repair/recover such jobs yourself.

The only advice I can give you is to stop what your doing, forget all you think you know about data recovery and consult a professional company who can maybe enroll you in a partnership program.

Would you realistically try to repair your own HDD containing all your sentimental and crucially important information by using these 'techniques'? I think not...

After putting disk in the freezer, and it failed, did you try microwave oven?

Or, after slapping the disk on the table, and that didn't free the motor, have you tried the "blender" trick?

Get serious and don't gamble with people's data...

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SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

Thanks I was having a bad day at work but this made me
As you've probably guessed by the responses the freezer trick, slapping them on a table & opening a drive in a none cleanroom enviroment are big no no's

If you are serious & decide you want to learn more then start reading the posts here, theres a lot of people here willing to help & are giving up their free time. Word of advice though first make sure you use the search as people hate answering the same questions over & over & if then you dont find the answer post a question. Learning takes time & effort there are no short cuts.

Loki

My apologies. I thought this was an intelligent group of technicians.

Let me clarify a few things. I'll use small words so you can follow.

I am trying to recover MY data off of MY hdd.

All of the drives I have recovered data from I did after the customer understood and had turned down the option of professional data recovery. I did these jobs, which resulted in FULL recovery charging 55.00/hr to 85.00 per hour. They simply couldn't afford the expense of 500.00 into the thousands, so they had already decided not to recover their data. Then and only then did I attempt successful recovery using these methods.

If you aren't aware that some drives go bad due to heat, and can sometimes be brought back long enough for data recovery by cooling them, then you are not a technician that understands data recovery.

If you aren't aware that some drives suffer a problem with the motor sticking, and a slight jar will bring them back for data recovery, then you are not a technician that understands data recovery.

I have been using forums since you I.D.10 T's where in diapers and don't need lectures on reading posts and forum etiquette.

I will not be receiving replies to this thread; so don’t bother unless you just wish to entertain yourselves with your posts.

Have a nice life.

Backlacsh..

You need help.

We are, but some of the guests are apparently not!

Bosse

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Rescue IT Dataräddning Göteborg AB
http://www.rescue-it.se

Now THAT's what i call entertainment!!

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

You guys seem to have great fun when someone is experimenting on someone else data and asking for help on the forum. I see great posts in response to the obvious troll.
Why then there is little help to the people who really seek for honest advice?

I think there are a lot of helpful posts; this forum contains a huge body of information if you were to sift through it.

I think it is interesting that you have that impression.

On the other hand, many come here and ask questions that have been answered dozens of times -- they either don't know how to search, or don't want to make the effort.

One limitation is that people often don't describe a problem accurately; much of the interaction is to try to get clarification so that a long-distance diagnosis can be given first. That takes time and patience for all concerned.

Another limitation is that it's hard if not impossible to assess the knowledge and capabilities of a poster. What is a simple ROM swap for pros might be a board-destroying adventure for a DIYer.

Most important, pros don't want to provide "dangerous" info that might brick a drive if applied wrongly.

And lastly, many, if not most problems really require expensive diagnostic gear to accurately diagnose and to effect a successful recovery. This simply takes them out of the realm of possibilities for the DIYer.

And then we see trolls like this fellow, who sometimes make us wonder why bother at all?

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Agreed. But then why you bother to reply? Whether it is a troll, or a real individual with questionable ethics, the best method is to ignore it.

You raised other matters, I decline to discuss on this thread, but if you are tired with repeated answers, I suggest to open another thread so we can discuss how to make your participation more efficient.
My 1c

I was replying to YOU.

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Noticed.