Hey everyone,

I have two external hard drives that are not working.The first is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10. 500GB It makes a beeping noise, followed by a clunking noise. This video shows what I mean. The first half of the video is what it usually sounds like when I plug it in, but in the second half I plugged it in and it was beeping rapidly, then it hummed. That has only happend this one time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqZyNKPSGr8

When I plug the Seagate in, Windows doesn't recognize it in "My Computer", and it doesn't appear in "Devices and Printers." Something is consistently spinning inside it though, despite the other weird noises.

The second is a WD Passport WD800VE 80GB. This one doesn't spin consistently. It sounds like it's trying to spin, but it slows down before it gets going. It kind of clicks too. After about a minute, the drive stops trying to spin entirely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcAJvnbsj_M

With this hard drive, Windows doesn't recognize it in "My Computer," but it DOES show up under "Devices and Printers," even after the drive stops trying to spin. It comes up like this; I don't know if this is normal:



The drives are out of the enclosures because I tried plugging them with a SATA to USB adaptor with no luck. If anyone has any input on what these sounds mean please let me know!
Thanks

Regarding the Seagate, who opened up the top lid? And why? And under what circumstances?
Based on the fact that we don't know what the original problem is, who opened the drive and what did they do and that there's even screws missing from top cover, all remote diagnosis would be ambiguous. By the sound of it, though, I wouldn't be very optimistic, I'd put my money on failed heads, possible media damage and magnet alignment. Expect to pay big bucks to get it recovered (if recoverable at this stage) or bin it and move on.

Regarding the WD, the sound quality is a little messy, but if I understand this right, it spins up, makes no clicks or buzzes, spins down then up again and then a third time?
If so, it could be the PCB IMHO, otherwise there is some internal damage. But I would start with the PCB.
A better sound quality would help though.

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Edit: Now I noticed this part of your message, and this gives most chances that there is some sort of mechanical damage on this one as well.

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What is it with the current influx of bodged DIY attempts?

Never used to be this bad

Who is pointing these people to this forum?

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Wouldn't it be search engines and the economy? Everyone is seemingly doing their best to repair things rather than dispose of them. Furthermore, sites like YouTube, eHow, and cnet inspire confidence in all things tech. And people see google as the go-to site for computer questions. Or perhaps they do contact DR companies and balk at the price.

I personally think that tech has become prevalent and pervasive. It could be as simple as that.

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I took the drives out of their enclosures to attach the SATA to USB adaptor. Did I hurt the drives by doing that?

If was the case, the no it wouldn't but...

Either that's not quite true, or someone has done something to it and is telling you lies, at least on the Seagate.

In the first half of the video (which you say was "normal") we can clearly see the top label has been peeled off and there are screws missing. Also there is a nasty clicking and beeping sound, absolutely sure sign of head failure and "DIY bodging" NOT NORMAL SOUNDS.

The the second half, it seems to have gotten worse, more bodging?

May be possible for recovery by a GOOD pro, but not by DIY, SORRY.

You may not have bodged it yourself and are totally genuine in your belief your story is true, which is fine, but we see drives "looked at by a PC expert friend" every day... Bodged

In the WD case, we see a lot of this. I will lay odds that at least one of the heads has snapped clean off inside and rattling about causing havoc. Chances of recovery (even pro) are pretty slim usually.

I wish you all the bet of luck, you'll need it.

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I bought the Seagate off of eBay in high school. The enclosure did not say Seagate though ("Rock mobile disk"?) and that's what the drive looked like when I took the enclosure off the other day. It did work ok for a few years though without any problems.

The WD is pretty old; I'm sure I must have dropped or something it at some point in its life.

Thanks everyone for the input! From everyone's posts it sounds like they're going to be really expensive to have fixed... which would likely be cheaper of the two to have fixed right now?

What do you mean by "fixed"?

Do you actually mean fixed or recovered? They see not the same.

Neither are worth fixing, it would be way cheaper to buy a new one!

The Seagate is the most likely candidate for recovery, although I'm struggling to understand why your enquiring into the cheapness of each one. Do they both contain the same data?

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Oh sorry, I meant recovered! They have different data on them-- mostly photos. They don't contain anything super important, but it would be cool to get the photos back. I could probably only afford one at a time because it sounds expensive, so I was going to send the cheaper one in first and the second when I had more money.

I know now that buying a "brand new" hard drive off of eBay was moronic haha... But it was really cheap, and I was 16 and poor, so sounded much more appealing then!

Thanks for letting me know the Seagate would be my best shot!

No problem, I wish you all the best of luck!

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