Possible Hard Drive Problems

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novacaine98

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Alright about 5 months ago, we had a power outage overnight and I had left my computer on, I usually only turn it off when gone for an extended period of time. Anyways the next day when I tried to boot up my pc, it got to the Windows XP screen and then froze. I had to turn it off with the power button and then when I turned it on again, the bios wouldn't read the drive at all. I tried using at as a slave in another computer and not only would that computer also not read it, it also didn't read the master drive which worked fine whenever the slave drive was connected as well.

So I went out, bought a new drive and everything was fine until a couple of nights ago. We had another power outage and once again I had left my computer on. This time though the drive booted up just fine and runs however it makes this loud clicking sound now. I shut it down, properly, and then when I tried again earlier today, it booted up and ran fine but still made the clicking sound. I am worried that the hard drive is about to go out. Is this a bad sign?
 
A clicking sound is not good man. I'm trying to figure out why a power outtage would knock your hard drive out of wack to that degree though. Usuaully when a hard drive makes a loud clicking sound, that means it is officially "dead". Have you tried opening the case and actually putting your ear up to the hard drive and making sure that is exactly whats causing the loud clicking noise? If that is indeed the case, I would recommend backing up your files as soon as possible, and replacing the hard drive. For future reference, try getting a battery backup for your computer. Or just unplug it during lighting storms. Seems like you have no luck with storms!!
 
What you are describing sounds like a head crash, the platters can be damaged when there is a hard crash of this nature.

Have you tried to RMA the hdd?

I agree with LiQuid STATus, it would be worth investing in a decent UPS, not only will it keep the hdd powered for a short time, but will also provide you with a surge protector.
 
a surge protector is always a must for any computer, no excuse really they're cheap enough.

Just a blackout shouldn't damage the hard drive, probably a surge when the power comes back on or if the outage was caused by lightning then when it went down.

What make of Hard drive a we talking BTW?
 
MrCoffee said:
a surge protector is always a must for any computer, no excuse really they're cheap enough.

Just a blackout shouldn't damage the hard drive, probably a surge when the power comes back on or if the outage was caused by lightning then when it went down.
?

"Head crashes can be caused by electronic failure, a sudden power failure, physical shock, wear and tear, or poorly manufactured disks. Normally, when powering down, a hard disk moves its heads to a safe area of the disk, where no data is ever kept (the landing zone). However, especially in old models, sudden power interruptions or a power supply failure can result in the drive shutting down with the heads in the data zone, which increases the risk of data loss".

The whole article can be read here.
 
Depends how old the hard drive is really, back in the day they used to crash if you sneezed to near one :) I'm curious what make it is though as most modern HDDs pretty robust.

Edit: From the same article:

"Newer drives are designed such that the rotational inertia in the platters is used to safely park the heads in the case of unexpected power loss"
 
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