Clicking External Hard Drive

[steveP]

Recently i obtained a blank 10TB external hard drive and when i plugged it in it made a clicking sound. I thought there must be some way to fix it so i googled how to fix it and according to some websites and videos it was fixable by realigning the heads etc. I did not want to attempt this myself so i went to a local computer store and they said it was dead and nothing could be done. They did not even plug it in to try it. My wife said it was probably not worth there time and effort fixing it. So did I misunderstand the information i found online and it's not fixable or was the computer shop not helpful or not willing to help with this issue?

 

[johnb35]

It's not worth the time or money to fix it. A clicking hard drive is called the click of death. Technically if you had the same hard drive that was good, you could replace the heads and be on your merry way but its not worth it. So if the drive is new, its under warranty. If not, trash it.

 

[Trizoy]

Anything you put on that drive has a high probability of not being retrievable. You put things on a hard drive to save them for some purpose later. This drive has no value, or probably negative value. It's not worth your time.

 

[beers]

I noticed you didn't say 'new' external hard drive.

It's probably damaged, as per @johnb35 that's commonly the click of death, and exponentially more likely on laptop or external mech drives simply due to handling and physical shock.

Get a refund if you can, I wouldn't jack around with it.