My external HD clicking not spinning!!!

Well its like the subject says, I have an external HD enclosure with a western digital 40gb HD. Its fairly new about 6 months, and i don't use it full time, only about once a week. When its not in use its turned off.

I went to use it today and it doesn't show up in disk management or my computer. I listened to the HD and its making a clicking noise and not spinning. I removed the sticker on the side of the HD and every time i hear a click the disk turns about 1 degree (very small). I disassembled the HD and the arm is not stuck and the disk is free to spin, but it just ticks away moving a fraction of a turn every couple of seconds. Is it dead?

 

If it wasn't dead before (it probably was tho'), I'm sure it is now that you opened it. You also voided any warranty that may have been available. Most hard drive come with a 3 or 5 year factory warranty, If the drive dies within the warranty period, you get a free replacement; your data is gone but at least you get a new drive. You can try running WD's diagnostic/repair tools on it, but I think it's gone.......

hd2k

 

Yeah, if you've opened the drive, you may as well just throw it away. Hard drives are assembled in clean rooms, because a single tiny particle of dust on the platter can cause it to break. Go buy a new one. The good news is that a 40Gb drive isn't really worth much anyway. You can probably get a 160Gb drive for the same price (or cheaper) as a 40Gb one.

 

Are western digital's HD's no good? This is the third one i've replaced, one is my dad dell, my girlfriends dell and now my external HD. Whats a good brand?

 

A lot of people claim WD quality has gone downhill. Seagate is probably the best brand as far as reliability goes I would say.

 

Yeah... Seagate! They have the best warranty at 5 years; to me that means that they believe in their drives and that the drives are high quality. Personally, I've had nothing but good results with Hitachi desktop hard drives too; their laptop drives not so much. Lots of folks talk trash about Hitachi, but they've always been OK as far as I'm concerned. The few times I've had to replace one under warranty, the whole process took about 10 days. That's fast for any warranty replacement....

hd2k