Clicking, beeping and dead hard drives

A regular click, a faint beep, a grinding sound, or silence where there used to be a hum. These are mechanical faults, and the most useful thing you can do is switch the drive off.

Ask about data recovery Call 020 7237 6805

What the noises mean

Repeated clicking

The heads cannot find or read the information they need to start, and keep returning to their rest position to try again. Usually failed or damaged heads.

Beeping or buzzing

The motor is trying to turn platters that will not move, often because the heads are stuck to the surface after a knock.

Grinding or scraping

The heads are touching the platters. Every second of running removes data permanently.

Silence, no vibration

No power is reaching the motor: an electronic fault or a seized motor.

How these drives are recovered

A mechanical fault means parts have to be replaced, using a donor drive that matches yours closely enough to be compatible. The aim is not to make the drive reliable again. It is to get it reading for long enough to copy.

Once the drive responds, PC-3000 takes over. It controls exactly how the drive is read: which heads are used, how long to wait for a weak area, when to skip and come back later. The healthy parts are copied first, so that if the drive fails again, as much as possible has already been saved.

Recovery starts with a professional evaluation, charged at £94.80. It tells you what has failed and what can be recovered, and you then receive a fixed price for the recovery itself.

Why speed and restraint matter

A drive with damaged heads that is left running can score its platters. Scored platters shed debris, the debris destroys the replacement heads, and at that point little or nothing can be recovered. Most of the drives that cannot be saved were recoverable when the noise first started.

We collect drives and devices by insured courier from anywhere in the UK, or you can post yours tracked and insured, or bring it to the workshop in London SE1. See how to send a drive safely.

Common questions

It clicked, then worked again. Should I carry on using it?

Copy your most important files immediately if it lets you, then stop. A drive that has clicked once is failing.

Is recovery from a clicking drive always possible?

No. It depends on the condition of the platters. If they are undamaged, the chances are good. The evaluation tells you before you commit to the recovery.

Get a price from a technician

Tell us the make, the model and what has gone wrong. A technician replies with a price and the quickest way to get your laptop to us – normally the same working day.

020 7237 6805

Creative IT workshop
Unit 1, 80 Willow Walk, London SE1 5SY
Monday to Saturday, 9am–6pm