External HDD starts click of death - will it last through copying data?

[Black Panther]

My dad's Seagate 2TB ext drive started exhibiting the notorious click. He'd be watching a movie, the movie would freeze for 10 secs and the drive will go click-clock.. click-clock.. and then the movie resumes again, only to do the same after 10 minutes.

It's only got like 500GB of data which he doesn't want to lose. I suggested that before he RMA's we buy another drive and copy everything on it.

Is there anything I should pay attention to in order to make sure the faulty drive survives through the whole procedure before quitting on us or am I worrying unnecessarily since essentially the drive still "works"?

[_JP_]

Is the HD a 7200.11 model?
Even if it's not, try checking for a firmware update. For that particular version it helped to cope with the issued it had. See here.

[HalfAHertz]

Maybe the hdd has developed artificial inteligence and has now gone rogue holding his movies for hostage and stating its demands using morse code? Take a piece of paper and a pencil, go listen to the clicks and translate the message using this[wikipedia].

Please keep us informed on your progress!

[kenkickr]

When I use to watch movies off my Seagate 1.5TB LP External drive with USB it would do the click/pause crap every 10-15min but since I've used ESATA I cannot recall the last time it happened.

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by _JP_

Is the HD a 7200.11 model?
Even if it's not, try checking for a firmware update. For that particular version it helped to cope with the issued it had. See here.

It's this precise model bought from same shop here. Wouldn't want to risk voiding warranty by updating firmware though. Drive was bought barely 4 months ago so rma is the route to follow. (ie I want to change the faulty drive not fix it, only make sure data is successfully copied on another drive)

Originally Posted by HalfAHertz

Maybe the hdd has developed artificial inteligence and has now gone rogue holding his movies for hostage (snip)

Very clever!

[cadaveca]

I had some fun yesterday showing some of the guys how software can pull up old data that some thought was gone, even after low-level formatting. Be very careful RMA'ing drives with sensitive data.

[HalfAHertz]

On a more serious note I think seagate had a direct rma process, where they also restore your data for you on certain defective hdds. But if it's not covered, then the limited warranty does not include data recovery.
From Seagate's site:

Q. What happens to my data if I return my drive to Seagate for replacement?
A. Our limited warranty does not cover data loss. Back up the contents of your drive to a separate storage media on a regular basis.
Data recovery is not covered under Seagate's limited warranty and is not part of the repair or exchange process. If you would like data recovery performed on your drive, it is available from Seagate as a separate service for an additional charge.
Make sure you complete full troubleshooting before this, so you can be sure the drive is broken.
If you return your drive to Seagate, your original drive will NOT be returned, and all data and software on your drive will be overwritten pursuant to Seagate's standard repair processes. For additional security, please remove all data from your drive before returning it to Seagate. You will be sent a recertified replacement drive. If you need the data on your drive, consider data recovery services, before you replace the drive.

more here

On a not so serious note, I recently read somewhere about some IT guy who had yo literally bake some 12years old hdds because due to their old age, the lubricant on the rotor had dried up and hardened and was preventing the drive from spinning.

[Batou1986]

keeping it cool helps, i usual seal them up and stick them in the fridge overnight before trying to recover data.

I don't know why or how this helps but for some strange reason it does.