A big part of diagnosing a hardrive error is listening to the sounds made by the drive. Here are some common sounds, and their causes, and most likely solutions:
Note: Use the Numbered Reference (#) when referring to a particular hard drive sound with us:
(1) Healthy Drive Boot – Hardware is likely fine (2) Healthy Drive Boot – Hardware is likely fine (3) – Damaged Heads 2.5inch – Head cleaning or swap required (4) – Damaged Heads 3.5inch – Head cleaning or swap required (5) – Loose Head Mechanism Assembly – Mechanism tightening or swap required (5) – Loose Head Mechanism Assembly – Mechanism tightening or swap required (7) – Loose Head Mechanism Assembly – Mechanism tightening or swap required (8) – Broken Platter Spindle – Platter swap required (9) – Stuck Platter Spindle – Platter swap required
(10) Stuck heads – Simple de-jamming required. Note: never open a hard drive outside of a clean room
