Lacie drive clicking then died at DVinfo.net

Nate Benson · October 1st, 2007, 11:30 AM

I have two Lacie external drives, one I've had for about 2 years and have had no problem. The 2nd, a 320gb, I purchased in May and haven't had a problem until a few days ago.

The 320gb drive started making a clicking noise when the drive wasn't running. The drive was on, but I stepped away for a short period of time so it went idle I assume. I thought the clicking was a bit odd, I've never encountered it before. That being said I quit out of Final Cut and unmounted the drive, turned it off and disconnected the power.

I went to work on a project this morning and the drive wouldn't even mount. It turns on, but wouldn't mount. I tried to run a disk utility on it and the utility says that I need to run a repair. I ran a repair and it quit about 1/8th of the way through, and an error came up saying that it couldn't complete the repair.

I have alot of footage on there for a client that I'd prefer not to lose, any suggestions on what to do? Has anyone else had this problem. I don't have disk warrior or any other disk repair software.

Marc Landry · October 1st, 2007, 12:32 PM

Hey Nate,

I have several Lacie drives, which have all failed at one point or another. I was always convinced it was the drives, but as it turns out, the power supply is the week link on these. It starts to cluck repeatedly and gets progressively worse. Lacie replaced the power supplies for me and the drives are good as new now. Try swapping yours out or get new ones. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that your drives are as good as new.

Good luck!

Andrew Plumb · October 1st, 2007, 01:00 PM

Clicking drive = Problem with the heads = REALLY bad.

There are services out there that will do the hardware surgery needed to recover the data, but it doesn't come cheap. Cost is relative to the value of the data you have on there. In each of the couple of times I've been hit by a clicker I've been able to retrieve enough of my data to not choose the recovery route.

If the data isn't retrieval-service valuable, you could try the freeze your drive trick.

Nate Benson · October 9th, 2007, 08:45 AM

Well I contacted Lacie about the problem. I assume because the drive is only 6 months old that it's still under warranty that they will simply replace it? Thanks for the feedback guys. I appreciated it.

Emre Safak · October 9th, 2007, 09:30 AM

I'm sorry to hear that; ---- happens. They will replace the drive but without the data on it. You know what they say about computer users: those that have lost data, and those that will. I'm sure you will institute a rigorous back-up policy from now on.

Steven Davis · October 9th, 2007, 10:03 AM

Hey Nate, will the drive show up in Hard Disk Management? If so, then you might use some software I've used called Get Data Back NTFS and salvage the date.

I've used it twice on two drives that would not 'mount'. Give it a whirl if you want, the demo is a free download, and if if see's the date, you could possibly get it back.

Mark Anthony · December 11th, 2007, 04:37 AM

Clicking sound is an indication of the hard drive failure and recovery from such failure is an expensive mechanism. As these drives are opened in Class 100 Clean Room where dust particles are minimum. There are lots of data recovery service company which provides data recovery from dead hard drive one such company which I am ware is of Stellar Information. They are capable of recovering data from virtually any kind of data loss situation, from logical media crashes caused primarily due to Accidental formatting of hard disk, Invalid Drive & disk specification, Accidental Deletion of Data even from Recycle bin / Sabotage, Data Lost due to a virus attack, Missing File/Directory Or Accidental re-partitioning to physical media crashes caused due to mal-function of Read/Write Head assemblies and PCB/Logic Board failures.

October 1st, 2007, 11:30 AM	#1
Nate Benson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Buffalo, New York Posts: 157	Lacie drive clicking then died I have two Lacie external drives, one I've had for about 2 years and have had no problem. The 2nd, a 320gb, I purchased in May and haven't had a problem until a few days ago. The 320gb drive started making a clicking noise when the drive wasn't running. The drive was on, but I stepped away for a short period of time so it went idle I assume. I thought the clicking was a bit odd, I've never encountered it before. That being said I quit out of Final Cut and unmounted the drive, turned it off and disconnected the power. I went to work on a project this morning and the drive wouldn't even mount. It turns on, but wouldn't mount. I tried to run a disk utility on it and the utility says that I need to run a repair. I ran a repair and it quit about 1/8th of the way through, and an error came up saying that it couldn't complete the repair. I have alot of footage on there for a client that I'd prefer not to lose, any suggestions on what to do? Has anyone else had this problem. I don't have disk warrior or any other disk repair software.

October 1st, 2007, 12:32 PM	#2
Marc Landry New Boot Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 10	Check the power supply Hey Nate, I have several Lacie drives, which have all failed at one point or another. I was always convinced it was the drives, but as it turns out, the power supply is the week link on these. It starts to cluck repeatedly and gets progressively worse. Lacie replaced the power supplies for me and the drives are good as new now. Try swapping yours out or get new ones. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that your drives are as good as new. Good luck! Last edited by Marc Landry; October 1st, 2007 at 02:21 PM. Reason: edit

October 1st, 2007, 01:00 PM	#3
Andrew Plumb Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 94	Clicking drive = Problem with the heads = REALLY bad. There are services out there that will do the hardware surgery needed to recover the data, but it doesn't come cheap. Cost is relative to the value of the data you have on there. In each of the couple of times I've been hit by a clicker I've been able to retrieve enough of my data to not choose the recovery route. If the data isn't retrieval-service valuable, you could try the freeze your drive trick. __________________ "The future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed." - William Gibson

October 9th, 2007, 10:03 AM	#6
Steven Davis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 3,065	Hey Nate, will the drive show up in Hard Disk Management? If so, then you might use some software I've used called Get Data Back NTFS and salvage the date. I've used it twice on two drives that would not 'mount'. Give it a whirl if you want, the demo is a free download, and if if see's the date, you could possibly get it back. __________________ What happens if I push the 'Red' button?

October 9th, 2007, 08:45 AM	#4
Nate Benson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Buffalo, New York Posts: 157	Well I contacted Lacie about the problem. I assume because the drive is only 6 months old that it's still under warranty that they will simply replace it? Thanks for the feedback guys. I appreciated it.

October 9th, 2007, 09:30 AM	#5
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	I'm sorry to hear that; ---- happens. They will replace the drive but without the data on it. You know what they say about computer users: those that have lost data, and those that will. I'm sure you will institute a rigorous back-up policy from now on.

December 11th, 2007, 04:37 AM	#7
Mark Anthony Tourist Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Mexico Posts: 2	Clicking sound is an indication of the hard drive failure and recovery from such failure is an expensive mechanism. As these drives are opened in Class 100 Clean Room where dust particles are minimum. There are lots of data recovery service company which provides data recovery from dead hard drive one such company which I am ware is of Stellar Information. They are capable of recovering data from virtually any kind of data loss situation, from logical media crashes caused primarily due to Accidental formatting of hard disk, Invalid Drive & disk specification, Accidental Deletion of Data even from Recycle bin / Sabotage, Data Lost due to a virus attack, Missing File/Directory Or Accidental re-partitioning to physical media crashes caused due to mal-function of Read/Write Head assemblies and PCB/Logic Board failures.