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    Windows Data Recovery- Professional

    Hard Disk Making Clicking Noises and Inaccessible, How Do I Recover My Files?


    Table of Content

      Nowadays, with the increasing development of technology; hard drives are also improving, including their storage capacity, speed, compact size, etc. However, due to the higher frequency of usage, these storage drives show issues at times and clicking noise is included as one of those major issues.

      Normally, these computer storage drives are quiet and steady, but in case of any physical damages or logical corruption, they can begin to make noise.

      There are a number of different hard drive clicking sounds with different reasons. Usually, the older hard drives (whether they are external or internal) have the tendency to create clicking sounds, but when it comes to a new hard drive there could be different causes.

      Some type of clicking noise are due to software or driver issues, some of them due to hardware issues, and sometimes due to mechanical faults of the hard drive. The users must be able to differentiate normal noises from detrimental or abnormal noises.

      In case your hard drive is making noises, you should identify it immediately and try to recover data from this clicking hard drive. Usually, when a hard drive starts making a clicking noise and there is a logical reason behind it, and subsequently it will not be recognized by the operating system after system restart. At this time you should check whether your hard drive is in working state or dead due to any physical damages.

      If there is any logical reason then it can surely be recovered with the help of a data recovery software.

      Most of the times there are four probable causes for clicking noise of a hard drive:

      1. The insufficient power supply is a very common cause of noise in the hard drive. It mostly happens when you have connected multiple devices (including the HDD) to a single port.
      2. Physical depreciation of the hard drive which results from either simple issues or damage such as a physical shock or trauma.
      3. A hard drive may be failed due to the faulty data cables, or incorrect drivers installed.
      4. A crashed hard drive.

      Subsequent fixes people have used to recover data from clicking hard drive

      1. Check whether the hard drive is getting enough power or not. You can do it by plugging the power adapter directly into the power supply. In case it is engaged with multiple devices plugged into it, then you can connect the drive to a different power outlet.
      2. Replace the data cable with the new one and turn on the drive. Now, if it does not make any noise, then the data cable might be faulty.
      3. In case the drive still makes noises, then there is a high possibility the drive is failing and needs to be replaced.

      If your hard drive is not dead and is recognized by the BIOS, but still inaccessible, then you should surely consider a reliable data recovery tool in order to recover your complete data.

      There are plenty of data recovery software available which are capable to recover from noisy hard drives. However, all data recovery tools are not compatible with every type of hard drive, therefore you should be sure about the tool, else you can end up losing all of the data stored on your hard drive.

      Here, we have mentioned about a reliable data recovery software that will surely work and retrieve your hard drive’s data. Stellar Data Recovery Professional is a proficient utility in order to restore lost, deleted or formatted hard drive data in few clicks. This professional recovery software is capable of recovering inaccessible data from any type of external or internal storage media.

      Detailed steps to recover data from noisy hard drive using Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Windows

      Free download
      • Run the software on the Windows based system and connect the problem hard drive (you can use the second slot of the PC to connect internal hard drive).
      • Check the box for required data from the software interface and click Next.
      Stellar
      • You’ll reach to the Recover From interface where you can choose a location, from where, data can be retrieved.
      • Press Scan.
      Stellar
      • On the completion of the scanning progress, the resultant file/folders will appear in the software interface.

      Note: You can switch the Preview tab ON/OFF.

      Stellar
      • Select a required file you want to recover and click on the Recover Tab at the right bottom of the software interface.
      Stellar
      • A pop-up window will appear asking you for selecting a location for saving your recovered files.
      Stellar
      • Choose your destination location and enjoy your recovered data.
      Stellar

      This tool has the capability to provide you 100% recovery of your lost, inaccessible and deleted files. If your hard disk is making clicking noises but showing in BIOS, then this software could be your best choice to recover the stored data.

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      About The Author

      Oliver Powell linkdin

      Oliver Powell is a Data Recovery Expert at Stellar®. He is a passionate technology blogger & content creator, He explores new applications and has deep understanding of data recovery. He has experience in Windows & Mac data recovery domain.

      66 comments

      1. Hello. My hard drive is giving a clicking sound and not detected on systems. Not even showing on diskmangement. What do i do.

        1. Thanks for contacting Stellar Data Recovery.

          Clicking sound on the hard drive usually connected with the physical error which can be the best deal by data recovery experts (service).
          We recommend contacting either Stellar Data Recovery service team or any other experts near to your location.

      2. Hello.
        My Toshiba 1TB external hard disk drive started making the click of death sound yesterday after I accidentally dropped heavy material on it. I attempted to connect it several times to my laptop but it only clicks on, never boots up to file explorer. I checked under device manager and disk manager and I can see the device, however it doesn’t respond to any command to run or open. Under disk management, it appears as ‘Not Allocated’. Do I need a software recovery or a specialist to look into this, please?

        1. Hello Ema,

          Thanks for contacting Stellar Data Recovery!

          Sorry to hear about your external hard disk drive.

          The clicking sound is usually related to the physical error in the hard disk drive, for that, we recommend to go to data recovery specialist. You can contact our in-lab support team at support[@]stellarinfo[.]com

      3. Hello,
        Like others here, my external hard drive fell & now makes a clicking noise when powered on.
        I notice you recommend your recovery software to some people with this problem and recommend a data recovery specialist to others with what seems like the same problem.
        I’m a little confused & not sure how to proceed. I don’t want to spend hundreds on a specialist if the software will get my data back. But. I don’t want to risk possibly damaging data buy running software on the drive.
        Thanks for your help.

        1. Hello Bob,

          Sorry to hear about your external hard drive and we do understand the importance of this data for you.

          The method of recovery totally depends on whether it is a physical error or logical error of hard drive. Since it was a case of falling hard drive which produces clicking noise, it was mostly seen that data recovery services have better recovery chances.

      4. I have a WD Elements 1 TB hard drive. I connected it to the laptop recently and it just wouldnt open. Windows 7 recognized it as Local Disk G instead of calling it Elements like it normally does. I have a ton of really important data on it, how can i recover all of it? Also if my laptop doesnt have 1 TB free where do i recover the data?

        1. Hello Faiq,

          Thank you for contacting Stellar Data Recovery.

          Kindly download Stellar Windows Data Recovery Professional from the below mentioned link:

          Download Link

          Please follow the below mentioned steps to perform the scan on the drive:

          1. Run Stellar Windows Data Recovery.
          2. From Select What to Recover screen, select the type of data i.e. Everything, Documents, Folders & Emails or Multimedia Files, you want to recover.
          3. Click on Next.
          4. On Select Location screen, select Can’t Find Drive from Other Locations.
          5. Click on ‘Scan’ button.
          6. In the Select Drive section all the hard drives connected to the system are listed with their details. From this section, choose a hard drive you want to scan for lost partitions and click Search. A scan for lost or deleted partitions will be performed in the selected disk or drive.
          7. Any ‘lost partition’ detected, will be listed in the Partition Found section
          8. From the list of partitions found, select any desired partition and click Scan to continue with the recovery process.

          Note: If you can’t find your desired partition in the Partition Found section, you can choose Deep Scan option to perform a comprehensive scan of the selected drive for deleted or lost partition.

      5. My laptop’s hdd is not detecting by bios most of the time. I m also getting some clicking noise. But when i boot in with kali linux live persistence then it shows up. Really fraustrated by the issue. Hope to find a permanent solution

        1. Hello Asif,

          Thank you for contacting Stellar Data Recovery.

          As you are getting a clicking noise from the drive so it physically damaged. We recommend that you do not use your drive as it may get further damaged.

          We provide data recovery services to recover the data from the physically damaged hard drives. The data will be recovered in our ‘Class 100 Clean Room Lab’. Please write to our support team on support@stellarinfo.com so that they can assist you with Data Recovery Services.

      6. Just ran the “free” Stellar Data Recovery tool and it found 1.56 GB of recoverable data on an almost full 500 GB hard drive, at which point it stopped being “free” and I was told I needed to pay $99 in order to recover the data. An hour of my life wasted – thanks for that.

      7. Hello sir can assist me in don’t know what happened to my drive 4-5 days ago it started making clicking sound during boot up of Oscar after soma time it runs smoothly. so I reckon that sound I removed it now I am using different hard drive and using it it is working smooth but after several days I plug that hard drive thought to backup files but it doesn’t boot it , after that I went to see my hard drive in bios setup it is not recognising at all .so please tell me sir how to recover that dead hard drive. either to connect to present hard drive which I am running Windows 10 pro and solve the issue or I have to use other system.for data recovery.

        1. Dear Mobasshir,

          As per your query, there is clicking noise coming from your hard drive. It is highly possible that drive is physically damaged and we recommend you not to connect the drive to the system as it may get further damaged.

          You can avail our data recovery services to recover the data from the physically damaged drive. Please write to support[at]stellarinfo.com so that our support team can assist you further.

      8. My laptop fell and now it won’t boot and there is a click or sticking sound every 3 seconds coming from the hard drive. I tried connecting another hard drive and everything else seems to be ok with the computer. It is clear that it experienced shock from falling. Is it possible to recover data from the hard drive?

        1. Hello Daina,

          Sorry to hear about your laptop

          It seems that your drive is physically damaged and we recommend you not to connect the drive to the system as it may get further damaged.

          You can avail our data recovery services to recover the data from the physically damaged drive. Please write to support@stellarinfo.com so that our support team can assist you further.

      9. Hey,
        Just wondering if this software is able to recover the system restore partition of a Toshiba laptop hdd that has failed and whether I can then just copy that partition over to a replacement hdd to restore the laptop using the product key stored in the bios? I’ve used the software and it recognizes the partitions so the data is visible I just want ensure that I can actually use the data to carry out a restore of Windows 8 Home on a fresh hdd before I actually purchase the software,
        Thanks in advance.

        1. Hello Daniel,

          As you have performed the system restore on your drive so chances of recovery are less due to the overwritten activity performed on the drive.

          Software recovers the data in the same manner as shown in the preview window. You can preview the files in our software to check the possibility of recovery. Once you are satisfied with the preview shown in the software then you can purchase it to save the recovered files.

          Our software can save the recovered files however it cannot perform a restore on your drive.

          Best Regards
          Team Stellar Data Recovery

      10. Since being a professor of a reputed university in the state. I always take soft copies of my lectures in my WD external hard disk. It was easy for me to share with my students. The disk is very frequently used which makes it more prone to failures. On that particular day, I forgot to take backup of my data and suffered a data inaccessible problem. On the recommendation of one of my student, I give a try to use Stellar Data Recovery software. Recovered all my data back. Cheers!

        1. Hello Christina,

          Thank you, Professor, for sharing your experience with us. We really appreciate it.

          Regards
          Team Stellar Data Recoverey

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