When I turn on the computer it gets to the screen with optios to select BIOS etc, then the harddrive makes a 'clicking' noise and the computer displays a PXE error message, so is there any way to fix this hard drive

That's pretty much the sounds of a dead hard drive. I hope you have a backup, or the money to pay someone to get the data off.

Alternatively, if you just kind of want SOME of the data off but don't really care if you do lose everything, you can put it in your freezer overnight and transfer files to another hard drive. People have reported getting between 2-20 minutes of working time out of a dead hard drive after freezing it. Long enough to get a few files onto another hard drive. It could also really break it, so make sure you actually want to take that risk first.

rather than paying to see if someone can get data off your drive, just buy a SATA/whatever your drive is to usb cord. Costs about $25 and its what pretty much any IT guy will use.

The problem isn't the SATA port, it's the actual header. The hard drive can't spin up and read data off the disk, no matter how it's connected to a computer.

:o, The main problem is, I can't really afford a brand new hard drive at the moment, I already have all the important, files backed up but I guess i'll have to function from my laptop for the moment

I think that puttig it in the freezer would destroy it, because it would have to melt at some point and the hard drie would get wet, and I was hoping I could permanently fix my hard drive

That's only useful with the freezer method. If your hard drive is clicking, it means it is constantly failing to recover from error and you won't be able to recover data by just connecting it via USB. Besides the freezer method, it means opening up the hard drive and trying to fix it or taking out the platters, hence why data recovery of dead hard drives is so expensive.


How can you not afford an internal hard drive? They are cheaper than a video game! (or can be if you don't buy a high-capacity one)

Also there is no way to permanently fix it. At best you can buy yourself a little time

You can't permanently fix it. If there's water to freeze, it's already in there.

Also, a hard drive that would allow you to use your computer is less than $20.

:(

Oh well,

I guess I was incorrect of my estimate of what a Hard Drive would cost I thought they were like $100

You can get a Caviar Black 1TB for less than $100.

If you look around, you can get a 500GB HDD for around the price of a game. 320 and 250 GB for significantly less, and a 160 GB HDD for about half the price of a game.

Not everyone is swimming in money for unexpected expenses. If my hard drive were to die now, it'd be a good while before I could muster the money for one, and that's with a pretty decent job.

Plus, if I remember correctly, JagarTharn is in Australia, and while our currencies are equal, I believe they're still getting the short end of the stick and having to pay tons for their electronics.

Melting is not the only way water can get inside a hard drive after you get it out of the freezer. It will be pretty cold after being in the freezer so the water vapour in the air will condense on it and in it and it will be wet regardless of whether it was wet before it went inside the freezer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

HDDs don't cost much. That's a 1TB HDD for $55.

Don't mean to come off snobbish, but if you aren't saving up for unexpected expenses, that's your problem. $30 is a trinket compared to how bad it could be (car problems, physical injuries). If you can't afford an unexpected expense of $30 you have bigger problems than worrying about your computer IMO.

Though, admittedly, I cannot comment on the prices of hard drives in Australia.

Managed to get the Desktop booting by tilting the Hard drive :shrug:

You should probably back-up everything still. It still sounds like a funky hard drive.

I think it's the motherboard, because it's not recognising the dvd drives either

I know, I know. But that's relative. I do save money for unexpected expenses, but a hard drive doesn't necessarily come to mind. I just usually get a pang of annoyance when people assume that what's not expensive to them is not expensive to anyone. But hey, it's not my thread. I know how much hard drives cost; I was gonna buy one myself 'cause I'm coming up on the three year mark of my current, but in my situation, it's "Should I buy this hard drive or have groceries this week?" Hopefully things will improve with my new job.

But yeah, not my thread. Also, I only really trust Seagate. I've had nothing but trouble with Hitachis, Toshibas, WDs, etc.

EDIT: This is IHaveAFatDog; I didn't realize g-ranger was logged in. I shall leave the thread now. I just poked my head in to play Middle-Class Advocate.

You would do well to not trust seagate anymore. They're way behind western digital and samsung in reliability right now.