Recovering Data???

[DRKM]

My brother recently knocked my 500gb Seagate barracuda 7200.10 hard drive off a table when it was running.

ANyway now when I turn it on it starts up fine but then it sounds like a ball bearing drops and the disk stops spinning and immeditly starts up again.

Is the hard drive pooched? Can I recover the data?

Thanks

[UndrgroundRider]

If the drive does not spin up then the only reliable way to recover the files is a data recovery service that will replace the head stack or swap the platters to a new drive. In either case, it's $$$$.

Even then, there's a very good chance the fall has caused the heads to impact the platters while spinning, which means irreversible physical damage. This of course depends on the height of the fall and what kind of surface it landed on.

My guess is that the head stack is damaged. The drives are designed to take a certain amount of shock without failing. From a normal table to a carpet or something, I wouldn't expect a failure at all let alone damage to the platters. Unfortunately you can't just order up a new head stack :(

[nich148_9]

To add to what UndrgroundRider said, I'd recommend not turning it on at all for the time being. Because the heads may be making contact with the platters, they may end up scratching them, making the data in the scratched areas unrecoverable.

[eblend]

Depending on how important the data is to you, i may be able to help you