Is my ext.harddrive broken? (dropped, makes whirring sounds)

[wakkaday]

hi guys
i have dropped my ext harddrive - mains powered.
it makes whirring sounds everytime i switch on and when i connect it to pc. it doesnt recognise it.

i have important information on it. is there a way i can recover whats on the harddrive? is it worth opening up? to see if somethings become loose or is totally knackered by the sounds of it

thanks in advance

[haydnwalker]

I'd try it on another machine first. The whirring is probably the drive spinning up, however, there could be damage to the electrics if windows doesn't recognise it.

damage to the platters or heads usually make "ticking" or "clicking" noises.

You could try putting it in a sealed bag and into the freezer for half an hour, this should contract the metal in the heads and it sometimes realigns enough for data to be retrieved.

---------- Post added at 15:31 ---------- Previous post was at 15:31 ----------

If you have any silica gel (the stuff you get in new shoe boxes) that would be worth putting in the sealed bag too to prevent moisture

[Delta Whiskey]

Was it switched on when you dropped it, if so it's likely that you've bounced the read/write head and caused damage to the platter(s). If it wasn't on then it could just be a broken or loose connection inside the case. The hard drive inside the case will be a standard IDE or SATA drive, so you could take it out and install it into a tower system to see if it works without the external box.