I recently did a clean install of Windows 10 on my laptop and want to check for restore points on my old external hard drive, but it's not working right. It keeps beeping every couple of seconds. I opened it up to see if the reader arm was stuck, but it wasn't. The disk spins normally, and the arm keeps moving back and forth across its full range. Is it possible to repair this drive? Is it even worth the effort? It's not a huge deal if it ends up being junk since I have my files backed up in other places, but I'd like to check for the restore point if it's an easy fix.
1 Answer
From what you've described, it sounds like the drive might be on its way out. The beeping usually indicates it's having trouble reading the data, which is not a good sign. If the reader arm is moving, that's somewhat hopeful, but it can still mean there are underlying issues with the drive or the platters themselves. If you don't have super important data you need to recover, you might want to consider replacing it instead of trying repairs.
Yeah, beeping often points to a hardware failure. If you really want to access what’s on there, you could look into professional data recovery services, but those can get pricey.