HDD suddenly died, how to recover files?

[Sir Launcelot]

I was backing-up my files to an external hard drive, and the internal hard drive stopped working. I already opened the drive to check if it is the common needle stuck, it is not. The drive is a secondary storage of my laptop that is around 3 and a half years old. It is doing this beep and bops, is there a DIY repair for this?

[CommanderAlex]

Data recovery center that specializes in data recovery if this data is important to you. Otherwise, buy a SATA SSD. 

[Sir Launcelot]

23 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

Data recovery center that specializes in data recovery if this data is important to you. Otherwise, buy a SATA SSD. 

this is secondary drive of my laptop, it do have important documents, specially university related, so I don't think it is worth going to recovery center. so are there diy methods?

[whispous]

Just restore from your backup

[AbydosOne]

1 hour ago, Sir Launcelot said:

I already opened the drive to check if it is the common needle stuck

Well, now it's pretty well beyond repair. NEVER open a drive.

 

Seek out professional recovery ($$$) if there is anything you need, otherwise bin it.

[Mojo-Jojo]

Sad to say it's too late now. Chances of getting it back to work after you've opened it are pretty much 0.

[CommanderAlex]

3 hours ago, Sir Launcelot said:

this is secondary drive of my laptop, it do have important documents, specially university related, so I don't think it is worth going to recovery center. so are there diy methods?

When you replace the dead HDD, just use the backup you have to restore your files that you want back. There are no DIY methods to fixing a dead hard drive. I saw you just edited your original post and you said you opened the drive up, which is a huge no-no and best of luck getting anything off the drive now since it has been exposed to contaminants from the environment that you opened it in. 

[wanderingfool2]

4 hours ago, Sir Launcelot said:

It is doing this beep and bops, is there a DIY repair for this?

An repair no, but depending what happens when you plug it in and how far you get you could sometimes recover the data a few files at a time.

 

My go-to trick though is running turning on the harddrive upside-down or vertically.  I find that about 50% of a time it lets me at least keep the harddrive alive enough to backup the more "important" files.  [People at my work really need to learn not to store things on the local drive].  This is by all things considered a long shot when it's not worth paying for it to be recovered but you still want the data.

 

With that said, unfortunate you opened up the drive, which can be a very very bad thing to do in terms of hoping for a recovery.  Even a tiny amount of dust can mean disaster.