Solved Dead hard drive?

Smurfyy

Danny :)
Vista Guru
Hey guys, recently I repaired a computer for a mate of my dads.
I replaced the hard drive as the old one is "dead".
The hard drive is a Samsung HD501LJ, it had Win Vista Premium installed, it was supplied with a Dell pre-built machine, not sure on the model number.

So the thing is, the hard drive is "dead".
When I plug it into my external SATA Dock it sounds like it's spinning up, then like it's reading, then it just starts to click every second or so. Windows recognises the device, but says it needs to format it before it can be used, it done this twice out of the five times I've plugged it in.

Is there any way I can get the data from the drive? It's not mine, but there's a lot of files and pictures in there as the friend is a photographer.

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks guys :)

EDIT--
It seems the drive has 2 partitions, the recovery partition just popped up, it's showing that it's 10GB, the whole drive size is 500GB.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built.
    CPU
    AMD FX-4170 Quad-Core @ 4.2GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia geforce GTS240 1GB, 3GB shared memory. SLI soon.
    Sound Card
    realtek high definition audio, onboard.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19 inch widescreen monitor, DVI.
    Screen Resolution
    1440 by 900, 32 bit colour, 75 hertz.
    Hard Drives
    1 128GB Kingston SSD Now OS drive
    1 250GB sata main drive.
    1 160GB from old install.
    1 500GB for re-directs from OS disk.
    1 Seagate GoFlex External 1TB with backups.
    PSU
    750 watt.
    Case
    Foxconn TSAA699.
    Cooling
    4 fans.
    Keyboard
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Keyboard.
    Mouse
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Mouse.
    Internet Speed
    download about 60/65MB/s, upload about 3/4MB/s. Virgin Media
    Other Info
    ASUS EEEPad Transformer 16GB with Dock w/32GB class10 SD |
    Dell PE1950 II / 2xDual Core Xeons @3.00GHz / 16GB RAM / PERC 5i/R / 2x36GB SAS OS - 2x1TB SATA Data both RAID 1 |

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP-Pavilion m9280.uk-a
    CPU
    2.30 gigahertz AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core
    Motherboard
    ASUSTek Computer INC. NARRA3 3.02
    Memory
    3582 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory (4 Gig)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS NVIDIA Geforce GTS450
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition 7.1 Audio (HP drivers)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2408 24.0" (Dual monitor)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 * 1200, 1920 * 1200
    Hard Drives
    3*500 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
    Plus 2x USB (160Gig each) external HDD
    BluRay & DVD Weiters
    HL-DT-ST BD-RE GGW-H20L SCSI CdRom (Bluray RW) Device
    AlViDrv BDDVDROM SCSI CdRom (Blueray) Device
    TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-H653N SCSI CdRom
    Internet Speed
    40 Meg
Thanks Rich, will give it a try :)

As I'm typing this an autoplay box has just popped up telling me it's found another hard drive. Maybe it's not dead? Or this is it's final 'push' before it does die? lol
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built.
    CPU
    AMD FX-4170 Quad-Core @ 4.2GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia geforce GTS240 1GB, 3GB shared memory. SLI soon.
    Sound Card
    realtek high definition audio, onboard.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19 inch widescreen monitor, DVI.
    Screen Resolution
    1440 by 900, 32 bit colour, 75 hertz.
    Hard Drives
    1 128GB Kingston SSD Now OS drive
    1 250GB sata main drive.
    1 160GB from old install.
    1 500GB for re-directs from OS disk.
    1 Seagate GoFlex External 1TB with backups.
    PSU
    750 watt.
    Case
    Foxconn TSAA699.
    Cooling
    4 fans.
    Keyboard
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Keyboard.
    Mouse
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Mouse.
    Internet Speed
    download about 60/65MB/s, upload about 3/4MB/s. Virgin Media
    Other Info
    ASUS EEEPad Transformer 16GB with Dock w/32GB class10 SD |
    Dell PE1950 II / 2xDual Core Xeons @3.00GHz / 16GB RAM / PERC 5i/R / 2x36GB SAS OS - 2x1TB SATA Data both RAID 1 |
If it's clicking and allowing access, then it's probably just a rusty arm reader, believe it or not, the best way to fix it involves a hammer ;-)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    Intel Q6600 @ 2.8GHz
    Motherboard
    Evga NF78-CK-132-A 3-Way SLI
    Memory
    8Gb DDR2 Corsair Dominator @ 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 560 GTX SC FTW 1GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC888 7.1 Audio, Logitech G35 7.1 Surround Headset
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell S2409W 16:9, HDMi, DVI & VGA
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 7200rpm 250Gb SATA,
    Samsung 7200rpm 750Gb SATA,
    WD 7200rpm 1TB SCSI SATA.
    PSU
    Xigmatek 750W Quad sli quad core 80% eff
    Case
    Antec 900 Gaming Case
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9700-NT NVIDIA Tritium, Dominator RAM cooler
    Keyboard
    Logitech generic keyboard
    Mouse
    Razor Lachesis Banshee V2 Blue, 4000DPI
    Internet Speed
    16Mb Sky bb
    Other Info
    Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, Wireless Xbox 360 Pad, Wireless Xbox 360 Les Paul Guitar
Lottiemansion, I must have been posting my reply at the same time you did, and therefore didn't see your reply.
So far I've managed to get most of the files from the drive, all I've done is just opened the drive, which is E: in this case, and copied everything, including the windows files, to my external drive, which is I:.
It seems to have worked, am posting from my netbook at the moment so can't verify that it has copied them all.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built.
    CPU
    AMD FX-4170 Quad-Core @ 4.2GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia geforce GTS240 1GB, 3GB shared memory. SLI soon.
    Sound Card
    realtek high definition audio, onboard.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19 inch widescreen monitor, DVI.
    Screen Resolution
    1440 by 900, 32 bit colour, 75 hertz.
    Hard Drives
    1 128GB Kingston SSD Now OS drive
    1 250GB sata main drive.
    1 160GB from old install.
    1 500GB for re-directs from OS disk.
    1 Seagate GoFlex External 1TB with backups.
    PSU
    750 watt.
    Case
    Foxconn TSAA699.
    Cooling
    4 fans.
    Keyboard
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Keyboard.
    Mouse
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Mouse.
    Internet Speed
    download about 60/65MB/s, upload about 3/4MB/s. Virgin Media
    Other Info
    ASUS EEEPad Transformer 16GB with Dock w/32GB class10 SD |
    Dell PE1950 II / 2xDual Core Xeons @3.00GHz / 16GB RAM / PERC 5i/R / 2x36GB SAS OS - 2x1TB SATA Data both RAID 1 |
Looks like I've managed to get everything from it.
The hard drive also seems to be working perfectly, so maybe I'll be able to just put it back into the machine and it'll work.

Thanks for the suggestions guys :)

Solved!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built.
    CPU
    AMD FX-4170 Quad-Core @ 4.2GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia geforce GTS240 1GB, 3GB shared memory. SLI soon.
    Sound Card
    realtek high definition audio, onboard.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19 inch widescreen monitor, DVI.
    Screen Resolution
    1440 by 900, 32 bit colour, 75 hertz.
    Hard Drives
    1 128GB Kingston SSD Now OS drive
    1 250GB sata main drive.
    1 160GB from old install.
    1 500GB for re-directs from OS disk.
    1 Seagate GoFlex External 1TB with backups.
    PSU
    750 watt.
    Case
    Foxconn TSAA699.
    Cooling
    4 fans.
    Keyboard
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Keyboard.
    Mouse
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Mouse.
    Internet Speed
    download about 60/65MB/s, upload about 3/4MB/s. Virgin Media
    Other Info
    ASUS EEEPad Transformer 16GB with Dock w/32GB class10 SD |
    Dell PE1950 II / 2xDual Core Xeons @3.00GHz / 16GB RAM / PERC 5i/R / 2x36GB SAS OS - 2x1TB SATA Data both RAID 1 |
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