Ask HN: I whacked a HDD and it started working again

2 pointsquickthrower23 comments

An external HDD fell off the side of the desk, and once it fell it wouldn't work (made weird clicking noises then shut down). So after a few attempts I thought hell there is nothing to lose giving it a slightly firm punch a couple of times - and now it is working (like an old TV I guess!). I wonder what the explanation is?

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The explanation is that you should either dd it or rsync it somewhere before it's too late. Great to hear that it seems to work, still, though. Thumbs up backups down.

Thanks. I have already copied the delta between that HDD and the backup to my dropbox :-).

Oh man, my first TV when I was a kid... SLAP hey it's fine now, start to sit back down, starts jumping around again, sonofa...

You probably jammed one of the mechanical components, striking it again probably dislodged it.

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