Computer was humming away happily. It had downloaded a kernel update eariler in the week and been asking for a reboot since. This morning I relented.
When the computer powered back up it made a loud repeated clicking noise which I tracked down to my hard drive by opening the cover. Since then I can't boot the computer – it keeps failing out to netboot (which goes nowhere).
Based on a quick google I think the disk is history.
Does anyone know of a way to recover the disk? I realise I'm probably SOL but it's worth asking.
Edit
Thanks for the answers. All very interesting and informative.
Nothing on the drive is worth the cost of a professional recovery service and my backups cover the important bits anyway. I was just hopeful that I might be able to avoid the nuissance of a rebuild on a new disk.
Best Answer
Methods of quick and dirty recovery are to manually spin the drive past it's stumbling point, by exerting clockwise centrifugal force on it.
In other words hold the drive, with one hand, fingers on one edge, thumb on the other and twist your wrist, fast. If you are lucky it will spin up and become active, if it works, GET ALL THE DATA OFF NOW, do not expect this to work more than a few times.
There is also the freezer method, put the drive in the freezer for about 30 mins, take it out, leave it in a cool dry area for about 5 mins, and try powering it up again, if it works, GET ALL THE DATA OFF NOW.
If the data on the drive is critical you must send it to professional data recovery specialists. Preferably one that offers a no fix no fee service, or a similar concession.
Disclaimer:
I've used both of these methods in the past, and had a reasonably good success rate, however, these methods are by no means guaranteed to work, and could damage the drive further making professional recovery efforts difficult or perhaps impossible.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.