dropped hard disk clacks

No ... unless you have access to a clean room and the required tools and knowledge.

"Charles Schuler" wrote in news:2Y6dnQEWK snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

I don't believe you'll be able to fix it. Something rattleing around means something broke, it's not a case of a stuck motor. You could concieveably take the drive apart and look at it, but hard disk repair is not a DIY project.

If the data's valuable ($$$) to you, get a professional data recovery place to work on it. If it's not and you've got time, go ahead and play with it some. There have been people who've reported using drives without lids with no problem for a few months. Be forewarned: This is second hand knowledge and YMMV.

Puckdropper

--
www.uncreativelabs.net

Old computers are getting to be a lost art. Here at Uncreative Labs, we
still enjoy using the old computers. Sometimes we want to see how far a
particular system can go, other times we use a stock system to remind
ourselves of what we once had. 

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

And quite possibly not at all.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:

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Take it to a professional data recovery house if the info on the drive is of any value, otherwise powering it up risks completely destroying any chance of recovery if the heads have been damaged and may contact the disc.