My external hard drive fell, now it has a grinding sound, what do I do?

TURN IT OFF NOW! If your hard drive was physically dropped and is now squealing or grinding that means that it has a "head crash." These type of crashes are undoubtedly the worse type. What is happening is the metal magnetic reader that that is supposed to be floating above the disk platters isn't any longer. It is physically making dust of the platters and permanently destroying your data. If you have anything important on this drive that you don't have a backup of you will need to contact Drive Savers (information is on the home page). Don't keep attempting to turn it on with hope that it will fix itself, because it will only make matters worse. (Return to FAQ Page)