"Brad" wrote in message
...
Hi,

This is the third time in 5 years that one of my HDDs failed.
This time, my desktop computer was on for about 4 hrs, and
there was a lot of disk activity (read & writes). All of a sudden, I
heard a noise (hard to describe, perhaps a "zing" type of
sound). Afterwards, I wasn't able to access the HDD anymore.

I assume this is a mechanical problem such as head touched
the platter or other? Note: The computer wasn't bumped.
This is a Quantum "Fireball" 5.1G HDD. Is it at all possible, a
fault in the controller could have created this noise?


I'd guess something in the servo circuit for the head actuator failed and
the head slammed all the way to one side. Either the head can't read where
it is on the disk or the control electronics don't realize it so the head
mechanism is being pushed solid due to no feedback. Either way the drive is
shot, unless you have some very important data on it then it's not worth
messing with.