I'm looking for a 5-point star shaped screwdriver. I bought a Seagate
80GB external hard drive. Its case uses these special screws. I shot a
picture of a screw he
http://www.gearhack.com/Forums/Tool/...int%20star.jpg

Does anyone know where I can find a screwdriver for these screws?
Thanks.

Chieh
--
Hacking Digital Cameras -
http://www.camerahacker.com/books/Ha...gital_Cameras/

wrote:
I'm looking for a 5-point star shaped screwdriver. I bought a Seagate
80GB external hard drive. Its case uses these special screws. I shot a
picture of a screw he
http://www.gearhack.com/Forums/Tool/...int%20star.jpg

Does anyone know where I can find a screwdriver for these screws?
Thanks.

At any decent hardware or home supply store. It's called a Torx screw.
Typically an allen wrench will work just fine in the absence of a Torx
screw driver.

hvacrmedic

RP wrote:



wrote:

I'm looking for a 5-point star shaped screwdriver. I bought a Seagate
80GB external hard drive. Its case uses these special screws. I shot a
picture of a screw he
http://www.gearhack.com/Forums/Tool/...int%20star.jpg


Does anyone know where I can find a screwdriver for these screws?
Thanks.


At any decent hardware or home supply store. It's called a Torx screw.
Typically an allen wrench will work just fine in the absence of a Torx
screw driver.

hvacrmedic

Hi,
Also tight fitting blade screw driver will do it too.
Tony

Tony Hwang wrote:
RP wrote:



wrote:

I'm looking for a 5-point star shaped screwdriver. I bought a Seagate
80GB external hard drive. Its case uses these special screws. I shot a
picture of a screw he
http://www.gearhack.com/Forums/Tool/...int%20star.jpg


Does anyone know where I can find a screwdriver for these screws?
Thanks.



At any decent hardware or home supply store. It's called a Torx screw.
Typically an allen wrench will work just fine in the absence of a Torx
screw driver.

hvacrmedic

Hi,
Also tight fitting blade screw driver will do it too.
Tony

As long as you don't care to ruin the tip. But I've used a flat blade on
many an occasion

hvacrmedic

The Torx drivers sold in hardware have six points, and this monstrosity has
five. Of course, it is designed to be a ******* conifguration, and you can't
get the driver for it.

As the other fellow suggested, try slotted jewlers screw drivers, sometimes
you can get one to wedge in just right.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
news:%MHyf.238969$2k.125392@pd7tw1no...
RP wrote:



wrote:

I'm looking for a 5-point star shaped screwdriver. I bought a Seagate
80GB external hard drive. Its case uses these special screws. I shot a
picture of a screw he

http://www.gearhack.com/Forums/Tool/...int%20star.jpg


Does anyone know where I can find a screwdriver for these screws?
Thanks.


At any decent hardware or home supply store. It's called a Torx screw.
Typically an allen wrench will work just fine in the absence of a Torx
screw driver.

hvacrmedic

Hi,
Also tight fitting blade screw driver will do it too.
Tony

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in
:

The Torx drivers sold in hardware have six points, and this
monstrosity has five. Of course, it is designed to be a *******
conifguration, and you can't get the driver for it.

As the other fellow suggested, try slotted jewlers screw drivers,
sometimes you can get one to wedge in just right.


Or you could grind down an Allen wrench to have 5 sides.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
The Torx drivers sold in hardware have six points, and this monstrosity
has
five. Of course, it is designed to be a ******* conifguration, and you
can't
get the driver for it.

As the other fellow suggested, try slotted jewlers screw drivers,
sometimes
you can get one to wedge in just right.

It's a "security" bit. Should be able to find one in most tool shops - NOT
Home Despot, etc.

In article , RP wrote:


wrote:
I'm looking for a 5-point star shaped screwdriver. I bought a Seagate
80GB external hard drive. Its case uses these special screws. I shot a
picture of a screw he

http://www.gearhack.com/Forums/Tool/..._Screw.files.h
idden/5-point%20star.jpg

Does anyone know where I can find a screwdriver for these screws?
Thanks.

At any decent hardware or home supply store. It's called a Torx screw.
Typically an allen wrench will work just fine in the absence of a Torx
screw driver.

Bzzzt! Thanks for playing. That's _not_ a Torx screw. Torx screws are
six-pointed, not five-pointed as described and shown.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

I'm looking for a 5-point star shaped screwdriver. I bought a Seagate
....

At any decent hardware or home supply store. It's called a Torx screw.
Typically an allen wrench will work just fine in the absence of a Torx
screw driver.

Don't those have 6 points?

On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 01:07:20 -0600, RP
wrote:

At any decent hardware or home supply store. It's called a Torx screw.
Typically an allen wrench will work just fine in the absence of a Torx
screw driver.

Torx is 6 pointed star and won't fit 5 star screw head well. If you
force the torx to work, you're liable to strip the wrench or worse the
screw head.
--
When you hear the toilet flush, and hear the words "uh oh", it's already
too late. - by anonymous Mother in Austin, TX
Spam block in place, no emil reply is expected at all.

"TORX PLUS" [NOT TORX]

http://www.wihatools.com/716_IPR_serie.htm

buffalobill wrote:
"TORX PLUS" [NOT TORX]

http://www.wihatools.com/716_IPR_serie.htm

I should've looked!
In that case a dremel tool might be in order. A good stout drill bit and
a rethreader afterward

hvacrmedic

RP wrote in news:QoudnRknaMTLxVbeRVn-
:



buffalobill wrote:
"TORX PLUS" [NOT TORX]

If the screw only has FIVE sides instead of SIX like a Torx,then maybe it
should be Torx-MINUS. 8-)


(warning;humor attempt)



--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

"buffalobill" wrote in message
oups.com...

"TORX PLUS" [NOT TORX]

http://www.wihatools.com/716_IPR_serie.htm


Getting closer! Many in the Torx Plus line still are six-pointed drivers. The
5-pointed ones are known as "Torx-Plus TR" (Tamper resistant).

Identification chart:
http://www.lara.com/cgi-bin/store/co...keywords=bt-ip

Torx-Plus TR sizes:
http://www.lara.com/torx-plus-tr.htm

jim menning

Thank you for identifing this screw as the Security Torx Plus. It does
have a pin in the middle to warrant "Security". Now I just need to
figure out where to get one.

I want to thank everyone for responding. In one day, there are 50
messages to help me identify a strange screw, offer help tips to
unscrew it, and an explanation of clean room. Newsgroup and all you
helpful people are awesome!

I also read a lot of questions on what I am planning on doing, and lots
of warnings on taking hard disc apart and killing it. I would like to
answer these questions and clarify my position. First, you can read
about what I am planning on doing he
http://www.gearhack.com/Forums/Displ...tar_Screw.html

As you can see, I am not talking about taking the internal hard drive
apart (although I have done that in the past). But rather, I want to
take the external case apart.

Chieh
--
Camera Hacker - http://www.CameraHacker.com/

buffalobill wrote:
"TORX PLUS" [NOT TORX]

http://www.wihatools.com/716_IPR_serie.htm


Thanks for the URL, new that screw didn't look
like regular torx but have seen that type of screw
and certainly didn't know there were 3 different
torx screws. Something new every day.

Hmmmm why do you want to open the case of the drive? If you open it
outside a class 1 clean room, the drive WILL die.

Or are you talking about the drive mounting screws?

Dave

wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm looking for a 5-point star shaped screwdriver. I bought a Seagate
80GB external hard drive. Its case uses these special screws. I shot a
picture of a screw he
http://www.gearhack.com/Forums/Tool/...int%20star.jpg

Does anyone know where I can find a screwdriver for these screws?
Thanks.

Chieh
--
Hacking Digital Cameras -
http://www.camerahacker.com/books/Ha...gital_Cameras/

"David C. Partridge" wrote:

Hmmmm why do you want to open the case of the drive? If you open it
outside a class 1 clean room, the drive WILL die.

Or are you talking about the drive mounting screws?

Perhaps the drive already *is* dead.

Don't overestimate clean rooms - they contain 100 particles per cubic
meter as opposed to an "average" room containing 600 particles. A
"clean" "average" room will contain far less than the 600 particles.

For what it's worth, I've had a drive running non-stop for over a week
without its cover (platters exposed) and haven't had any hiccups. This
hype about "clean rooms" is a load of drivel.

There are those who will say "if you get one single particle of dust on
your platters, your drive will be irretrievably damaged."

Bollox. And bollox to FR, who will no doubt disagree.


Odie
--
Retrodata
www.retrodata.co.uk
Globally Local Data Recovery Experts

Cough! I said class 1 not class 100!

Sure a drive will function for a while with the case off, but it will die
soonish (maybe a few days or weeks, but it will die).

If OTOH all you are doing is extracting the magnets from old drives - then
go right on ..

Dave
"Odie Ferrous" wrote in message
...
"David C. Partridge" wrote:

Hmmmm why do you want to open the case of the drive? If you open it
outside a class 1 clean room, the drive WILL die.

Or are you talking about the drive mounting screws?

Perhaps the drive already *is* dead.

Don't overestimate clean rooms - they contain 100 particles per cubic
meter as opposed to an "average" room containing 600 particles. A
"clean" "average" room will contain far less than the 600 particles.

For what it's worth, I've had a drive running non-stop for over a week
without its cover (platters exposed) and haven't had any hiccups. This
hype about "clean rooms" is a load of drivel.

There are those who will say "if you get one single particle of dust on
your platters, your drive will be irretrievably damaged."

Bollox. And bollox to FR, who will no doubt disagree.


Odie
--
Retrodata
www.retrodata.co.uk
Globally Local Data Recovery Experts

I'd have to side with Odie here. About 15 'years' ago I pulled apart an (now)
old 85meg RLL hard drive because the auto park wouldn't release. This was on
the kitchen table & that drive is still working today .... you'd think it would
have just plain worn out by now.

I noticed it had filters inside it to clean the air moving inside it so I expect
it was all clean again within seconds if not minutes of firing up again.

The 'new' drives I've pulled apart for the magnets seem to have the air filters
as well although I'd expect today's technology to be less tolerant to dirty air
what with the amount of data that they pack into the smaller space but I still
wouldn't expect it to die in "a few days or weeks".


On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 13:48:28 -0000, "David C. Partridge"
wrote:

Cough! I said class 1 not class 100!

Sure a drive will function for a while with the case off, but it will die
soonish (maybe a few days or weeks, but it will die).

If OTOH all you are doing is extracting the magnets from old drives - then
go right on ..

Dave
"Odie Ferrous" wrote in message
...
"David C. Partridge" wrote:

Hmmmm why do you want to open the case of the drive? If you open it
outside a class 1 clean room, the drive WILL die.

Or are you talking about the drive mounting screws?

Perhaps the drive already *is* dead.

Don't overestimate clean rooms - they contain 100 particles per cubic
meter as opposed to an "average" room containing 600 particles. A
"clean" "average" room will contain far less than the 600 particles.

For what it's worth, I've had a drive running non-stop for over a week
without its cover (platters exposed) and haven't had any hiccups. This
hype about "clean rooms" is a load of drivel.

There are those who will say "if you get one single particle of dust on
your platters, your drive will be irretrievably damaged."

Bollox. And bollox to FR, who will no doubt disagree.


Odie
--
Retrodata
www.retrodata.co.uk
Globally Local Data Recovery Experts

--

Australia isn't "down under", it's "off to one side"!


www.cobracat.com (home of the Australian Cobra Catamaran)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cobra-cat/

Don't overestimate clean rooms - they contain 100 particles per cubic
meter as opposed to an "average" room containing 600 particles. A
"clean" "average" room will contain far less than the 600 particles.


Well, having managed a real clean room , you are way off base. First of all,
the particle count is per cubic foot. Clean rooms are classified by
the sustained particle count averaged around the entire room.

The average count in a typical home/office/light industrial room is about
500,000 particles per cubic foot, and the particlas are quite large (several
microns or tens of microns).

The first level of clean room we define is a class 100,000. This isn't a real
hard level to achieve and can sometimes be done without real expensive HEPA
filters if the working conditions are clean enough. The Space Shuttle high bay
room is maintained at class 100,000 (my experience is with NASA).

The next level is a class 10,000, which certainly requires a high level of
filtering and monitering with special clothing for the occupants. Next comes a
class 1000 which is getting serious. You are into laminar flow air systems and
special training for the people.

Computer chips are assembled in class 100 or even class 10 (!) rooms, since a
single particle can ruin a product. At this level, even the way you move can
disturb the room's particle count. Everyone is trained to move slowly and be
aware of where the downwash from the airflow over your body goes.

By this level, the particle size is usually measured at a much smaller,
sub-micron level also. A single small tear in a HEPA filter can take the room
out of spec for quite some time, requiring a long, slow damp swabbing of all
surfaces.

Dennis

"Odie Ferrous" wrote in message
...
"David C. Partridge" wrote:

Hmmmm why do you want to open the case of the drive? If you open it
outside a class 1 clean room, the drive WILL die.

Or are you talking about the drive mounting screws?

Perhaps the drive already *is* dead.

Don't overestimate clean rooms - they contain 100 particles per cubic
meter as opposed to an "average" room containing 600 particles. A
"clean" "average" room will contain far less than the 600 particles.


you could contruct a clean box to stifle the clean room naybobs

somewhere, (i am looking for link in my encyclopedic favorites), on web
there was a design plan for clean room box involving a sturdy cardboard box
, spray contact cement, largish HEPA filter, shop vac, heavy ~ 5mil clear
plastic, duct tape then some spray either anti-static or water mist ? can't
remeber

well most could probably figure out how this stuff was used the only trick
was purging of contaminates when it was exposed when opening the box



For what it's worth, I've had a drive running non-stop for over a week
without its cover (platters exposed) and haven't had any hiccups. This
hype about "clean rooms" is a load of drivel.

There are those who will say "if you get one single particle of dust on
your platters, your drive will be irretrievably damaged."

Bollox. And bollox to FR, who will no doubt disagree.


Odie
--
Retrodata
www.retrodata.co.uk
Globally Local Data Recovery Experts

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Odie Ferrous wrote:
"David C. Partridge" wrote:

Hmmmm why do you want to open the case of the drive? If you open it
outside a class 1 clean room, the drive WILL die.

Or are you talking about the drive mounting screws?

Perhaps the drive already *is* dead.

Don't overestimate clean rooms - they contain 100 particles per cubic
meter as opposed to an "average" room containing 600 particles. A
"clean" "average" room will contain far less than the 600 particles.

For what it's worth, I've had a drive running non-stop for over a week
without its cover (platters exposed) and haven't had any hiccups. This
hype about "clean rooms" is a load of drivel.

Interessting.

Arno

Arno Wagner wrote:
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Odie Ferrous wrote:

"David C. Partridge" wrote:

Hmmmm why do you want to open the case of the drive? If you open it
outside a class 1 clean room, the drive WILL die.

Or are you talking about the drive mounting screws?


Perhaps the drive already *is* dead.


Don't overestimate clean rooms - they contain 100 particles per cubic
meter as opposed to an "average" room containing 600 particles. A
"clean" "average" room will contain far less than the 600 particles.


For what it's worth, I've had a drive running non-stop for over a week
without its cover (platters exposed) and haven't had any hiccups. This
hype about "clean rooms" is a load of drivel.


Interessting.



Interesting but the drive is running on borrowed time. Perhaps you
should store all your critical data on it and see how long it continues
to operate like that.

I'd dare to guess that if this fellow doesn't recognize a Torx screw
that he isn't aware that he should never open a hard drive.

Torx screws are seldom used for no other purpose then to keep the prying
eyes of consumers from sensitive stuff. Thats why they're used in
elevators.

My son has actually opened a defective laptop hard drive before and
amazingly it still functioned, for only a short time. Now its a
paperweight.

Handi

In article , "Handi" wrote:
I'd dare to guess that if this fellow doesn't recognize a Torx screw
that he isn't aware that he should never open a hard drive.

I guess you can't recognize one either. :-) What he has is not a Torx screw.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
In article , "Handi" wrote:
I'd dare to guess that if this fellow doesn't recognize a Torx screw
that he isn't aware that he should never open a hard drive.

I guess you can't recognize one either. :-)

The same to you.

What he has is not a Torx screw.

Yes it is, as someone else showed from the Wiha page.

In article ews.net, "Folkert Rienstra" wrote:
"Doug Miller" wrote in message

In article , "Handi"
wrote:
I'd dare to guess that if this fellow doesn't recognize a Torx screw
that he isn't aware that he should never open a hard drive.

I guess you can't recognize one either. :-)

The same to you.

Try again.

What he has is not a Torx screw.

Yes it is, as someone else showed from the Wiha page.

No, it's not. This is a five-pointed star. Torx screws have six points.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Handi wrote:
I'd dare to guess that if this fellow doesn't recognize a Torx screw
that he isn't aware that he should never open a hard drive.

Torx screws are seldom used for no other purpose then to keep the prying
eyes of consumers from sensitive stuff. Thats why they're used in
elevators.

My son has actually opened a defective laptop hard drive before and
amazingly it still functioned, for only a short time. Now its a
paperweight.

Handi


Hi,
Many will make one good drive from two bad ones. Some fails in
electronics part some fails in mechanical part.
Tony

Torx screws are seldom used for no other purpose then to keep the prying eyes
of consumers from sensitive stuff. Thats why they're used in elevators.

Not an accurate statement.

Torx drive screws have been used on vehicles for ten years plus. They are not
(in their standard form) an anti tamper fastener.

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage wrench wrote:
Torx screws are seldom used for no other purpose then to keep the
prying eyes of consumers from sensitive stuff. Thats why they're
used in elevators.

Not an accurate statement. Torx drive screws have been used on
vehicles for ten years plus. They are not (in their standard form)
an anti tamper fastener.

Definitely correct. For anti-tamper there is Torx with a pin
in the middle that needs a Torx driver with a hole. Standard
Torx is just very well suited for automated mounting and also
very well suited to use with a Torx bit in an electric drill.
Here you get a lot of "Spax" wood screws with Torx head.

Torx is optimised for maximum torque without damaging the
tool or screw and easier insertion than the standard 6-way
symmetric format. IMO ist qualifies as possibly the best
all around screw head format.

Arno

"Arno Wagner" wrote in message
...

Torx is optimised for maximum torque without damaging the
tool or screw and easier insertion than the standard 6-way
symmetric format. IMO ist qualifies as possibly the best
all around screw head format.

Yes... you can actually hold the screw with the screwdriver... that is, put
the screw on the end of the screwdriver, then move it into position.

On 16 Jan 2006 18:15:57 GMT, Arno Wagner wrote:


Definitely correct. For anti-tamper there is Torx with a pin
in the middle that needs a Torx driver with a hole. Standard
Torx is just very well suited for automated mounting and also

I hadn't thought about that, but I had noticed that it stays on the
tip without magnetism, even when the tip is horizontal.

The tip won't slip out of the slot either, the advantage of Phillips
head. I wonder how long until there are chrome torx screws for
decorative places.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

In article ,
Arno Wagner wrote:

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage wrench wrote:
Torx screws are seldom used for no other purpose then to keep the
prying eyes of consumers from sensitive stuff. Thats why they're
used in elevators.

Not an accurate statement. Torx drive screws have been used on
vehicles for ten years plus. They are not (in their standard form)
an anti tamper fastener.

Definitely correct. For anti-tamper there is Torx with a pin
in the middle that needs a Torx driver with a hole.

Or a little work with a strong, small flat blade, to bend it back and
forth until it breaks off.

Isaac

On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 12:39:08 GMT, "Handi"
wrote:

I'd dare to guess that if this fellow doesn't recognize a Torx screw
that he isn't aware that he should never open a hard drive.

Torx screws are seldom used for no other purpose then to keep the prying
eyes of consumers from sensitive stuff.

Too many maybes and negatives in this sentence for me to understand
it.

Thats why they're used in
elevators.

They're also used in my car just to hold the trunk struts on. Nothing
secret about that.

Don't get me started on what I used to do to elevators..

My son has actually opened a defective laptop hard drive before and
amazingly it still functioned, for only a short time. Now its a
paperweight.

Handi



Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

David C. Partridge wrote:
Hmmmm why do you want to open the case of the drive? If you open it
outside a class 1 clean room, the drive WILL die.

No matter what you do with it, the drive WILL die. It's the
unfortunate, but inevitable destiny that we all share.

I've opened hard drives again and again in very filthy rooms and
they've never shown any ill effects over the days, or in some cases
weeks, that I operated them. I do this all the time with old drives
because I can see what's happening inside the drive while I test my
control circuitry.

If I was manufacturing hundreds of thousands of drives and had to worry
about warranties and customer satisfaction, I'd be doing it in a clean
room. And I would buy a new drive before attempting to repair a damaged
one. But you definitely can operate a hard drive without the cover for
a while; probably long enough to do whatever you want if you don't
dawdle.

On 16 Jan 2006 08:17:07 -0800, "
wrote:
.....
I've opened hard drives again and again in very filthy rooms and
they've never shown any ill effects over the days, or in some cases
weeks, that I operated them. I do this all the time with old drives
because I can see what's happening inside the drive while I test my
control circuitry.

If I was manufacturing hundreds of thousands of drives and had to worry
about warranties and customer satisfaction, I'd be doing it in a clean
room. And I would buy a new drive before attempting to repair a damaged
one. But you definitely can operate a hard drive without the cover for
a while; probably long enough to do whatever you want if you don't
dawdle.

My drive is clicking, and one important partition has a very bad
directory structure. I'm not sure I can copy over even the good
partitions before it "fails". If I open it, what would I want to do
to stop the clicking, or to keep the clicking syndrome from preventing
me from copying the data to a good drive.

(The bad partition is FAT16 (because I was still running win3.1 and
win98 and wanted both OSes to access the parttiion.)

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

According to mm :
My drive is clicking, and one important partition has a very bad
directory structure. I'm not sure I can copy over even the good
partitions before it "fails". If I open it, what would I want to do
to stop the clicking, or to keep the clicking syndrome from preventing
me from copying the data to a good drive.

The best way to ensure that you can copy over the good partitions
is to _not_ open the drive first.

The safest way is to image copy the whole drive to a new drive. Put
the old drive in a safe place, and try to repair the new drive's
directory structure. Preferably doing a backup of the image you copied
to the new drive before you diddle it, so you can start over _without_
touching the old drive.

The clicking is most likely retries (ie: gouged media, weak magnetics).
You _can't_ fix that. You're unlikely to be able to repair even obvious
mechanical faults either.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 21:17:49 -0000, (Chris
Lewis) wrote:

According to mm :
My drive is clicking, and one important partition has a very bad
directory structure. I'm not sure I can copy over even the good
partitions before it "fails". If I open it, what would I want to do
to stop the clicking, or to keep the clicking syndrome from preventing
me from copying the data to a good drive.

The best way to ensure that you can copy over the good partitions
is to _not_ open the drive first.

No, I was going to open the drive last, after all my software
solutions failed. I'm sorry I didn't mention that.

The safest way is to image copy the whole drive to a new drive. Put
the old drive in a safe place, and try to repair the new drive's
directory structure. Preferably doing a backup of the image you copied
to the new drive before you diddle it, so you can start over _without_
touching the old drive.

The clicking is most likely retries (ie: gouged media, weak magnetics).
You _can't_ fix that. You're unlikely to be able to repair even obvious

It only clicks if I try to access the bad partition, and even then not
always . I can read the good partitions, but I'm told the clicking
will get worse.

mechanical faults either.


Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

"Chris Lewis" wrote in message
According to mm :
My drive is clicking, and one important partition has a very bad
directory structure. I'm not sure I can copy over even the good
partitions before it "fails". If I open it, what would I want to do
to stop the clicking, or to keep the clicking syndrome from preventing
me from copying the data to a good drive.

The best way to ensure that you can copy over the good partitions
is to _not_ open the drive first.

The safest way is to image copy the whole drive to a new drive. Put
the old drive in a safe place, and try to repair the new drive's
directory structure. Preferably doing a backup of the image you copied
to the new drive before you diddle it, so you can start over _without_
touching the old drive.

The clicking is most likely retries

(ie: gouged media, weak magnetics).

Just any unrecoverable read error (which isn't necessarily a physical one,
it can just be a bad write, ie a logical error).

You _can't_ fix that.

Yes you _can_, for the logical bad blocks.

You're unlikely to be able to repair even obvious mechanical faults either.