Cool... I might have a go at dismantling this evening then. Will I have to remove the HD from the MacPro first?

(Sorry - never had to do much with HDs in Macs before, so this is new to me. RAM, I can do....!)

Thanks for all the help so far – very much appreciated.

You should have 3 free bays in the Pro, assuming you've only got the one drive installed at the moment.

I'll try that first then... then if it's still alive I'll order a caddy....

WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!

Worked like a charm. (Well, so far so good.) Drive successfully in place in my MacPro here, and copying over to new external HD as we speak...

I did get a warning when I started up to say the disk inserted was not readable, but the drive mounted up once all up and running... so I presume all will be okay with it? I'll do a check in Disk Utility to make sure there's no underlying problems.

If so, I'll leave there for the time being until I can get an external caddy – then I'll take it home to use for my Time Machine back-ups on my MBP, so I can free up some room on my home external HD.

Again, thank you so much for your help guys – you've saved me a whole lot of money!!!

A few virtual pints owed indeed....

Ben

Result! Well, at least you've got your data back.

Personally I wouldn't rely totally on that disk though, even after a full reformat, and even just as a backup disk. Are you still hearing any clicks or scratchy noises (I suppose it will be hard to hear them once it's in your Mac Pro!).

Before using it again, and assuming you've retrieved everything you want off it, do a full erase in Disk Utility (Erase tab, click "Options" then select "Zero all data", then click "Erase"). A Zero all data option writes zeros to every block on the drive, which can take a few hours (or even overnight) but it's the best option if you suspect a directory problem. Of course, if it's a physical, hardware problem, then no amount of reformatting is going to help. Just be very cautious about saving your only copy of a file on it.

I can't hear anything at the moment... I will try and take a listen.... I might even brave removing the side panel to hear.

I'll make sure it's formatted and keep an eye on it – and I won't use it for any REALLY important stuff, which to be honest is only photos, home vids and important work – stuff that could NEVER be replaced. My MBP at home doesn't really contain any of that (it's all on the ext drive, with a 2nd copy here) so it might be okay for time machine stuff.

I am going to take the new drive home over the weekend though, to make sure I have all the photo's in 2 places! And then get the dvd's out and do some archiving!

Thank you again!

Had a listen – no clicking... nothing the same as it was while in the Western casing when it died... only the usual access rumbling.... the click was very obvious.

Verified the disk in Disk Utility – all okay there.

I'm hoping these are good signs!

glad you're more or less sorted now.

Yes! Thank you all again... brought my home drive in this morning to cross-copy to make sure I've got dupes of all stuff...