A LaCie external drive making a clicking noise, with the enclosure light on but not flashing as it normally would. Multiple cables had been tried. The motor was not spinning because the heads were resting on the platter surfaces.
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The client had done the sensible preliminary work, trying several different cables before concluding the fault was in the drive. The light coming on without the usual flashing activity is a useful detail — it indicates power reaching the unit with no successful disk activity following it.
The clicking accompanied a drive that was not spinning up. That combination points somewhere specific.
The motor was not turning because the read/write heads had become stuck to the platter surfaces — a condition usually called stiction. With the heads bonded to the disks, the spindle motor cannot generate enough torque to break them free, so the drive attempts to start, fails, and retries.
The clicking was that retry cycle rather than head crash damage. This is a mechanical fault, but a considerably more favourable one than heads contacting a spinning platter.
Ninety-nine per cent recovery. Stiction, caught before repeated power cycling caused the heads to damage the surface, is among the better mechanical outcomes available.
The client's decision to stop and seek help rather than continue power-cycling the drive contributed materially to that figure. Each additional attempt to start a stuck drive risks the heads breaking free abruptly and scoring the surface as they do.
Heads bonded to a platter can be released safely in clean air. Repeated attempts to force a spin-up are what turn it into surface damage.
An enclosure light that comes on without the usual flashing indicates power is reaching the unit and the disk is not responding. That is drive-side.
Eliminating cables and ports costs nothing and resolves a real share of enquiries. What follows should be a diagnostic, not more attempts.