External Hard Drive Failure (odd noises)

External hard drives are quite prone to this but it can also affect internal too to a lesser degree

The clicking you hear is referred to as the "Click of Death" as far as hard drives are concerned. It may sound like a regular click or ping.

And I am afraid it is as it says.

It was probably knocked, dropped, or maybe just mis-handled.

These are hard drives and not flash drives.

As such should be treated with care

If it is truly dead and you MUST have the information from it then the only real alternative is to send it to a data recovery expert.
These services are NOT cheap

It is possible that on external hard drives you may just be using the wrong USB lead try a sorter one preferably the one that came with it.

Another trick is to remove the drive from its enclosure and where a SUITABLE PC is available you can often connect it directly inside the PC.

If you are extremely lucky you might be able to salvage information but this is not always the case.

If it is the drive and it was in an enclosure you can always put a new one in there.