click of death

1 definition found

click of death - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  click of death
   n.
  
     A syndrome of certain Iomega ZIP drives, named for the clicking noise
     that is caused by the malady. An affected drive will, after accepting
     a disk, will start making a clicking noise and refuse to eject the
     disk. A common solution for retrieving the disk is to insert the bent
     end of a paper clip into a small hole adjacent to the slot. "Clicked"
     disks are generally unusable after being retrieved from the drive.
  
     The clicking noise is caused by the drive's read/write head bumping
     against its movement stops when it fails to find track 0 on the disk,
     causing the head to become misaligned. This can happen when the drive
     has been subjected to a physical shock, or when the disk is exposed
  to
     an electromagnetic field, such as that of the CRT. Another common
     cause is when a package of disks is armed with an anti-theft strip at
     a store. When the clerk scans the product to disarm the strip, it can
     demagnetize the disks, wiping out track 0.
  
     There is evidence that the click of death is a communicable disease;
  a
     "clicked" disk can cause the read/write head of a "clean" drive to
     become misaligned. Iomega at first denied the existence of the click
     of death, but eventually offered to replace free of charge any drives
     affected by the condition.