Hi,
it seems like the harddrive in my Creative Zen Touch just gave up, it produces constant clicking noises and when trying to format/flash firmware the player displays "harddrive problems" (or similar)

now, is this thing by any chance a normal notebook harddrive? Could I put it into an old notebook and check or even fix it with some hitachi diagnose tools?

thx in advance!

Hum. i dont know anything about creative zens but i had the same problems with my iPod !! >< Four times in fact! so i had to send it in an they send me a new one each time. In fact i dont know if they sent me a new one or a diffrent repaired one or the same repaired one but this was happeneing a lot and now it actualy works for a long time. Maybe they sent an actual new one the fourth time before they didnt. But now it works and im happy XD

Maybe you can try sending it in? i hope that creatives customer service is as good as apples! It was no problem for me because they sent someone to come pick my ipod up and bring it back with the post!

Yeh, I suggest trying online help on the creative website. If this doesn't help phone them. Still if it's no good type/write a letter and send it to creative along with the broken item. They should repair/replace it if something's wrong. Or take it to a local computer reapir store and see what they say about it.

I'm sorry but to tell you that your Creative Zen harddrive has failed to work. This is the time when you will need to call up Creative or go to their support centre to have your MP3 player exchanged. You will need a warranty card if it is still under warranty. Otherwise you may need to pay for the repair.

If it is still under warranty, I suggest you not to try dismantling the device as this can result in void of warranty. You should be able to do a part or a whole unit exchange without any additional charges. If your warranty has already expired, you may like to try fixing it yourself. Here's a guide on how you can do to change a harddrive.
http://www.blurbdesigns.com/ZenUpgrade/

yea whatever you do dont open it, just get some tech support

By the way, the zen hard drive is not a notebook hard drive, and the ipod hard drive is not one too. The 30gb ipod hard drive is a Toshiba (http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=818200000007000000010000659800001516/818200000b0c000000010000659c000026bd/8182000000e6000000010000659c0000279e/818200000c59000000010000659c00002c38/818200000c5b000000010000659c00002c3a)
And the 60gb is also Toshiba (http://www.toshiba-europe.com/storage/Index.asp?page=PCI&nav=ISH_PRS&stype=product&ptype=&frame=content&model=MK6008GAH)
Suprisingly, I found out the the Zen touch uses the same type of hard drive as the iPod