Most external hard drivea are an openable box with a standard IDE or SATA drive, some electronics and a fan. The hard drives themselves are very durable and are not likely to be damaged in this way. My guess is there is a piece of plastic broken off thats interacting with the fan. There is little downside in popping it open and taking a look.

Bob

>Ok I have one of those 750gig external hard drives, had it sitting on my floor. Last night I was watching a movie that was on it and kicked it over by mistake. It starting making this horrible noice, so I quickly unpluged it. I pick it up and hear a kinda loose wobble inside it - I dunno the case does have a fan built into it but I dunno if that's it or if it's the hard-drive itself. Anyone have any suggestions?