It probably didn't help that you kicked it repeatedly to try to make the noise go away. J/K.

>I have my fingers crossed then. When I get home I'm going to see if I can figure out how to open the thing and see if that's what's causing it. The thing WAS sitting on the floor - and all I did was kick it over - it's not like it went sailing clear across the room or anything - but it was reading a movie so I'm a little concered. I'll post back after I've messed with it and let ya know what I found.
>
>>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.
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>>Bob
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>>>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?