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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>click of death</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../C.html" title="C"/><link rel="previous" href="clean.html" title="clean"/><link rel="next" href="CLM.html" title="CLM"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">click of death</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="clean.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">C</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="CLM.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="click-of-death"/><dt xmlns="" id="click-of-death"><b>click of death</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p>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. &#8220;<span class="quote">Clicked</span>&#8221;
disks are generally unusable after being retrieved from the drive.</p><p>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.</p><p>There is evidence that the click of death is a communicable disease;
a &#8220;<span class="quote">clicked</span>&#8221; disk can cause the read/write head of a &quot;clean&quot;
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.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="clean.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../C.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="CLM.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">clean </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> CLM</td></tr></table></div></body></html>