Hello, I just found this forum via google and thought you might be able to help.

My hard drive tipped over today and shut off. When I turned it back on I hear 2 tones of beeping noises. I opened it up and nothing was out of place so I recorded this video so you could hear the sounds.

You might have to turn the volume up a bit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH47yzvi7dQ

It does this for about 30 seconds and then stops. My computer fails to recognize the hard drive so I am concerned about retrieving the data on it. The external hard drive is buslink brand but the actual hard drive inside is western digital 160gb.

Does anyone have any ideas of what this is? How to fix it? Or whether or not the data might be salvegable?

Thanks for any advice you might have.

Take it out of its enclosure and then hook it up to your machine to see if it’s recognized or not; as I can’t determine exactly whether the drive sustained physical damage or not from the video that you provided.

Do you mean that your entire computer ("the box") fell over? OR that you had the harddrive outside the computer for some reason and it fell off the table, etc.?

IF your entire box fell over on its side, power down and take off the side panel. Remove, and reinstall the memory stick(s) and make sure they are solid and tight. Remove completely the power and data cables to your hard drive and any optical drives, and re-plug them in. Then check all cables where they plug in to the mainboard, including the main power connector running from the power supply. Gently, Gently, try to "wiggle" the CPU heatsink to make sure it is still solidly attached to the mounting plate on the mainboard, and in place. If you detect any slack or movement, post back with a description. Make sure the the power cable running from the heatsink fan is solidly plugged into the CPU_FAN (or a similar label) socket on the mainboard. Remember that it must plug into the proper socket or the system will fail to boot and you will get the same shut-down that you are experiencing.

Finally, check the power plug on the rear of the box, and the video cable; detach it and reattach it. Now try to power up.

those noises sound to me like the magneto that moves the read/write heads seeking data over and over again. i fear you're right the hd has fallen over.

Okay, why don't I listen to the sound you provided. You meant an external drive that fell over. I suggest Dino's suggestion.