Hardware My HDD died out of nowhere [HELP]

[huma_dawii]

Hello everyone, two days ago I was surfing the web, making videos for youtube.. etc etc... everything was normal until I decided to delete a miniature I made for the video on youtube… problem is I couldn't delete the file, I was getting some error of cant access the file or something... I didn't pay attention to it and went ahead and ignored that problem. Then I turned off the computer (right after the Nintendo Direct :v).

Next day which it was yesterday, I turned on my PC, strangely it took longer to boot up this time around. Well when I introduced my password I got greeted with the message that the location for all of my Desktop files cant be found!!! But how? I haven't even moved my Desktop Computer at all.

I went ahead and checked MY PC and the drive was gone, I went ahead and check Computer Management and Storage and only the OS Drive was there! I got very scared, so I went ahead and turned it off, and opened my computer, check if the cables were connected and the power was functioning the way I wanted. Everything was fine so decided to unplug and then plug back in the HDD, turned on my pc. The drive was still not there, next thing I did was to disconnect the drive made sure it wasn't burned or something (Mind the drive is like 2 or 3 years old) but no, the drive was perfectly fine, went ahead and unscrewed the PCB and check it out looking for rust or anything in the pins that might be "blocking" the data flow xDD well, I cleaned the pins and still no luck.

So my drive died, IT DOES NOT make any clicking noise, I know its working because I hear and feel it spinning so what the hell is the problem?

My wild guess is that the PCB died and I just ordered one drive with the exact same model number and capacity and firmware version.... hoping that by swapping the PCB the drive will work again....

Any ideas or test I could make to really find out what is wrong with the drive? Why suddenly it stopped working? Not moving it not forcing the PC to turn off... I did nothing to damage it

BTW the drive is my secondary drive 3.5" and internal.

Thank you.

 

[Natsuru]

A drive can unfortunately just die, or it can be a long and slow process.
Swapping out the PCB with the exact same PCB wont work. There is a chip you would need to de solder and move over the the replacement PCB if that is even the issue.
Have you determined if the drive is really missing? Does the BIOS/UEFI even see it. Not seeing the partition is a smaller issue is the BIOS/UEFI can see the drive.
Have you tried another SATA data/power cable? Tried in in another PC.
Worst case if yo really need the data, you can send it to a recovery company but expect to pay big.

 

[huma_dawii]

A drive can unfortunately just die, or it can be a long and slow process.
Swapping out the PCB with the exact same PCB wont work. There is a chip you would need to de solder and move over the the replacement PCB if that is even the issue.
Have you determined if the drive is really missing? Does the BIOS/UEFI even see it. Not seeing the partition is a smaller issue is the BIOS/UEFI can see the drive.
Have you tried another SATA data/power cable? Tried in in another PC.
Worst case if yo really need the data, you can send it to a recovery company but expect to pay big.

I know there is a "BIOS" chip that needs to be swapped as well... I just don't have enough knowledge to do it.. I really need my files back T.T

Extra info, I tried on a USB HUB, USB Dock, the BIOS cant see the drive... when I plugged on the HUB USB it show the host, but it tells me "insert drive" meaning it doesn't detect the drive.

I really HOPE the PCB solve my issue... D: I don't want to open the drive because I know that is going to be the end of it!

 

[Natsuru]

Then I'd start by trying a new SATA Data/Power supply cable to test.
Try it in another PC if needed or try a USB to SATA adapter/enclosure.
See if the drive can be seen in the BIOS/UEFI.
Failing that, contact data recovery services.

 

[chocoboss]

You have not understand ... While your computer is booting it could ask you to press a key ( usualy F12 / F8 / del ) it will allow you to go yo the "bios" of your computer there you will have to look if your hard drive id detected or not


I don't think he understand you about the bios ...

 

[IncredulousP]

Don't power it again just yet. If you don't have a ton of money for professional data recovery, then follow these steps. Get a linux (or mac) machine with a data recovery program. Tightly wrap your HDD in an AIRTIGHT and WATER-RESISTANT bag, multiple bags won't hurt. Store it in the freezer for 24 hours, or until you know the HDD is about 0°C. Now this is the tricky part. Take it out of the freezer and bags. As quickly as you can (without dropping/ rattling/ or breaking the drive) connect the HDD via USB or otherwise to your linux/mac system and run the data recovery program. Either try to grab the most important files first or just try to grab everything. With luck, you should be able to retrieve what you want. I've done the freezer trick multiple times, it doesn't always work but it typically allows for more data to be recovered before the drive fails. The reason I say use Mac Linux is because Windows tends to hang (sometimes the entire OS!) when drives aren't working perfectly.

 

[Jokey_Carrot]

just yeet it in your freezer and get your important stuff off

 

[huma_dawii]

Then I'd start by trying a new SATA Data/Power supply cable to test.
Try it in another PC if needed or try a USB to SATA adapter/enclosure.
See if the drive can be seen in the BIOS/UEFI.
Failing that, contact data recovery services.

You have not understand ... While your computer is booting it could ask you to press a key ( usualy F12 / F8 / del ) it will allow you to go yo the "bios" of your computer there you will have to look if your hard drive id detected or not


I don't think he understand you about the bios ...

I do know about the BIOS, I press F2 to enter it and see my devices there, the HDD is not detected.. I did change the cables and tried my OS DRIVE cables (which I know for a fact they work because my computer boots up to Windows 10 all the time) I tried the SATA enclosure and it wont work either.

I don't want to contact data recovery center, they are SO FREAKING expensive T.T

 

[Alexander1970]

You´re a little bit faster.
Yes i would try this as recommended.It´s 50% chance to get all data.But you´ll consider there´s a chance of corrupted data/files. Maybe you´ll take 2-3 tries if your data is important to you.It´s because the HDD gets warmer with continual data transfer and then the HDD maybe stucks again.

 

[huma_dawii]

You´re a little bit faster.
Yes i would try this as recommended.It´s 50% chance to get all data.But you´ll consider there´s a chance of corrupted data/files. Maybe you´ll take 2-3 tries if your data is important to you.It´s because the HDD gets warmer with continual data transfer and then the HDD maybe stucks again.

Will wait for the new PCB to arrive and then try the freezer trick, I made a backup of my whole computer to an external drive... but that was back in September... it sucks not to even know what I am missing from that drive.

One thing is for sure, don't ever BUY a Seagate HDD, they fail too much and even tho my HDD is under warranty, they wont honor it because I bought the drive off eBay thru an OEM? WTF is that?

 

[IncredulousP]

I recommend WD HDD. They are simply king of HDD. Get a Black drive, avoid the old Green. Avoid Blue if you can, but they are typically cheaper than Black.

 

[chocoboss]

I use a green 2Tb WD since 4 years never get any problem it is used for storage only

 

[IncredulousP]

I use a green 2Tb WD since 4 years never get any problem it is used for storage only

I, too, have one of those. So far so good. I think we're a couple of lucky ones, though. I had to service a lot of green and blue drives when I worked at a computer repair store.

 

[chocoboss]

I got problem with 2 red at work ... I guess it's just a question of chance :/

 

[IncredulousP]

I got problem with 2 red at work ... I guess it's just a question of chance :/

Life HDDs is a numbers game.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I recommend WD HDD. They are simply king of HDD. Get a Black drive, avoid the old Green. Avoid Blue if you can, but they are typically cheaper than Black.

HGST is the king of HDDs. But WD is good too.

Hello everyone, two days ago I was surfing the web, making videos for youtube.. etc etc... everything was normal until I decided to delete a miniature I made for the video on youtube… problem is I couldn't delete the file, I was getting some error of cant access the file or something... I didn't pay attention to it and went ahead and ignored that problem. Then I turned off the computer (right after the Nintendo Direct :v).

Next day which it was yesterday, I turned on my PC, strangely it took longer to boot up this time around. Well when I introduced my password I got greeted with the message that the location for all of my Desktop files cant be found!!! But how? I haven't even moved my Desktop Computer at all.

I went ahead and checked MY PC and the drive was gone, I went ahead and check Computer Management and Storage and only the OS Drive was there! I got very scared, so I went ahead and turned it off, and opened my computer, check if the cables were connected and the power was functioning the way I wanted. Everything was fine so decided to unplug and then plug back in the HDD, turned on my pc. The drive was still not there, next thing I did was to disconnect the drive made sure it wasn't burned or something (Mind the drive is like 2 or 3 years old) but no, the drive was perfectly fine, went ahead and unscrewed the PBC and check it out looking for rust or anything in the pins that might be "blocking" the data flow xDD well, I cleaned the pins and still no luck.

So my drive died, IT DOES NOT make any clicking noise, I know its working because I hear and feel it spinning so what the hell is the problem?

My wild guess is that the PBC died and I just ordered one drive with the exact same model number and capacity and firmware version.... hoping that by swapping the PBC the drive will work again....

Any ideas or test I could make to really find out what is wrong with the drive? Why suddenly it stopped working? Not moving it not forcing the PC to turn off... I did nothing to damage it

BTW the drive is my secondary drive 3.5" and internal.

Thank you.

It sounds like maybe the drive controller chip died. It's not the most common failure mode for drives but it does happen.

It's also possible that you have 2 SATA controllers on the motherboard with your primary and secondary drives connected to different ones, and one of the SATA controllers decided to die. You can try other ports, see if it helps, but I think it's unlikely to be the problem.

How old is the drive and what brand is it? Seagate is known to be the least reliable, but their recent drives seem to have improved a lot. Some of their older drives were awful.

 

[Plstic]

run crystal disk info and see what it says. if it chimes at you, your drive is dying.

 

[huma_dawii]

HGST is the king of HDDs. But WD is good too.

It sounds like maybe the drive controller chip died. It's not the most common failure mode for drives but it does happen.

It's also possible that you have 2 SATA controllers on the motherboard with your primary and secondary drives connected to different ones, and one of the SATA controllers decided to die. You can try other ports, see if it helps, but I think it's unlikely to be the problem.

How old is the drive and what brand is it? Seagate is known to be the least reliable, but their recent drives seem to have improved a lot. Some of their older drives were awful.

Thanks for your reply, I tried other SATA connectors (total of 6) and none of them could detect the drive.

The drive is of course, Seagate and I am never ever gonna buy one of those again. I regret not keeping a HGST drive just because it was "too loud" for my ears xDDD now im paying the price T.T

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

run crystal disk info and see what it says. if it chimes at you, your drive is dying.

How am I gonna run that tool into a Drive that is not even there?

 

[IncredulousP]

HGST is the king of HDDs. But WD is good too.

Isn't HGST part of WD? I would trust the more expensive engineering of a parent company than any subsidiary they own.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Thanks for your reply, I tried other SATA connectors (total of 6) and none of them could detect the drive.

The drive is of course, Seagate and I am never ever gonna buy one of those again. I regret not keeping a HGST drive just because it was "too loud" for my ears xDDD now im paying the price T.T

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


How am I gonna run that tool into a Drive that is not even there?

How old is it and what size is it? If it's 6-7 years old or more, it's lived a reasonably long life.
I seem to remember the 1.5TB/2TB/3TB Seagate models being particularly bad but then they gradually improved after that.

It's strange for it to suddenly die like that though, usually it's more gradual as long as it's not been subjected to force. But like I said, it does happen.

Isn't HGST part of WD? I would trust the more expensive engineering of a parent company than any subsidiary they own.

I think WD sold it to Toshiba but HGST is still made in the same manufacturing plants they were before they were bought by WD and retain the same low best in class failure rate, plus they are decently priced.