HDD shows Unknown. Not initialized in Disk management.

[maharshi1234]

I have been using this HDD from 3 years. Suddenly it is not showing in Documents. In Disk management, it shows Unknown. Not initialised. I tried all the tutorials. Tried to rebuild MBR. Tried to clear data from diskpart. It says failed due to I/O error. Also tried changing the SATA cables.

 

Did my HDD die?

[aDoomGuy]

You sure it's connected properly? Try to replace the SATA cable.

[maharshi1234]

Just now, aDoomGuy said:

You sure it's connected properly? Try to replace the SATA cable.

I changed my SSD and HDD sata wires. I only have 2. But not solved

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Download crystal disk info, see if you can get it to read the smart data

[maharshi1234]

2 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Download crystal disk info, see if you can get it to read the smart data

It shows like this 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Just now, maharshi1234 said:

It shows like this 

Damn, thats not good, ive had dead drives show SMART info in crystal disk mark.
You should try clearing the cmos, seing if that fixes.

If you dont need that HDD data badly, then try initalising it

[maharshi1234]

Just now, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Damn, thats not good, ive had dead drives show SMART info in crystal disk mark.
You should try clearing the cmos, seing if that fixes.

If you dont need that HDD data badly, then try initalising it

I have my childhood photos in it. I didn't have a backup.
I tried to reinitialize it using AOMEI. It gives Error I/O error.

[maharshi1234]

Will try after clearing CMOS.

Also forgot to mention. In Boot menu, in SATA tab, it doesn't show this HDD. It only shows SSD there.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 minute ago, maharshi1234 said:

Will try after clearing CMOS.

Also forgot to mention. In Boot menu, in SATA tab, it doesn't show this HDD. It only shows SSD there.

that would make sense, theres no boot files on that drive.

 

 

DO NOT REINITALISE IF YOU NEED THE DATA. That can and will lead to loss of data. You need to send it to data recovery to get the data off of it. 

Youll be out of a fair amount of money, but you will get the data back.

 

 

In the future, keep 2 copies at home, one elsewhere, preferably on SOLID STATE storage, like a USB drive or a SATA SSD

[maharshi1234]

Just now, HelpfulTechWizard said:

that would make sense, theres no boot files on that drive.

 

 

DO NOT REINITALISE IF YOU NEED THE DATA. That can and will lead to loss of data. You need to send it to data recovery to get the data off of it. 

Youll be out of a fair amount of money, but you will get the data back.

 

 

In the future, keep 2 copies at home, one elsewhere, preferably on SOLID STATE storage, like a USB drive or a SATA SSD

Tried clearing CMOS. Didnt work. Its not bootmenu sorry. In BIOS mode, we can see list of connected SATA devices. It shows empty for HDD port.

How do i recover data?

 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 minute ago, maharshi1234 said:

Tried clearing CMOS. Didnt work. Its not bootmenu sorry. In BIOS mode, we can see list of connected SATA devices. It shows empty for HDD port.

How do i recover data?

 

You send it to data recovery people, like DriveSavers (but theyve hade a lot of bad press recently, so idk if you should use them) pay and they do their thing.

Itll be several hundred dollars, however.

[maharshi1234]

1 minute ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

You send it to data recovery people, like DriveSavers (but theyve hade a lot of bad press recently, so idk if you should use them) pay and they do their thing.

Itll be several hundred dollars, however.

Can't afford.

Its ok. I accepted. But this ded only in 3 years. Those are some trip photos of me and my brother. Remaining data are games. 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

11 minutes ago, maharshi1234 said:

Can't afford.

Its ok. I accepted. But this ded only in 3 years. Those are some trip photos of me and my brother. Remaining data are games. 

It may be a bd drive, with some sort of manufacturing defect, or it just got damages some other way at some point, and its just showing now.

 

From now on keep multiple backups in solid state storage, and multiple places (like keep one backup at home, one at say, a parents house, and one in your system