HHD Dead or Not...

[Moonyang]

Hey Guys,

 

The other day when I turned my PC off, and returned the following about 4-5 hours. I came to notice that once I turned my PC on, it simply hanged on the Windows Starting screen. Oddly enough my BIOS recognises the HDD which seems to be playing up.

 

Specs PC:

CPU: i7 920 2.66g Ghz

CPU Cooler: Corsair H70 - Push and Pull

GPU: EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 680 SC Signature 2

MOBO: Gigabyte EX58-UD4P

RAM: 12GB OCZ XTC Platinum (6gb) & GSkill RAM standard clock (6gb)

PSU: Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W - 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified

HDD: Seagate 1tb (OS) + 5 HHDs mixed from 1-3gb

CASE: Thermaltake Armor+ (Full Tower)

 

 

I have 1 HDD which is a 1TB - which has windows, software and games on it

5 other HDDs with plain old data.

 

 

I went through quite a rigmarole of things:-

- Installing fresh Windows 7 onto an SSD (which is for a future build).

- Testing each HDD one at a time.

- Replacing Effected HDDs (at the time) with new SATA cables.

 

 

To which I have come to the conclusion that one of my HDDs (3TB - Almost a year old WD Green Caviar) was preventing windows from loading. From my Old Original HDD with windows, through to the newly installed Windows on my SSD.

I have tried to run the HDD by itself along with both windows on old 1TB and SSD, and nothing shows up "In Windows"; but does show up in BIOS.

 

 

I stupidly haven't sorted RAID out for myself yet, and I was due to build a Storage PC soon. 

Any thoughts? - If my HDD is dead, can anyone recommenced any HDD recovery places in Melbourne (Australia), which aren't too expensive and reliable.

[Arty]

not sure, as for your raid Install windows 8.1 and use storage spaces much better

[Nico123473]

If i were you i would've done a raid 10 array with all those drives

[Moonyang]

I'm planning on building a Storage PC soon! - But I would go to a max of 8 drives. To which I was contemplating on creating a Raid 6 Array, to keep my data in the most safest condition. 

 

However any thoughts on my HHD?!  :unsure:

[Raid]

Got a spare USB stick or something? Load a copy of some linux distro on it. Check if fdisk finds the drive.

Does the drive make any strange noises when the platters spin? Clicking or anything else like that? Do the platters even spin in the first place?

[Moonyang]

Got a spare USB stick or something? Load a copy of some linux distro on it. Check if fdisk finds the drive.

Does the drive make any strange noises when the platters spin? Clicking or anything else like that? Do the platters even spin in the first place?

 

I have a spare usb stick, but I've never used Linux before, which would make the process of discovering the issue a little more difficult,

However I kept a ear next to the HHD and did hear something spinning within the HHD. I also took it out of the HHD cage and spun it around to make sure nothing was broken, to which there was no sound... I'm in awe.

[Kryptyx]

Its HDD (hard disk drive) not HHD.

[Moonyang]

Its HDD (hard disk drive) not HHD.

 

[Moonyang]

I'm also reading on installing Linux to gain access to the drive - Any assistance how to do this?

[Moonyang]

Hey Guys! I jumped into Linux, and the drive is not being picked up. - Even after multiple boots

 

It's sad, but it is dead

 

Can anyone recommend a data recovery centre in Melbourne Australia, or could is there a way that I could attempt to recover the data myself?!?

[Leonard]

Once the HDD is showing up in the BIOS it is working. This happened to me recently. Both of my HDDs would show in the BIOS but only one of my HDDs would show in windows, i just did a scan and fix of the HDD and then when my PC rebooted it showed in windows. Then i copied all the data from my backup HDD over to the OS HDD and did a reformat of the Back up HDD and all is well now.

[Moonyang]

Once the HDD is showing up in the BIOS it is working. This happened to me recently. Both of my HDDs would show in the BIOS but only one of my HDDs would show in windows, i just did a scan and fix of the HDD and then when my PC rebooted it showed in windows. Then i copied all the data from my backup HDD over to the OS HDD and did a reformat of the Back up HDD and all is well now.

 

It's reassuring that if the HDD appears in the BIOS, the HDD is working. However my issue is that when I boot to the backup HDD, Windows is stuck hanging in the Startup Screen (Windows Logo). Whereupon I've left the PC on for over 10mins without any sign of getting into Windows.

 

Could you suggest another avenue of gaining access into Windows? Because the only way I can access Windows is, if the HDD is not connected via the SATA port. 

 

Is it possible to plug in the SATA cable after I've made it into windows?

[Leonard]

Is it possible to plug in the SATA cable after I've made it into windows?

DO NOT....i repeat.....DO NOT DO THIS. You can run a high risk of shorting the HDD, motherboard or both, then you would be royally fucked. You can connect the HDD via USB if you have one of these or the more expensive HDD Dock like this.