Bad HDD! Need some help!

[xkecco]

Hey guys...

 

I had this HDD from an old PC, so I thought to use it instead of leaving it to the dust.

 

Thing is, when I plugged it into my pc via sata, at the startup the bios's SMART tool detected it as a bad HDD, so I went back into the mobo settings to turn SMART tool off, just to be able to start up my windows and see if I could see the HDD from the disk utility, but it didn't show up (also tried EASEUS Partition Master just to be sure, but nothing).

 

I'm not that experienced for what concerns bad HDDs, so I'm asking for help.

 

What's the best and fastest way to get it back to work?

 

Please consider that:

- There were some documents (so we're not speaking about all the files inside the HDD) that I'd like to save.

- After saving those files (if possible) I'd format it entirely. 

- It's a WD5000AAJS (from Western Digital) 500GB.

[xkecco]

Will try with the DOS tool from WD. I'll see what happens. 

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey xkecco,

 

If the drive is reported as Bad according to the S.M.A.R.T. status aI wouldn't use it to store any important data. Chances are that the drive has failed. I wouldn't disable S.M.A.R.T. in BIOS either. 

When you plug the drive in can you see it in Device Manager, Disk Management or My Computer? Is the drive recognized properly in BIOS (capacity, model)? Can you hear the drive spin up? Are there any strange noises coming from it? If you can detect it with WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool, do run the quick and the extended tests. Here's a link to the tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=p72Uym

I would try using Linux Live CD and see if you can get the drive to be recognized. You best bet would be a data recovery company buth their services can be quite costly.You could also try the drive externally/internally on another computer.

 

Captain_WD.

[dalekphalm]

Hey guys...

 

I had this HDD from an old PC, so I thought to use it instead of leaving it to the dust.

 

Thing is, when I plugged it into my pc via sata, at the startup the bios's SMART tool detected it as a bad HDD, so I went back into the mobo settings to turn SMART tool off, just to be able to start up my windows and see if I could see the HDD from the disk utility, but it didn't show up (also tried EASEUS Partition Master just to be sure, but nothing).

 

I'm not that experienced for what concerns bad HDDs, so I'm asking for help.

 

What's the best and fastest way to get it back to work?

 

Please consider that:

- There were some documents (so we're not speaking about all the files inside the HDD) that I'd like to save.

- After saving those files (if possible) I'd format it entirely. 

- It's a WD5000AAJS (from Western Digital) 500GB.

If the BIOS is detecting the SMART Data reports the drive as bad, then the drive is bad. You *might* be able to get the drive to load, but there's really no point unless you specifically need to recover data off of it.

 

You certainly don't want to use the HDD.

[xkecco]

 

Hey xkecco,

 

If the drive is reported as Bad according to the S.M.A.R.T. status aI wouldn't use it to store any important data. Chances are that the drive has failed. I wouldn't disable S.M.A.R.T. in BIOS either. 

When you plug the drive in can you see it in Device Manager, Disk Management or My Computer? Is the drive recognized properly in BIOS (capacity, model)? Can you hear the drive spin up? Are there any strange noises coming from it? If you can detect it with WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool, do run the quick and the extended tests. Here's a link to the tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=p72Uym

I would try using Linux Live CD and see if you can get the drive to be recognized. You best bet would be a data recovery company buth their services can be quite costly.You could also try the drive externally/internally on another computer.

 

Captain_WD.

 

 

 

If the BIOS is detecting the SMART Data reports the drive as bad, then the drive is bad. You *might* be able to get the drive to load, but there's really no point unless you specifically need to recover data off of it.

 

You certainly don't want to use the HDD.

 

Alright! Sorry for the late answer, I've been busy during the last days.

 

Back on topic, the HDD turned out to be irrecoverable. 

In Windows's Disk Management Utility it wouldn't appear. I downloaded the WD recovery tool, made a bootable usb with it and started it. I tried to do a full test, it gave me an error after 1-2 hours or so (I left the pc processing, since the ETA was like 12 hours; then I came back and found the error). Then I tried to write zeros, but it failed and gave me another error. So I just gave up on it. 

 

I even tried to put it on another pc, strangely on this one the hdd would appear on "My PC" (the Disk Utility's loading was taking ages though so I couldn't get in it, couldn't be arsed to wait), but there were several "Removable Disks" and I couldn't even do something with them. So that's why I thought the hdd fatally abandoned me.

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

These are signs if a failing drive indeed. I would suggest replacing the drive. If it's still under warranty I would suggest checking out our RMA policy: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=zBkhfc

 

Captain_WD.

[xkecco]

Allright! Thanks for the help!