Failed hard drive

dub7_2010

HI all

While creating a partion in on seagate sata hd i had a power cut and since it is not seen in windows or the BIOS.

Is there any IT guys that can help me. I say IT because i know a lot about PC's myself and normally find it easy to fix almost any fault.
All the normal solutions have been tried. This drive is only used for storage.

Drive not seen in Windows 7
BIOS wont load when drive connected.
Not a cable issue
Drive is still spinning and was working until partion attempt so not a physical problem afaik.
Tried connecting after windows is loaded, using internal cables and also external usb case, but OS locks up, so cant use a software fix.
Its only a 120gb with no important info so not worth spending money replacing the PCB.


Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

cgarrad

Start, right click on computer, go to manage, then disk management.

Is it there?

dub7_2010

No its not seen in windows OR BIOS
Wont boot if installed but i know it a corrupt partiton issue

JonathanAnon

Sounds like the drive was seriously physically damaged during the power cut.. If it doesnt work with either cables or USB, and cant be seen in BIOS, then it sounds like possibly the power circuity of the hard drive were damaged.

Even if there are NO partitions on the drive, it should still give the make and model of the hard drive.

corkcomp

if its not seen by the bios / hardware storage controller it wont be in disk management.. OP - try disconnecting ALL other drives and connecting only the drive in question to the primary sata connector.. if this doesnt work it looks like a fried pcb unfortuately

dub7_2010

Did try all the above.
Guess ill just bin it as not worth getting pcb.
Thanks for the prompt replies

nc43

HI if the drive is not been seen in your bios maybe the power ottauge has fried the drive that would be my first thought specially if its an older drive as Im sure youll gree if the BIOS dosent see the drive nothing else will can you set the bios to try to auto detect the drive just in case it has a saved setting finally try the drive in another PC at the very least it will tell you if the drive is dead or not Regards

dub7_2010

have tried in another pc with no sucess.
i give up...it going in the bin.

Thanks all

awja

Maybe this is too late, but doing drive recovery for an error like this on Windows is a bit of a laugh

Sounds like a simple case of partition table corruption. Connect the drive to a Linux machine, or put a live image on a usb key or cd, then fire up GParted, and see what happens. There's even a Linux distro specifically for this kind of problem that has the recovery tools installed by default. Hope you haven't binned it yet!

Edit: I see people talking about physical damage. It's quite unlikely that a power outage damaged your hard drive so badly, unless the read/write head was literally about to fall off. It certainly shouldn't be burned out. Even if there was a power surge, as opposed to a cut, there's the fuse in the plug, the regulatory circuitry in your PSU that's designed to isolate components from power fluctuations and probably some precautions built into the drive itself against overvoltage. My own PCs have survived several power cuts without any damage.

ED E

Thread of the day now, better not have actually binned it.

Have you got a USB cradle to try it in. Its blocking boot from the SATA bus, but may work post boot from a USB.

old_aussie

Hi,

The BIOS could also have been affected by the power cut.

Disconnect HDD

Go into the BIOS and reload the default settings.

Save and exit.

Turn Off PC

Reconnect HDD and see if BIOS detects it.

Anchises

go to Seagate site. download Seatools for dos and boot to the diagnostic.
If it cannot see the drive -two possiblities.

a. PC controller is fried
or
b. drive is fried.

if you can see other drives, its not a.

diagnostic will check drive and give an indication of it's state

A.

dub7_2010

Hi Guys

Thanks for the suggestions and no i have not binned it yet.
Have tried with an external usb case but no luck.
I believe its a corrupt partition and have tried seagate tools, acronis, paragon, partition magics but they cant detect drive.

I have tried on other pc using external case and that didnt work.
Good the idea of using live Linux dist. and ill try that tomorrow but if i cant get to BIOS with drive connected i guess i wont work. In fact i dont think i even get a POST error.

Ill keep ye posted

Anchises

If seagate tools cannot see the drive - you really have a problem and best course is to give up ;(

I'm assuming you used seatools for DOS as opposed to the windows version ?

If using the dos version, you are totally independent of the Op system. It comes with its own bootup. Does the bootup screen come up ?
And if so , does it detect ANY drives ? You could attach a known good drive to see if *it* is detected.

If the seagate for DOS application does not even boot up ......then it cannot even get to the stage of searching for drives,,,

If it boots up and cannot find the drive, then the drive controller on the motherboard, OR the cables you are using are dud OR the drive is junk, Take your pick.

SATA cables are a little fragile ......... I would try a swap with them first.

Use the Kirstein test - swap everything out and replace with known good items until you get a result

BTW - you should get to BIOS in any case ? That seems to suggest that motherboard /BIOS is damaged.

Can you get a screen output of ANY kind when you turn on, with the drive disconected ?
No POST codes is a real bummer. If you don't get as far as POST......give up ! The PC is dead

It sounds like Seagate/Acronis are able to run and show a screen on which you would expect to see the drive detected. If that's the case and you cannot see the drive, the list of things to check is diminshed a little;

The CPU is working
The Motherboard is working
It's controller may have gone dud, but unlikely since the drive cannot be found on another PC.
The SATA cables data/power may be dud.
Finally :
The Drive is fried..

It's unlikely the BIOS setting are incorrect, but I suppose you could have a disabled controller in the bios ?

Can you get into BIOS and reset to safe defaults?

A.

dub7_2010

Hi all
Just want to confirm the following:

Operating system is not contained on the drive.
Its used for storage only
PC wont even get to BIOS when its connected internally or via external usb enclosure.
If i cant get to BIOS, windows wont load therefore no windows software fix is possible.
No POST errors detected just the usual 1 beep.
Its NOT a hadware fault. MB, cables etc. are all ok as PC runs fine when the drive is not connected.
I have tried to run under a live Linux dist. (Backtrack) and it loads. Backtrack doesnt contain GParted so ill download and give it a try.

I have all data backed up on another drive so not a problem to bin it but I have never struggled to fix a PC fault before so i dont want to give up.

Thanks all

Anchises

At this stage I'd have binned it

If Seagate's own software cannot access it, it's unlikely that Gparted will do any good.

When you say

I have tried to run under a live Linux dist. (Backtrack) and it loads.

What do you mean by 'it loads' ? Do you mean it boots with the drive attached, even tho' you cannot enter the BIOS ? , while the PC is virtually dead with with the drive attached ?

Now that's strange

A.

dub7_2010

Anchises wrote: »

At this stage I'd have binned it

If Seagate's own software cannot access it, it's unlikely that Gparted will do any good.

When you say

What do you mean by 'it loads' ? Do you mean it boots with the drive attached, even tho' you cannot enter the BIOS ? , while the PC is virtually dead with with the drive attached ?

Now that's strange

A.

My bad.....I didnt write that well

Ok with bad HD attached PC wont get to BIOS.
When Win 7 is running and I attach HD windows lock up.
When Backtrack is running I can attach HD without Backtrack locking up.
So onlly solution I can see is to run a LInux dist. and try from there.
Ill give GParted a go (with fingers crossed)

Dont wanna admit defeat even though i probably should

Anchises

Ok with bad HD attached PC wont get to BIOS

.
Assuming attached internally - consistent with a fried drive

When Win 7 is running and I attach HD windows lock up

.
If attaching to internal connectors - it would lock anyway -powersupply cannot handle this action.
If connecting as USB - no certain diagnosis

When Backtrack is running I can attach HD without Backtrack locking up.

As USB external ? - it still is = no certain diagnosis
As internal ? - it would lock up PC - So I assume you mean external USB/(e)SATA

So onlly solution I can see is to run a LInux dist. and try from there.

Ill give GParted a go (with fingers crossed)

I'm still curious... Try those...

A.

Snowbat

Anchises wrote: »

If attaching to internal connectors - it would lock anyway -powersupply cannot handle this action.

Usually true but OP could boot with only the power connector attached to the drive and hotplug the SATA data connector after booting.

If the BIOS includes this drive while checking for bootable devices, it may be hanging on access. In the BIOS setup, it may help to disable "boot from other devices" and remove any entry for the drive in "boot order" and any drive auto-detection.

In Linux, to see if the drive is detected, open a terminal and monitor the messages log while connecting the drive:

sudo tail -f /var/log/messages

dub7_2010

Finally with all your help, Gparted, an external HD enclosure and a lot of patience its fixed.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Anchises

Wow !
Take a bow. Your persistence paid off.

Now recheck the drive with the Seagate utility ?
If it's not up to the manufacturer's spec, ask yourself - should you trust it ?


A.