drive not recognized, is there any way to get my data?

Hi,

I recently had an issue where my computer would not login to windows. I decided to just force restart my machine. From then I had the error bootmgr missing. I tried to do the startup repair but it failed each time. Later I tried using the system recovery command prompt, with commands such as bootrec fix boot, etc. Afterwards I think I started getting a different error such as invalid system partition. Going back to the cmd I tried other things such as chkdsk /scannow , list disk, etc. But I was not able to see my drive. From this point I think the issue got even worse and it said insert boot ddevice.

I decided to take out the hard drive and test on my brothers computer instead. Going into disk management the hard drive would not show up, not even as a blank device. Originally when I first tried the startup repair it would take a long time, probably because I had other hard drives connected as well. After unplugging them the startup repair is almost instant but it can,t repair it of course. Does this mean the disk is totally wiped now? Another thing to mention is that in bios, the hard drive doesn't,t show up with a name, it,s just called hard drive. Am I out of luck or is there still some way to recover my data?

Thank you for reading, apologies for errors and inaccurate command names. I.m using a tablet, so there are some inconveniences.

Sounds like the drive is DEAD. Sorry the only way to recover your data is from a Data Recovery service. Which is very expensive. This is why, FOR YEARS, there has been a built in backup system in Windows and countless other program for Backing Up Your Data. As it is a simple fact that if you do not back up and or have multiple copies of your data you Will Lose it All at some point. You are at that point.

I do back up my very important stuff, just not some other stuff that I tend to forget.

When you say dead, do you also mean I also wouldn't be able to reformat it to use again? Although I probably wouldn't risk on using it again. It seems that even when I plug it into my brothers computer, it slows down his computer a lot when booting up.

I have heard about stuff like linux CD's, other random utilities or what not. Those can't be used in my case right?

Yes dead means Dead. If it is not showing in the BIOS then it is TOAST.

Yea it just says "Hard Drive". Hmm, you mentioned that data recovery is very expensive, then how do you still recover from a completely dead drive? Or did you only say that because you weren't sure that it was completely dead yet?

Another thing to mention is that there was a storm in my area half a week ago, but the drive only died yesterday/today. Do you think it's related? I also installed virtualbox about a week ago and was playing with some linux distributions. I have heard something about grub, and the linux OS had that. Also not sure if it's related.

These data recovery services take the drive apart and get the data off the platters by mounting them in a Like drive or other device. That is why it is expensive.

IMHO the storm and your problem are not related.

If the drive is DEAD it is DEAD. If it doesn't show in the BIOS it is DEAD. Not sure how else to say it.

What do you mean it says Hard Drive in BIOS? Is it showing up under storage? If so run the maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan to confirm it's condition.

What I meant about it saying hard drive in bios is when you try to select the boot sequence. Normally of might say something like data with some letters and numbers.

What he is referring to is Boot Priority, it will always say Hard Drive there, you have to look at your BIOS main screen to see if it is showing up there, if it isn't you are out a Hard Drive, if it is, then you might be able to use it as a secondary Hard Drive and try to pull files off of it, but if that doesn't work your best bet would be to just get a new one and take this lesson to heart to keep a backup copy of your files.