SATA Hard Drive Not Reading Disk (Options?)

altek · 30 Nov 2015

I have a SATA 1TB Seagate Barracuda that has been acting wonky for a while now. I have been meaning to back up the data on it (which is ~700gb of music and videos) but never got around to it. I think now I may have waited too late.

The drive was bought brand new roughly ~18 months ago and has never been dropped or physically damaged. I take very good care of my hardware. Regular cleanings, maintenance, no damage, etc. Anyway, the drive started acting weird a while ago and was sometimes not coming up as a drive but more often than not the performance was terrible. I had to check cables a few times and tightened them in and everything would be ok for a bit but the performance issues would start up again. I mean terrible performance. Sometimes it would take me 60 secs or more to access the drive after double clicking it. After that initial start up the drive would run fine for a while. It seemed like almost when the drive went to sleep it had an issue waking up or starting up.

Well it finally stopped reading. It won't show up now no matter what I do. I swapped cables, SATA ports, etc. I tested it with my 500gb Seagate Barracuda. That one works fine and when I swap in the 1TB.. nothing. I think the drive may be finished. But as I said, there is no physical damage done to it and also it powers up. I can hear the disks spinning when I connect it. Windows is just not reading it. When I go into my Intel Rapid Storage it comes up as a SATA device (0gb) so something is being read, but I can't see the drive.

What are my options here? I really just want the data off of it because it took me such a long time to collect. Would I be able to take it somewhere and they can get the data off onto a new disk? Is there something I can do myself? I don't see why not. The drive seems in perfect condition. I don't know why it started acting up to begin with, but I just hope it isn't too late to reclaim my data. Anyone?

Layback Bear · 30 Nov 2015

I'm no expert on such items but a little picture just might help a expert when they see your threat. Please complete this tutorial by Golden with the troubled external drive hooked up.

Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

CKWD · 02 Dec 2015

Hello altek!

I would agree, please post screenshots of your Disk Management after making sure the drive spins up and is recognized in BIOS.

If the drive is really not visible anywhere, try booting to an Ubuntu/Linux Live CD and see if it can be recognized there. You could also check the manufacturer's software if it also recognizes the drive.

If not, you could try using data recovery software, but at your own risk, as it could damage the drive more and make the data unrecoverable, depending on its damage, of course. After that your best option would be data recovery companies.

Post back! :)

CK_WD

RolandJS · 02 Dec 2015

There is a long-shot amongst several possible long shots. Pay for R-Studio Network data recovery software. Create, using one of R-Studio's ISOs [I think there is a WinPE ISO or something very similar] either a USB boot stick or DVD boot that includes the portable R-Studio Network. Also, have an external usb powered 1-2TB HD at the ready, as you're booting via USB or DVD, gently plug this usb 1-2TB extHD in. You might have one or more passes [if the HD comes alive] by R-Studio to recover whatever can be recovered. I just recently began a personal study of four major data recovery programs -- to learn the keystrokes of NTFS recovery. I have just begun, so I do not know yet the keystrokes to walk you through.

altek · 02 Dec 2015

CKWD said:

Hello altek!

I would agree, please post screenshots of your Disk Management after making sure the drive spins up and is recognized in BIOS.

If the drive is really not visible anywhere, try booting to an Ubuntu/Linux Live CD and see if it can be recognized there. You could also check the manufacturer's software if it also recognizes the drive.

If not, you could try using data recovery software, but at your own risk, as it could damage the drive more and make the data unrecoverable, depending on its damage, of course. After that your best option would be data recovery companies.

Post back! :)

CK_WD

The drive is not visible in BIOS and I tried manufacturer diagnostic software with no luck either. The only shred of evidence is in Intel Rapid Storage a SATA drive comes up. Says SATA drive (0gb). So the software is reading that there is a SATA drive, but I don't think it can access it to determine how large it is and if it's functioning properly. I'm guessing my first step is to get an external HD so I can swap the data if I can figure out a way. It just seems like a data recovery solution would probably work, but expensive for a personal disk? I was hoping to remedy it myself. I am going to mount a Linux distro and see if it is visible like you recommended.

CKWD · 03 Dec 2015

The drive not being visible in BIOS means that the whole system can't get it pass the first level of recognition: the hardware itself doesn't detect there's a storage drive connected. The fact that Intel Rapid Storage detects it still isn't helpful as the software doesn't even detect the capacity of the drive, suggesting errors with the device itself.

To connect the drive externally simply use a USB to SATA adapter. If it helps, and if the Live CD helps access the drive, too then try to pull the data off. If not, there would hardly be anything left to do than use professional help. :/

CK_WD