Win7 x64 SSD Recovery/Reinstallation

[derp55]

Hello all,

I could really use some help in getting my SSD up and running again.

I've been using a Crucial C300 128 GB SSD to run Windows 7 Ultimate x64, but yesterday upon resuming from Sleep mode it crashed, and since then I've been unable to start Windows. It will go to the "Starting Windows" screen with the pulsing logo and never move forward.

I've since given up on the data currently in that SSD and would just like to be able to use it again. As such, I've tried to boot using the Windows 7 installation disc and run diskpart from there, but when I get to the command prompt and try to run diskpart, I get the line:
"On computer: MINWINPC"
and a blinking cursor. Nothing happens.

I have also tried selecting "Repair your computer" from the install disc's menu, but when I do, I only get the blank blue background; no dialogs where I can select which OS to repair.

Does this mean my SSD is dead?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Anak]

Hi! derp55, welcome to W7F

It doesn't mean it is dead, just a little sick from what its been fed.

Is this a HP PC?:
Restore backup from MINWINPC folder? - HP Support Forum

Have you been to the crucial site? There are two threads there;

Deals with the C300, and win7 freeze-ups. Possibly due to how win7 uses trim, starts on the second page:
C300 Disk Freeze-ups in Windows 7 - Crucial Community

And the trim thread:
TRIM - Crucial Community

 

[derp55]

Hi Anak,

Actually, it's a machine I built on my own.

Now that you mention it, I was having 15-20 second hang-ups every now and then, but I always associated it with my secondary HDD spinning up from being powered down while idle. At any rate, I think it was an unrelated issue with the problem I was having.

Thankfully, I seem to have resolved the issue by booting up with a GParted Live USB. I could see that the SSD's main partition had a lot of bad sectors (unfortunately I didn't take a screenshot) and even GParted was unable to read any information off of the drive, so I formatted it to NTFS. Of course, doing so ruined any chance of reclaiming data, but I was okay with that. Afterwards, I was able to use the Windows 7 installation disc and it finally detected the drive instead of hanging indefinitely like before. I did a "clean all" wipe and reinstalled Windows 7.

Everything seems to be working great again for now.

 

[Anak]

That's good news!

I would suggest before going ahead and loading the SSD with any more programming or personal data, and as you say

Everything seems to be working great again for now.

To go and do separate recovery, and image disks.

You mentioned an unrelated HDD issue. What type of raid controller do you use?

This site should give some insight into the win7 OS and alignment with SSDs:
Guide OCZ SSD...What you need to know in easy to understand format.