Hard Drive dead?

SkutSkut

I'm assuming it's dead. This one here.

The computer fails to recognize it, but recognizes everything else, I've tried different cables, and it acts like it wants to start up but just idles, so it's getting power. I've made sure it's plugged in, tried it in different slots on the motherboard, and retried it again this morning.

It's still under warranty thankfully, so if it is completely gone then at least I can get another.

GPIA7R

Last time this happened to me, I bought an IDE-to-USB cable... (some include Sata, as well)... which plugs into the HD, then directly into USB. Sometimes can allow you to salvage lost files. An invaluable tool ($12, technically...)

Other than screwing around in Disk Manager and making sure drive letters are assigned properly, that's all I can think of.

SkutSkut

Okay, disk manager you say? I'll check that too.

GPIA7R

I know there's a run command to get to it, and it's silly that I don't remember...

You can right-click "My Computer", go to "Manage", then on the left somewhere near the bottom is "Disk Management"

SkutSkut

I can get to Bios but that's it, it ask for proper boot drive or disc whenever I turn it on without going to bios, and the HDD doesn't show up in Bios at all.

bowen

If it doesn't show up in BIOS there's either a controller issue, it's dead, or you're doing it wrong.

As long as you know 3 is right, it's a hardware fault.

SkutSkut

Friend is bringing a backup over so I can see if it's the cables, I've had it working for a few months now so I'm not doing it wrong, so it's either a cable issue or a dead hard drive.

I get up, turn it on, no grinding noises or anything, just refused to boot and no HDD recognized.

GPIA7R

Mebbe reset CMOS while you're at it

NailbunnyPD

Ahh, the 7200.11. I used to love Seagate, but this series of drives got horrible reliability reviews.

(edit) the reviews still read the same as they did 8 months ago, and seem to reflect the issue you are experiencing. I think its safe to say the drive is dead.

logic7

I cosign the IDE to USB cable. I've had a bunch of really old drives die on me recently and instead of figuring them to be lost, I just hook it up to my external drive connectors and I can then pull all of the data off of it AND I can even re-initialize it (incorrectly known as a "low level format"). That way, I can be sure that no one will ever get any data off of it after I've tossed it.

SkutSkut

NailbunnyPD wrote: »

Ahh, the 7200.11. I used to love Seagate, but this series of drives got horrible reliability reviews.

(edit) the reviews still read the same as they did 8 months ago, and seem to reflect the issue you are experiencing. I think its safe to say the drive is dead.

Yeah, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did, got it and a month later the drivers that were killing the things came out, looks like I'll have to get a replacement one until I can get a Western Digital.

I'll have to look for a cable too, mobo came with a IDE-SATA cable

TelMarine

I think this is the same drive that my friend had a problem with. Apparently, there is a problem where the drive can get stuck in an infinite loop so to speak: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807

My friend ending up fixing it using a MAX232 chip and using serial communication (funnily enough we were using the chip in my microprocessor systems class). That site should tell you everything you need to fix it.

Voro

Barracuda 7200.11, Barracuda ES.2 SATA, and DiamondMax 22 drives from Seagate and Maxtor encounter this problem. Since you can't see it in the BIOS, you're already boned and even an external enclosure won't help assuming you have a drive with bad firmware. Check the link below when you have your serial #:

Seagate page with links to model # & serial # checkers

Here's the support article, but the firmware fixes won't work at this point. You can contact their support via a link there to get the drive fixed free, but they'll require you to call in and get transferred to their data recovery people. Good luck getting through the phone lines. Got hit with this a few weeks ago and haven't been able to get up at the crack of dawn to get any service.

SkutSkut

Replacement has arrived, got a 1.2 maybe it won't die on me.

NailbunnyPD

Do you mean 7200.12?

SkutSkut

I guess so, yeah. Why?

TelMarine

Just wanted to post a success story. My own drive (which I forgot was a seagate 500gb) became afflicted by this problem and I finally got everything fixed and up and running today. So, your drive is still alive, you just need to follow that previous link I sent to get it up and running.

SkutSkut

Shame, I've already sent it off. the 7200.12 is okay, it's a bit slower and it freaked out when I reset with my new mouse installed, seems quieter though.

Lately (after installing the new mouses drivers) when I turn it on it'll go to the "windows encountered an error when it was shutdown" screen, y'know the one where you pick to boot from last known good attempt, start windows normaly, safe mode, etc etc, I'm assuming the HDD is going to die again.