Storage Solutions Hard Disk dead??

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varkey

varkey

Galvanizer
This is regarding a Western Digital 1 TB WD10EACS which I bought about 2 months back. I have used it only for max two weeks as I was not at home.

Anyway today morning when I switched on my PC it took a very long time to get past the initial POST screen. It gets stuck for a long time displaying the code '5A' which according to Intel means '5A Resetting PATA/SATA bus and all devices'.

But the hard disk doesnt get detected in the bios and sometimes while booting throws a bluescreen error. I was not able to see what was mentioned in the BSOD as it went away really fast.

This is not my primary OS drive but only a data storage drive. I had about 700 GB in it :( :(

Anyway do you think the drive is dead? I tried different SATA cables, power cables etc but no difference.

I had a similar problem with my previous WD 500 GB HDD where sometimes the drive fails to get detected and gets stuck for a long time during POST. But once I disconnect the HDD and reconnect it would be fine. But this time none of those methods are helping. :( :(
 
only 2 things i can think of

1.bios update of the mobo
2.try using it with other working PC or using external casing ..

Ru able to hear the spinning Sound of HDD ?
 
varkey said:
This is regarding a Western Digital 1 TB WD10EACS which I bought about 2 months back. I have used it only for max two weeks as I was not at home.

Anyway today morning when I switched on my PC it took a very long time to get past the initial POST screen. It gets stuck for a long time displaying the code '5A' which according to Intel means '5A Resetting PATA/SATA bus and all devices'.

But the hard disk doesnt get detected in the bios and sometimes while booting throws a bluescreen error. I was not able to see what was mentioned in the BSOD as it went away really fast.

This is not my primary OS drive but only a data storage drive. I had about 700 GB in it :( :(

Anyway do you think the drive is dead? I tried difference SATA cables, power cables etc but no difference.

I had a similar problem with my previous WD 500 GB HDD where sometimes the drive fails to get detected and gets stuck for a long time during POST. But once I disconnect the HDD and reconnect it would be fine. But this time none of those methods are helping. :( :(
Click to expand...

You have not said whether this time too, booting is normal if you disconnect the suspect HDD.

If possible, do as techfreak advised to check it in another system.

It appears that you already have two other drives in your system. Your siggy doesn't say what PSU you are using. Is your PSU good enough to support your hardware?

One quick check you can try is to disconnect the other non-OS drive and see if it boots up OK.
 
techfreak said:
only 2 things i can think of

1.bios update of the mobo

2.try using it with other working PC or using external casing ..

Ru able to hear the spinning Sound of HDD ?
Click to expand...

1. I had updated to the latest bios few days back.

2. Will try that.

I can feel slight vibration when I touch the drive. But it doesnt vibrate as much as my other two hard disks. But that maybe cause this is only a 5400 RPM drive.

Emil said:
You have not said whether this time too, booting is normal if you disconnect the suspect HDD.

If possible, do as techfreak advised to check it in another system.

It appears that you already have two other drives in your system. Your siggy doesn't say what PSU you are using. Is your PSU good enough to support your hardware?

One quick check you can try is to disconnect the other non-OS drive and see if it boots up OK.
Click to expand...

If I disconnect this hard disk it will boot normally without any delay.

Yes I have total 3 hard disks incl this. The PSU is CM 460, I hope its good enough.

I tried connecting this hard disk alone, but still it gets stuck at the POST screen for a long time and doesnt get detected in the bios. :( :(
 
cooldude_007 said:
CM PSU is good but it might be faulty, try with different power/data cables, Might me a faulty mobo too.
Click to expand...

As I mentioned in the first post, I tried with different power and data cables already. But no difference. The issue happens with only this particular hdd and my other two hdd works fine with which ever SATA port / cable I try.
 
well i have faced this problem many times with my HDD .. its actually a sign of dying HDDs even in my case it took really long time for the BIOS to load up, HDDs not getting detected, or even if they are detected, they make some ticking sound. i immediately back up my data and send it for RMA.. i have already replaced around 8 HDD till now.. neway u should backup any data if u have on it.. but if u are completely unable to boot to windows with this HDD connected then i guess its time for RMA.. sad that ur data will be lost..
 
^ Sometimes it boots with the hard disk connected but it wont get detected. :( This is the first time its happening with this particular hdd. I hope it works atleast once so that I can get my data back.

The hard disk never showed any signs of failure before this. :(
 
Problem could be due to faulty SMPS. Sometime due to aging factor unit fails to deliver proper power.Try another SMPS, no success makes sure that hard disk is faulty RMA it.

In my views there is no idea of flashing MB BIOS for sudden change in system.

For data recovery hard disk must be detected by BIOS otherwise you need to find professional help, which gonna cost you bomb.
 
varkey said:
If I disconnect this hard disk it will boot normally without any delay.

Yes I have total 3 hard disks incl this. The PSU is CM 460, I hope its good enough.

I tried connecting this hard disk alone, but still it gets stuck at the POST screen for a long time and doesnt get detected in the bios. :( :(
Click to expand...

I think now we can safely rule out the PSU as a possible culprit.
No point in using the Seagate diagnostics on it. Much better to use the WD diagnostics. It is advisable to use the diagnostics tools of the same company mainly because the interpretation of the S.M.A.R.T test is somewhat company dependent.
But in your case I don't think even the diagnostics will work because the HDD is not getting detected in BIOS. WD also has Data Lifeguard tools which you can try using to get the HDD detected. Once you are able to detect it you might still need to run a quick format before you are able to read and retrieve your data. I had to do that with my WD HDD but in my case the HDD was at least getting detected.
If all else fails there is always the WD RMA service but that is at best a last resort because your data will be gone.
 
varkey said:
^ Sometimes it boots with the hard disk connected but it wont get detected. :( This is the first time its happening with this particular hdd. I hope it works atleast once so that I can get my data back.

The hard disk never showed any signs of failure before this. :(
Click to expand...

That's the beauty of HDD's I suppose. They are very dodgy when it comes to failures. In my case, the same thing would happen & it would take around 1-2 minutes to proceed beyond POST screen. Then it would not get detected. I would remove the cable & reconnect it, it would work. That's when I knew it was about to go dead. So the next time it got detected, I went on a back up frenzy. You won't believe how long it took to get all my 320GB on those friggin' DVDs. :@
 
^ Tried in another system just now. :(

Didnt get detected :(

The drive is spinning, it doesnt make any noise etc, just like a normal working HDD but it fails to get detected in the bios. :(

I saw in a site about putting the disk in the freezer for few hours. Has anyone tried it? Any hope?
 
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