Lost Hard Drive

I have a SATA hard drive I use for storing backup data. I am in W7
Home Premium. Suddenly the drive is not recognized, either by my MSI
BIOS or by Windows Explorer.

Is it lost forever? Or is there another way I can try to make it
recognizable (and readable)? Probaby not.
Thanks
JW

wrote:
I have a SATA hard drive I use for storing backup data. I am in W7
Home Premium. Suddenly the drive is not recognized, either by my MSI
BIOS or by Windows Explorer.

Is it lost forever? Or is there another way I can try to make it
recognizable (and readable)? Probaby not.
Thanks
JW

There is one glaring design problem with SATA, and
this is from observation here, rather than documented
in a manual.

The drive is not guaranteed to be reset, when the
motherboard receives the reset signal. If the
drive "goes crazy" and the processor
on the hard drive circuit board is not
running, there is nothing to reset it.

Power cycling is the solution for that.
Power off the PC and power on again, and
check to see if the MSI BIOS can see it.

The root cause of my drive going crazy, was
the voltage on the power cable was a little
on the low side. Which would cause it to
drop out occasionally. Correcting the
SATA power wiring, and putting the drive
on a different power lead, fixed that one
for me.

*******

You can also feel the surface of the drive,
or listen for spinup sounds, attempts to
load the heads onto the platter and so on.

Googling the model number of the drive, may
indicate whether the design has a defect or
not. For example, there was one drive, where
an internal data structure would become
corrupted, causing an instant loss of response
from the drive. Using the drive model number,
you can check into the possibility you've fallen
into the same trap as other owners of the product.

Paul

On Tue, 15 Dec 2015 06:50:09 -0500, Paul wrote:

wrote:
I have a SATA hard drive I use for storing backup data. I am in W7
Home Premium. Suddenly the drive is not recognized, either by my MSI
BIOS or by Windows Explorer.

Is it lost forever? Or is there another way I can try to make it
recognizable (and readable)? Probaby not.
Thanks
JW

There is one glaring design problem with SATA, and
this is from observation here, rather than documented
in a manual.

The drive is not guaranteed to be reset, when the
motherboard receives the reset signal. If the
drive "goes crazy" and the processor
on the hard drive circuit board is not
running, there is nothing to reset it.

Power cycling is the solution for that.
Power off the PC and power on again, and
check to see if the MSI BIOS can see it.

I did that first thing. My MSI BIOS does not recognize it either.

The root cause of my drive going crazy, was
the voltage on the power cable was a little
on the low side. Which would cause it to
drop out occasionally. Correcting the
SATA power wiring, and putting the drive
on a different power lead, fixed that one
for me.

*******

You can also feel the surface of the drive,
or listen for spinup sounds, attempts to
load the heads onto the platter and so on.

I can feel vibrations in the drive, so I presume it is spinning etc.

Googling the model number of the drive, may
indicate whether the design has a defect or
not. For example, there was one drive, where
an internal data structure would become
corrupted, causing an instant loss of response
from the drive. Using the drive model number,
you can check into the possibility you've fallen
into the same trap as other owners of the product.

I can do that

Thanks

JW

Paul

http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
Boot from this, there are a number of disk tools on it, might help.

Kenny Cargill

wrote in message ...

On Tue, 15 Dec 2015 06:50:09 -0500, Paul wrote:

wrote:
I have a SATA hard drive I use for storing backup data. I am in W7
Home Premium. Suddenly the drive is not recognized, either by my MSI
BIOS or by Windows Explorer.

Is it lost forever? Or is there another way I can try to make it
recognizable (and readable)? Probaby not.
Thanks
JW

There is one glaring design problem with SATA, and
this is from observation here, rather than documented
in a manual.

The drive is not guaranteed to be reset, when the
motherboard receives the reset signal. If the
drive "goes crazy" and the processor
on the hard drive circuit board is not
running, there is nothing to reset it.

Power cycling is the solution for that.
Power off the PC and power on again, and
check to see if the MSI BIOS can see it.

I did that first thing. My MSI BIOS does not recognize it either.

The root cause of my drive going crazy, was
the voltage on the power cable was a little
on the low side. Which would cause it to
drop out occasionally. Correcting the
SATA power wiring, and putting the drive
on a different power lead, fixed that one
for me.

*******

You can also feel the surface of the drive,
or listen for spinup sounds, attempts to
load the heads onto the platter and so on.

I can feel vibrations in the drive, so I presume it is spinning etc.

Googling the model number of the drive, may
indicate whether the design has a defect or
not. For example, there was one drive, where
an internal data structure would become
corrupted, causing an instant loss of response
from the drive. Using the drive model number,
you can check into the possibility you've fallen
into the same trap as other owners of the product.

I can do that

Thanks

JW

Paul

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

Have also seen HDD Regenerator restore an apparently failed HDD, it's a
commercial program but if you know where to look!

Kenny

"Kenny Cargill" wrote in message ...

http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
Boot from this, there are a number of disk tools on it, might help.

Kenny Cargill

wrote in message ...

On Tue, 15 Dec 2015 06:50:09 -0500, Paul wrote:

wrote:
I have a SATA hard drive I use for storing backup data. I am in W7
Home Premium. Suddenly the drive is not recognized, either by my MSI
BIOS or by Windows Explorer. Is it lost forever? Or is there another
way I can try to make it
recognizable (and readable)? Probaby not.
Thanks
JW

There is one glaring design problem with SATA, and
this is from observation here, rather than documented
in a manual.

The drive is not guaranteed to be reset, when the
motherboard receives the reset signal. If the
drive "goes crazy" and the processor
on the hard drive circuit board is not
running, there is nothing to reset it.

Power cycling is the solution for that.
Power off the PC and power on again, and
check to see if the MSI BIOS can see it.

I did that first thing. My MSI BIOS does not recognize it either.

The root cause of my drive going crazy, was
the voltage on the power cable was a little
on the low side. Which would cause it to
drop out occasionally. Correcting the
SATA power wiring, and putting the drive
on a different power lead, fixed that one
for me.

*******

You can also feel the surface of the drive,
or listen for spinup sounds, attempts to
load the heads onto the platter and so on.

I can feel vibrations in the drive, so I presume it is spinning etc.

Googling the model number of the drive, may
indicate whether the design has a defect or
not. For example, there was one drive, where
an internal data structure would become
corrupted, causing an instant loss of response
from the drive. Using the drive model number,
you can check into the possibility you've fallen
into the same trap as other owners of the product.

I can do that

Thanks

JW

Paul

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---


--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

Kenny Cargill wrote:
Have also seen HDD Regenerator restore an apparently failed HDD, it's a
commercial program but if you know where to look!

Kenny


It's not detected at BIOS level.
The BIOS cannot fetch the ID string from the drive.

When a drive will not return the ID string to you,
it means the service area of the platter is not loading
into the controller board. The controller board
"bootstraps" itself, by using basic firmware on
the controller board, to load the heads onto the
disk, then it loads the majority of the firmware
(interpreter) from the service area. If the drive
is not returning the ID string, that process could
be failing.

I consider this a bad design idea. Hardware devices
where you paid good money to put base firmware in them,
should be able to communicate at all times, and
return an error code like "cannot load SA" or "cannot
get spindle motor to 7200 RPM" or "heads jammed on ramp".
That sort of thing. Instead, a large number of
fault cases are lumped under "no ID string, dead
in the water". We don't know what happened.
A drive that won't communicate, is pretty hard
to "fix".

Paul

On 12/15/2015 5:12 AM, wrote:
I have a SATA hard drive I use for storing backup data. I am in W7
Home Premium. Suddenly the drive is not recognized, either by my MSI
BIOS or by Windows Explorer.

Is it lost forever? Or is there another way I can try to make it
recognizable (and readable)? Probaby not.
Thanks
JW


Sometimes it can prove useful to connect the drive to another computer,
either directly or through an external enclosure. This pretty much
eliminates the possibility of a bad MB port or cable or power connector. It
is a slim chance but it is so easy to do that it is probably worth the effort.

I've managed to salvage data on a couple of drives by doing this and
running the drive's maker's diagnostic/repair software. If all is lost then
nothing is at stake beyond a few minutes of your time.

On Wed, 16 Dec 2015 12:33:14 -0000, "Kenny Cargill"
wrote:

http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
Boot from this, there are a number of disk tools on it, might help.

Kenny Cargill

I will thanks
JW

On Wed, 16 Dec 2015 15:08:33 -0500, John McGaw
wrote:

On 12/15/2015 5:12 AM, wrote:
I have a SATA hard drive I use for storing backup data. I am in W7
Home Premium. Suddenly the drive is not recognized, either by my MSI
BIOS or by Windows Explorer.

Is it lost forever? Or is there another way I can try to make it
recognizable (and readable)? Probaby not.
Thanks
JW


Sometimes it can prove useful to connect the drive to another computer,
either directly or through an external enclosure. This pretty much
eliminates the possibility of a bad MB port or cable or power connector. It
is a slim chance but it is so easy to do that it is probably worth the effort.

I've managed to salvage data on a couple of drives by doing this and
running the drive's maker's diagnostic/repair software. If all is lost then
nothing is at stake beyond a few minutes of your time.


I did that in a second XP PC - it did not recognize said drive either.

Thanks

JW

You had to tell me that.

Thanks

JW





On Wed, 16 Dec 2015 11:11:01 -0500, Paul wrote:

Kenny Cargill wrote:
Have also seen HDD Regenerator restore an apparently failed HDD, it's a
commercial program but if you know where to look!

Kenny


It's not detected at BIOS level.
The BIOS cannot fetch the ID string from the drive.

When a drive will not return the ID string to you,
it means the service area of the platter is not loading
into the controller board. The controller board
"bootstraps" itself, by using basic firmware on
the controller board, to load the heads onto the
disk, then it loads the majority of the firmware
(interpreter) from the service area. If the drive
is not returning the ID string, that process could
be failing.

I consider this a bad design idea. Hardware devices
where you paid good money to put base firmware in them,
should be able to communicate at all times, and
return an error code like "cannot load SA" or "cannot
get spindle motor to 7200 RPM" or "heads jammed on ramp".
That sort of thing. Instead, a large number of
fault cases are lumped under "no ID string, dead
in the water". We don't know what happened.
A drive that won't communicate, is pretty hard
to "fix".

Paul