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Secondary hard drive no longer showing up in Windows 7, BIOS.

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  • Storage
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October 2, 2014 1:55:15 AM

I use a Seagate 2TB HD (Barracuda XT) in my PC for additional storage. It was formerly in a factory external enclosure, but I moved it into the PC when the enclosure caused it to run warmer than I was comfortable with.

Recently, it no longer shows up in my Windows 7 PC. I checked in BIOS and it doesn't show up there either. I swapped it around with my other secondary hard drive and it still doesn't show up when plugged into different cables, while the other secondary drive does show up when plugged in to the same cables that the non-functioning HD was previously attached to.

The only recent, out of the ordinary event I can think of was a derp on my part. I attempted to add a shortcut to the drive to a folder in my main HD. I right click copied the secondary HD's icon in 'My Computer', but instead of clicking 'paste shortcut' in the destination folder, I accidentally clicked 'paste'. The 'copying files' window popped up but I quickly clicked 'cancel'. I honestly can't recall if I accessed the drive successfully after this.

More about : secondary hard drive longer showing windows bios

October 2, 2014 2:02:10 AM

Sounds like it may be dead, can you try it in another machine?

How old was the drive?

Did it ever get knocked around when it was still an external HD?
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a b G Storage
October 2, 2014 4:16:27 AM

Hey noob5000000. I'm afraid Hyre might be right. You should check it on a different computer just to make sure of it, but the drive is probably failing or failed already. You could also try it with an external enclosure or SATA to USB (if you have any available) so that you can back up any important data you have left, but chances are that this is not going to work either. If you have any important files on it I'd recommend that you go with a data recovery company and RMA (if it's still under warranty).

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD
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October 2, 2014 2:35:26 PM

Man, that sucks. There's nothing important on there, but it took me a long time to collect everything that is on there. :( 
I don't have another machine, but I'm sure I can work something out with someone to bring theirs over.
I do still have the USB adapter that was part of the enclosure, I'll give that a shot.
Thanks for the advice!
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October 2, 2014 7:21:19 PM

I used the USB adapter from the external enclosure to connect the hard drive. I heard it spin up and I can feel it vibrating. Can an HDD be dead but still spin?
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a b G Storage
October 2, 2014 11:46:23 PM

Well, unfortunately it can. That indicates that the platters are spinning, but that doesn't necessarily mean the drive itself is still in good condition. But let's not jump to conclusions yet. Even though it's a bit of long shot that everything's OK after the info, if it's not too much of a hassle - try it on another computer to see what happens.
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October 3, 2014 10:00:29 PM

Thanks again. I'll try it on another machine as soon as I can.
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!