My HDD doesn't seem to show up anymore.

Arishok N7

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Aug 6, 2012
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It worked the other day. I fired my computer up and its not being detected anymore. I made sure everything was still plugged in. Did it die?
 

blackcell989

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Jun 9, 2013
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Try opening the case to hear any spinning noises. If you hear any grinding noises or something like that your hard drive may go bad.

Another thing is the power supply is not supplying the hard drive enough power.
 
Try plugging it to a different SATA port.

If that doesn't work, try plugging it into a different power cable, preferably a known good one.

If that doesn't work, try using a different SATA cable.

If that doesn't work, try the drive in a different machine.

If that doesn't work, now it's time to be worried.

By the way, is this your main hard drive and the machine won't boot at all or show a hard drive in the BIOS? (you should be getting an error beep for that) Or is it a secondary drive that is just not showing up in your OS anymore? Also, desktop or laptop?
 
Hi there Arishok N7,

If you don't hear the HDD being powered up and none of the steps provided by capt_taco work, most probably the drive is dead. Just RMA it if still in warranty. If there is important information on the drive though, you may need a data recovery company.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD
 
OK, since this was a data drive, do you mean it's just not available in Windows, or is not recognized at all? Check the BIOS to see if it shows up as a device. If so, it likely isn't dead entirely. If there's nothing, then it may be.

I'll add to this: ONCE IN A WHILE, the printed circuit board on the back of a hard drive burns out, making the drive go dead but the mechanical parts and the data are still intact. When this problem occurs, it results in a sudden "No Hard Drive Detected" error with no signs of failure before, no noise, etc., and afterwards there's nothing, the drive won't even spin up and you can't see it in BIOS. If everything else doesn't work and you need your data back, your drive sounds like a possible candidate for this, though I'd never say "likely."

The circuit board can be replaced, but you cannot just get an identical model drive and screw the new one on the back; it actually needs the firmware flashed from the original drive (explanation at the very bottom). This sounds expensive and complicated, but there is a guy up in Vancouver who runs an operation that will do the whole thing including replacement parts and the firmware for about $50.

http://www.onepcbsolution.com/index.html

If nothing else works, I'd at least send them an email and see what they say. Here's the explanation of the firmware transfer. Can you tell I've been through this at least once before? ;)



http://www.onepcbsolution.com/fitr.html