Major HDD Issues - Constant 100%

[Rayven2]

Firstly, my setup:
120 GB SSD (OS)
1TB HDD
Win 8.1

So, over two days I've been having issues with what appears to be both my SSD & HDD.
Firstly, I encountered a "Explorer.exe: Unknown Hard Error". It wasn't possible to do anything, it took it least 10 minutes to load the OS itself and eventually I'd blue screen.

I ran numerous tests on the SSD, it was fine hardware wise, I reinstalled windows and everything seemed to have worked.

When I plugged in my 1 TB HDD, it wasn't accessible and it's at a constant 100%. I don't know if this is a separate issue or if it was the problem in the first place, which is odd considering my OS is on the SSD.

I had to unplug my HDD to be able to use the PC at all. Any ideas? I'll give more details if need be.

Thanks in advance.

 

[The Paladin]

if the HDD has sector errors it can cause the system to cycle trying to read it (assuming it isn't a mechanical issue)

I would boot system wait until its booted, then run a chkdsk /f on it and let it run all night if you have to see.
you could peek prior to don't that at SMART status of the drive. maybe you will see right away the issue.

 

[Rayven2]

if the HDD has sector errors it can cause the system to cycle trying to read it (assuming it isn't a mechanical issue)

I would boot system wait until its booted, then run a chkdsk /f on it and let it run all night if you have to see.
you could peek prior to don't that at SMART status of the drive. maybe you will see right away the issue.

I'm going to run several tests on the HDD and see what else comes up, it's difficult however since the system can barely move while the storage drive is plugged in.

 

[The Paladin]

boot in safemode, then do it, if you have to, disable ssd, boot from USB and then test it with recovery win 8 usb/cdrom

 

[Rayven2]

boot in safemode, then do it, if you have to, disable ssd, boot from USB and then test it with recovery win 8 usb/cdrom

Sadly I can't boot in safe mode, as the default is f8, however, I have AsRocks uefi bios, which boots me into that instead. Believe it or not, it doesn't have a safe mode option which is ridiculous.

I don't have a recovery cd/usb, I shall probably have to create one.

 

[Rayven2]

Alright, so I've tried to do a bunch of tests and fixes. Task manager shows 100% active time constantly, with 0 read or write. I looked at resource monitor and it doesn't even show the disk doing anything in there.

My drive is also listed as "Local Drive" (NOTE: It's listed a D drive, is that a issue?) apposed to the name I actually have given it and doesn't show how much data has been used or is available. When I right click and try click properties, it doesn't even open up. I tried to run a third party program called DiskInfo, yet it will crash when I try open it.

If I try open the HDD itself, it will just crash the PC and I'll eventually have to just shut it down.

I've also disabled "Windows Search", "Superfetch." and "Background Intelligent Transfer Service" in services, which is apparently a common issue. I don't know what else to do. I have all my data on here, from photos to work.

Edit: I also did a chkdsk viva cmd, but also I could right click and wait several minutes to do it viva GUI, I get "The disk check could not be performed because Windows can't access the disk."

Additional info, for used space and free space it shows 0 bytes on both ends.

Update: I found out the partition type is "Raw". The status says "Healthy".

 

[The Paladin]

my troubleshooting of your problem would be handled this way;

1. to create a boot cd/usb for Kapersky rescue disk ? it is free and I want you to scan those drives for antivirus and boot virus as well. its probably not the issue, but its were I would start https://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/rescuedisk (instructions)

2. pull ssd, and HDD from computer, connect the first to my USB 3.0 to SATA III Docking Station (T-300) and try to access each individually using a laptop or another computer I have, since you did a antivirus in #1 you can use it safely on your own or someone else's computer,I would load up "computer management" and under "hard drives"

I would identify my USB drive and see if it was still accessible. and try to read them.

if it works, back up important data to a usb thumb drive and thank what ever deity for not loosing all my important work in due fact I did no back ups of such information for cases just like this.

if it doesn't work, what error you get trying to access drive, and how does the partition report in computer management.

(I understand you already gone there and notified me as raw partition, but if a virus infected OS, this could be a false reading.)

 

[Rayven2]

my troubleshooting of your problem would be handled this way;

1. to create a boot cd/usb for Kapersky rescue disk ? it is free and I want you to scan those drives for antivirus and boot virus as well. its probably not the issue, but its were I would start https://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/rescuedisk (instructions)

2. pull ssd, and HDD from computer, connect the first to my USB 3.0 to SATA III Docking Station (T-300) and try to access each individually using a laptop or another computer I have, since you did a antivirus in #1 you can use it safely on your own or someone else's computer,I would load up "computer management" and under "hard drives"

I would identify my USB drive and see if it was still accessible. and try to read them.

if it works, back up important data to a usb thumb drive and thank what ever deity for not loosing all my important work in due fact I did no back ups of such information for cases just like this.

if it doesn't work, what error you get trying to access drive, and how does the partition report in computer management.

(I understand you already gone there and notified me as raw partition, but if a virus infected OS, this could be a false reading.)

At this point in time recovering the hdd itself isn't a priority, I will simply purchase another hdd, my main goal now is to extract the data. I can scan the files with no issues viva EaseUS, however, I can't recover with the trail version.

As for a virus, infecting the OS, I'm doubtful as I did a fresh install and have a very strict firewall/overall security setup. Thanks for all your input Paladin.

If you could perhaps recommend me a recovery software with no limit, that would be greatly appreciated, as for troubleshooting the rest, I'll do that as soon as the data is extracted as it's thankfully in a healthy state at this point in time.