[SOLVED] Boot drive gone after BSOD

[General_Cool]

Typing this with my phone so apologies if this message is typed poorly. Was transfering a couple big video files from my boot drive to my second SSD drive when I noticed the transfer bottom out. Whole computer froze with a blue loading circle then I got a CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED BSOD and upon reboot the it went to the “Reboot and Select proper Boot device” screen. Hit the reset button on my PC case but no luck. Went into the BIOS and only drives I see in the boot list are the UEFI network controller, my secondary SSD, and my HDD. Boot drive is completely gone. Don’t know what to do.

 

[Colif]

what make model is the boot drive?

looks like it might have died mid transfer.
thats why its not in bios now.

you probably need to either use 2nd ssd or buy a new one.
If its under warranty you could return for replacement if you have proof of purchase.

 

[General_Cool]

what make model is the boot drive?

looks like it might have died mid transfer.
thats why its not in bios now.

you probably need to either use 2nd ssd or buy a new one.
If its under warranty you could return for replacement if you have proof of purchase.

Intel SSD, no idea what the model is. Its about 8 years old at this point, never checked the SMART status. Its not even appearing in the SATA controller. I unplugged the SATA cables and tried different ones with no luck. Any other fixes I can try or should I begin making funeral arrangements? :/

Is there any way I can get the data off this drive?

 

[DSzymborski]

Intel SSD, no idea what the model is. Its about 8 years old at this point, never checked the SMART status. Its not even appearing in the SATA controller. I unplugged the SATA cables and tried different ones with no luck. Any other fixes I can try or should I begin making funeral arrangements? :/

Is there any way I can get the data off this drive?

Unless it can be physically read when connected to a PC, probably not. That's why keeping backups is very basic PC upkeep!

 

[General_Cool]

Unless it can be physically read when connected to a PC, probably not. That's why keeping backups is very basic PC upkeep!

What caused this? Did it just reach the end of life? Or did something physical cause it? I couldn’t imagine physical since it sits in a stationary and cool space. I would think if it was a logical problem it would be detectable, but this one is dead-dead. Do you think I could do data recovery with another PC or does the drive need to be disassembled?

 

[General_Cool]

Update: computer just booted fine after restarting a few times. Working fine. SMART Status says predicted failure. CrystalDiskInfo says "Bad" and 70 on the wear indicator. Gonna clone then scrap this drive ASAP.

 

[Colif]

You lucky you got it back up long enough to copy data off it.

Its odd ssd die the way they do. Often mid operation.
It doesn't help that a lot of tests for them are for performance - speed - not health. SMART is only real choice there unless the maker has its own testing software. Intel may have at one stage.

8 years is a good life for an ssd really. You got plenty of use out of it. Older drives get, the more chance it will fail. Probably ideal to replace them every few years and use old drives as storage.

 

[General_Cool]

You lucky you got it back up long enough to copy data off it.

Its odd ssd die the way they do. Often mid operation.
It doesn't help that a lot of tests for them are for performance - speed - not health. SMART is only real choice there unless the maker has its own testing software. Intel may have at one stage.

8 years is a good life for an ssd really. You got plenty of use out of it. Older drives get, the more chance it will fail. Probably ideal to replace them every few years and use old drives as storage.

Intel does have software for it, and after trying to transfer the same video files to see what would happen (got a black screen shutdown, even worse than a blue screen), I was able to get back into Windows again where Intel Rapid Storage alerted me that failure was imminent and I should begin backing up important files. I'm not too keen on trying to transfer files off the drive for now because it appears that the drive writes fine but cannot read properly (which is strange because chkdsk returns zero bad sectors found). Unfortunately I have to wait a day or two for my new SSD to arrive from Amazon so until then I am only using the computer for web browsing, which it seems to do without issue. I'm assuming I'm fine to just set up a fresh install of Windows on my new SSD, plug in the failing one without booting from it, and just access it via file explorer or disk management? Assuming I can also change the drive symbol from C: to something else when that time comes too, or do I have to do it now?

 

[Colif]

I'm assuming I'm fine to just set up a fresh install of Windows on my new SSD, plug in the failing one without booting from it, and just access it via file explorer or disk management? Assuming I can also change the drive symbol from C: to something else when that time comes too, or do I have to do it now?

that sounds about right. File explorer should work.
the broken ssd will have different drive letters when you attach it to a new PC and boot off another drive, so no need to change them.
it might slow down boot on other PC since its 70% worn out.

its odd it will let you write to it but not read. Often its the opposite. They go into read only mode once they used all the spare cells and don't have any to replace broken ones with.

 

[General_Cool]

that sounds about right. File explorer should work.
the broken ssd will have different drive letters when you attach it to a new PC and boot off another drive, so no need to change them.
it might slow down boot on other PC since its 70% worn out.

Since the drive is failing and being sporadic with me on whether it detects in the BIOS or not, what would Windows do if the drive died mid transfer? Would it just eject it and not show it in the disk manager or would it crash the whole PC? I'm trying to gauge whether I can just treat the drive as one of my other drives that I can just open through the file explorer, pick through the drives folders, and then copy data that I want without having to use data recovery software that would clone the drive. I'm not interested in using that Windows installation anymore, its completely bloated, slow, and I found unexecuted malware deep in a directory the other day, its a ticking time bomb using it at this point (plus W11 would be cool to upgrade to )

 

[Colif]

i wouldn't treat a drive that randomly disappears the same as my other drives. Might be worth trying to copy off it in another PC, less stress on it if its also not trying to run windows at same time.

no point cloning it if you don't want to use it later. I would only do that if it does cause errors on other pc. i wonder if cloning program have any problems with the fact drive doesn't like being read.

 

[General_Cool]

i wouldn't treat a drive that randomly disappears the same as my other drives. Might be worth trying to copy off it in another PC, less stress on it if its also not trying to run windows at same time.

This is what I meant with my third sentence, sorry if it was confusing. I'm curious if the drive will behave differently if its not running Windows (no write processes in the background) and is instead just being read off of.

i wonder if cloning program have any problems with the fact drive doesn't like being read.

This is my main concern. I'm not sure what difference it would make using file explorer to make transfers or using a program to clone, its reading data regardless, and the disk is struggling to be read (with at least some of the data stored on it).

 

[Colif]

it could be the data you have troubles with is in an area of drive heavily corrupted. Other data might be easier to move, but some might just be impossible.

 

[General_Cool]

I've checked what the drive's model is and apparently its one of Intel's enterprise grade SSDs with a lifetime write amount of 2.95 petabytes. My drive has only written 89 terabytes. I know its 8 years old...but why is it failing now if its meant to last nearly 30 times longer than it has? I suppose it doesn't matter why at the end of the day but curiosity is getting the better of me.

 

[Colif]

Does warranty have a time period as well?
My nvme has 5 years or 600tb, which ever is sooner.
if it didn't have a time period, my drives usage means it would be covered for about 60 years lol. I have only used 22tb of that 600

I think lifetime is an average, its not a guarantee or I wouldn't see any Samsung 970 evo plus drives failing and yet I do sometimes.

If drive had a time period, is it still active or out of date? mind you, this doesn't really matter if you don't have proof of purchase still.

 

[General_Cool]

Does warranty have a time period as well?
My nvme has 5 years or 600tb, which ever is sooner.
if it didn't have a time period, my drives usage means it would be covered for about 60 years lol. I have only used 22tb of that 600

I think lifetime is an average, its not a guarantee or I wouldn't see any Samsung 970 evo plus drives failing and yet I do sometimes.

If drive had a time period, is it still active or out of date? mind you, this doesn't really matter if you don't have proof of purchase still.

Proof of purchase is long gone. I guess at the end of the day the drive is failing, no ifs ands or buts. Doesn't matter what its rated for. Thanks for stopping by and giving some insight, I appreciate it.

 

[Colif]

It was 8 years old, you got good use out it.

 

[General_Cool]

It was 8 years old, you got good use out it.

Last post, but I double checked my model with the serial number rather than the product number and figured out its actually only rated for 73 terabytes written over its lifetime. Its about 6 and half years old too, not 8. Time definitely flies and it feels longer than that . I absolutely got great use out of it if its only rated for that much. Disappointing but glad I figured out it wasn't anything I did wrong, rather, it was the drive itself being crap.