[SOLVED] Broken HDD doesn't show up / doesn't format properly

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Oct 14, 2021
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TL;DR: May have bricked HDD, Sometimes shows up in Disk Manager, but doesn't inicialize or format propely. Any way to fix or should I get a pro to do this?

Okay here's how I bricked it.
So I have this laptop with a broken screen, I can only see a 1/3 of it. I turn it on, it says something about "checking the BIOS" (again couldn't see it), so I just click Enter and it goes blank.
Reboot it, spam Delete to get what I thought was the BIOS, now I know it was a system restore. I accidentally click that, it restarts and does the restore, but it was taking too long and I feared I was losing data, so I force shut down my pc. Mistake #1.
I put the hard drive on an enclosure, plug it to another pc, it shows up, but I can't access the files from Users/[username]. Also some folders called "TEMP-DESKTOP-[desktopcode]" are there, never seen that before.
Windows says it has a problem. I click on the notification to try and fix it. Does nothing, 0% all the time.
I use this tool, HDDLLF, to do a quick format. Can't do it, can't "connect" to it even though it can read it. I do a full format, it shows some errors, ignores them, goes up to 30%, freezes.
I force close HDDLLF, run it again, another quick format, it works, but then I try to install Win 10 on my laptop, and it doesn't even show up.
So now I'm here with my drive on the enclosure again, where sometimes (after restarting my pc) it detects my drive but I can't format or even inicialize it on Disk Manager, but most times it hangs Disk Manager or even HDDLLF.

Are there any tools to help me fix this or have I done goofed too much and should send this to a pro?
 
Solution
Thanks for reminding me of the concept of death and decay, but seriously, what now? Is it cheaper/better to get this fixed by a pro, to buy a new one, or to not even bother, considering:
a) the laptop still has a broken screen and a potential BIOS issue
b) all the trouble this drive has given me
c) me being a cheapskate and only caring about this pc because it was a free hand-me-down from my dad's coworker
Sounds like a dead drive.
Not much you can do with it.

A new 1TB HDD would be around $40. Much less than paying someone to try to "repair" it.

Given the laptop has other major issues....your dads coworker gave you the luxury of taking his trash to the recycling center.
Oct 14, 2021
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Connect the drive to a desktop pc with sata cables (not USB enclosure),
run HDTune health and show screenshot (upload to imgur.com and post link)
My PC just can't detect the drive through normal SATA, and HD Tune hangs until I unplug.

Perhaps I should just call it quits on the drive?
 
Oct 14, 2021
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Oct 14, 2021
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Can initialize it to MBR or GPT. For secondary storage drive it doesn't really matter. MBR is fine.
GPT is necessary for drives larger than 2TB.
Ok, initialized in MBR, tells me "the device isn't connected (it is), tried again on GPT, drive disappeared from Disk Management, rebooted now, pc hung on the boot screen for a while. Doesn't show up on Disk Manager again. Gonna reboot.
 
Oct 14, 2021
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Just rebooted again, no matter what I do it won't show up. I think I'm gonna call it dead. If anyone has any other tips, I'll try, if not, thanks anyway
 
Oct 14, 2021
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All electronics work.
Right up until the moment they don't.
Thanks for reminding me of the concept of death and decay, but seriously, what now? Is it cheaper/better to get this fixed by a pro, to buy a new one, or to not even bother, considering:
a) the laptop still has a broken screen and a potential BIOS issue
b) all the trouble this drive has given me
c) me being a cheapskate and only caring about this pc because it was a free hand-me-down from my dad's coworker
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Thanks for reminding me of the concept of death and decay, but seriously, what now? Is it cheaper/better to get this fixed by a pro, to buy a new one, or to not even bother, considering:
a) the laptop still has a broken screen and a potential BIOS issue
b) all the trouble this drive has given me
c) me being a cheapskate and only caring about this pc because it was a free hand-me-down from my dad's coworker
Sounds like a dead drive.
Not much you can do with it.

A new 1TB HDD would be around $40. Much less than paying someone to try to "repair" it.

Given the laptop has other major issues....your dads coworker gave you the luxury of taking his trash to the recycling center.
 
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