Question Changed hardware, now drives will not read.

[Mattimanden]

I recently bought my friend's system as he was moving abroad and I have had some concurrent issues with my motherboard.

Before I switched hardware all drives worked and had 95%+ on crystalDisc. Now, my two M.2's and two SSD's work fine, but my two HDD's will not read.

I have two questions for this:

1) One of my HDD's have a bitlocker encryption, and I have discovered that I apparently cannot move the drive without removing the encryption. Microsoft writes, that you need the same hardware as it is stored locally, but what does this entail? I have my OS on the same M.2 but I have changed motherboard. If i then assemble a pc on my desk with my old Motherboard, and swap my M.2 with my OS, is that enough? Or do I need the complete list like GPU,CPU,RAM, other drives etc.?

Question 2) Difficult one that I cannot figure out.

The other HDD is not encrypted, so should work fine. Every since I booted my new build, it will not read my HDD's no matter what I do. I have tried all SATA ports, and all of them work with my two SSD's and then when I remove one of the SSD's and replace it with one of the HDD's through the exact same cables, it will not read, does not show up in bios, or anything. I bought a USB - SATA docking station (See link:

https://imgur.com/a/dYzppqz

View: https://imgur.com/a/dYzppqz
), which states that it supports 2.5 and 3.5 HDD's. It read my SSD fine but nothing happens when I insert my HDD's.
The drives are:
1 x Toshiba Performance x300 6TB
1 x Seagate Barracuda Compute 2TB (bitlocker encrypted)
The new Motherboard is a Asus Prime Z-390 and should support all of my drives fine.

Is it really possible that I have managed to damage both drives when I removed them? I was super careful, So I have a hard time believing this would be the case...

 

[USAFRet]

I have my OS on the same M.2 but I have changed motherboard.

To start, this needs a full wipe and reinstall.

Only one drive connected during this install.

Second, BitLocker protection is specifically to prevent removing a physical drive and putting it in a different system.

Again, full deletion of whatever is on it.
Reformat as needed.

 

[Mattimanden]

To start, this needs a full wipe and reinstall.

Only one drive connected during this install.

Second, BitLocker protection is specifically to prevent removing a physical drive and putting it in a different system.

Again, full deletion of whatever is on it.
Reformat as needed.

Should I install the HDD in my old system with my OS drive to remove the encryption, before doing a complete re-install of the OS drive on my new build? I guess it could complicate things?

 

[USAFRet]

Should I install the HDD in my old system with my OS drive to remove the encryption, before doing a complete re-install of the OS drive on my new build? I guess it could complicate things?

No need to.

During the reinstall, you DELETE all existing partitions and data.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Why is the OS on the HDD and not the SSD?

 

[Mattimanden]

No need to.

During the reinstall, you DELETE all existing partitions and data.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Why is the OS on the HDD and not the SSD?

The OS is on an M.2 not the HDD. But when I swapped mine with my friend’s he did not do a factory reset; and his OS was also on an M.2 in the same a lot as mine is in now.

 

[Mattimanden]

No need to.

During the reinstall, you DELETE all existing partitions and data.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Why is the OS on the HDD and not the SSD?

Sorry to maybe sound stupid, just want to make sure I understand you correctly. I should remove all my drives except the M.2 which has my OS and that drive should be fully partitioned, right? So the other drives, also the two HDD’s remain untouched?

 

[USAFRet]

Sorry to maybe sound stupid, just want to make sure I understand you correctly. I should remove all my drives except the M.2 which has my OS and that drive should be fully partitioned, right? So the other drives, also the two HDD’s remain untouched?

In this new hardware, have only the one drive you want the OS to be on.

Follow the tutorial above.

Later, deal with all the other drives.

 

[USAFRet]

Treat this as if it were a brand new PC. (which it is)

 

[Mattimanden]

In this new hardware, have only the one drive you want the OS to be on.

Follow the tutorial above.

Later, deal with all the other drives.

Great, I’ll try on Friday when the weekend hits. Thank you so much.

 

[fzabkar]

Do the drives spin up?

 

[Mattimanden]

Do the drives spin up?

No. No reaction from them at all ever since I took them out. And when I put them in my docking station the light-indicator for power turns off. It works with the SSD.

 

[fzabkar]

No. No reaction from them at all ever since I took them out. And when I put them in my docking station the light-indicator for power turns off. It works with the SSD.

This is symptomatic of a shorted TVS diode. Did you switch power cables between different modular PSUs?

TVS Diode FAQ:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=86

Warning: do not interchange modular PSU cables:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2545

 

[Mattimanden]

This is symptomatic of a shorted TVS diode. Did you switch power cables between different modular PSUs?

TVS Diode FAQ:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=86

Warning: do not interchange modular PSU cables:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2545

Yes, I use the original power cable for the new PSU that I took from my friend’s pc and the original cables for power. It is a 1000W, and I have tried the same power cable for both SSD’s which work and then also tried other power cables and SATA cables. They all work for the SSD’s and not HDD’s.

 

[fzabkar]

The dock is still behaving as if the TVS diodes are shorted. That said, a short would cause the desktop PSU to shut down (after a quick "kick" by the fans).

 

[Mattimanden]

The dock is still behaving as if the TVS diodes are shorted. That said, a short would cause the desktop PSU to shut down (after a quick "kick" by the fans).

The PC sometimes wont boot when the HDD’a are plugged in, but not always. Maybe that speaks for this issue?

 

[fzabkar]

"Won't boot" is a vague term. If it powers on and starts to POST, then it's not a TVS diode problem. A shorted diode will cause the fans to stop almost immediately, if they start at all.

If the machine hangs during the POST, then it could be that one of the drives is in the BUSY state. In this case, disconnecting the SATA data cable should allow the POST to continue.

 

[USAFRet]

The PC sometimes wont boot when the HDD’a are plugged in, but not always. Maybe that speaks for this issue?

Have you gotten this system to a fully operational state, with only the desired drive and a fresh OS install?

 

[Mattimanden]

"Won't boot" is a vague term. If it powers on and starts to POST, then it's not a TVS diode problem. A shorted diode will cause the fans to stop almost immediately, if they start at all.

It does not start at all. It makes a beep noice some times but not always but it does not boot at all, no fans spinning and my pump does not start either. I actually did not think of this to be a potential clue before this, so now I will investigate this path tomorrow!

 

[Mattimanden]

Have you gotten this system to a fully operational state, with only the desired drive and a fresh OS install?

I have not done a fresh install but will do on Friday. I was/am afraid of it since one of the drives have the bit locker enabled

 

[fzabkar]

Be aware that SSDs run off 5V only. HDDs require both 5V and 12V, so using the same cables to test both the SSDs and HDDs would not be conclusive.

 

[Mattimanden]

Have you gotten this system to a fully operational state, with only the desired drive and a fresh OS install?

Also I am not sure what you mean by desired drive. The problems are with my HDD’s but I have my OS on one of my M.2’s. That works smoothly and boots with no issues. It is as mentioned not a fresh install

 

[Mattimanden]

Be aware that SSDs run off 5V only. HDDs require both 5V and 12V, so using the same cables to test both the SSDs and HDDs would not be conclusive.

But are they not meant to be plugged into the same port in the PSU labelled “SATA”? I would assume that distributes the needed power? That is what I have done in all my previous builds which has always worked?

 

[USAFRet]

I have not done a fresh install but will do on Friday. I was/am afraid of it since one of the drives have the bit locker enabled

Fix one thing at a time.

Here, get the hardware up and running with a fresh OS install.

 

[fzabkar]

If there is something wrong with the 12V rail in your PSU, your SSD will never see it, even though the 12V wires are present in the cable.

A TVS diode goes short circuit when it experiences an overvoltage. This overvoltage is either due to a fault in your PSU, or a problem with the cabling.

 

[Mattimanden]

Fix one thing at a time.

Here, get the hardware up and running with a fresh OS install.

But if the issue is the diode, which would make a lot of sense given both HDD’s failed simultaneously, would it then not be smarter to get a technician to fix that and then try another PSU before doing a fresh install?

If there is something wrong with the 12V rail in your PSU, your SSD will never see it, even though the 12V wires are present in the cable.

A TVS diode goes short circuit when it experiences an overvoltage. This overvoltage is either due to a fault in your PSU, or a problem with the cabling.

This seems like a very plausible cause since both my drives don’t work and I refuse to believe that I handled them both so poorly that they broke. I will try using another PSU to test. How would I test if my current PSU has that fault? It is a 1000W EVGA not even a year old, so it should hopefully work fine…