HDD stopped working with no notice. Not recognized when checked with Idock

[Foxtrot_01]

Hello,
I had a desktop HDD running Win 7, the HDD was partitioned, it was never connected to the internet because I used it to edit photos. It only had Win 7 and Photoshop. One day it just stopped working, I turned out the computer and got the black screen, I couldn't access the HDD, I Used a flash drive with Win 7, the HDD disappeared, no clicking noises.
I bought an dock and tried connecting through USB and it's like the HDD is just a brick.
Any idea on what happened and/or how to get the info out? I had all my personal pics in that drive. :-/

 

[ArtPog]

A wild guess but would you conclude the HDD is defective?

Have you tried installing the HDD INTERNALLY (as a secondary drive) in a PC? Still not detected in the system?

 

[Foxtrot_01]

I did, the HDD was partitioned but when I tried it as a second drive on the PC I didnt get any response, I checked the cables and those seem to be working as I used the cables to connect the other HDD. I bought a dock to see if I could access the HDD that way and still nothing, the PC recognizes the dock but not the HDD. I've had HDD die before but at least they give some notice, some sectors start going bad, this specific PC and HDD were not connected to the internet and didnt have much use, probably a couple hours a week at most. I've had it for around 3 years now.

 

[ArtPog]

1. First of all if you're dealing with a defective drive, a USB "dock" isn't going to resurrect it.

2. The fact that you were fortunate enough in the past to receive indications of a failing drive is irrelevant. You should count your blessings when you do get some prior notice of a failing drive. A drive can fail (become defective) at ANY point-in-time.

3. The moral of this story is that you should ALWAYS create comprehensive backups of your system so that in the event of a defective or seriously corruptible drive you will have the wherewithal to return your system to a functional state with a new or non-defective drive.