Don't risk it, just order a new drive, turn your machine off, wait for it to arrive. Start to assume the next time you can access it is the last, then act accordingly.
Doesn't seem that bad speaking as a layman. If it's your daily driver you ought to have a back up just in case. If it's your backup drive, particularly a non-powered backup, then it's probably got a lot more life in it.
As with any drive, brand new out of the box or potentially dying like this one is....the word you're looking for is "backups".
All drives die eventually.
this drive keeps disconnecting intermittently even though I have tried switching SATA ports/motherboard/power cables so far. Is this a sure sign of a dying drive then?
this drive keeps disconnecting intermittently even though I have tried switching SATA ports/motherboard/power cables so far. Is this a sure sign of a dying drive then?
Don't risk it, just order a new drive, turn your machine off, wait for it to arrive. Start to assume the next time you can access it is the last, then act accordingly.