Old HDD no longer recognized by bios, but still works in dock

[razorback174]

Title says it all. Just built a new machine and was running my old hdd as an F:/ drive (so I didn't have to reinstall all my steam games, etc.) Was working beautifully until I recently popped my case open to re-seat my RAM (only one stick was being recognized). Stopped working shortly after that. Made some clicking noises after I tried to fix it, but now it doesn't even spin up when it's hooked up to the motherboard.

Also, the drive is no longer recognized in my BIOS, but it still works on a USB HDD dock I have. Files and all are there and accessible. I thought it may have finally just died (it's almost 6 years old now), but why does it work in the USB dock? Why does it spin up there but not when I have it hooked up inside my machine?

Any and all advice is appreciated.

 

[rkzhao]

The drive should spin up when it receives power. Have you checked the connection and cables inside your machine?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there razorback174,

That is a really strange issue.
The most logical cause would be some connection related problem. You need to double check your cables as rkzhao suggested. In case you have spare ones, you can attach the HDD with different power and SATA cables to another SATA port.

Apart from that, as the drive is recognized by your docking station, it would be a really good idea to back up the data stored on it. Even if all of this is caused by the cables, you need to back up the data on a 6 years old drive.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[razorback174]

I thought it might have been the connections as first as well. But the same power and SATA cables/ports worked when I tested them on the newer drive. So I'm guessing it might be the old drive itself.

Really strange that it works in the dock, but not hardwired in the system.