[SOLVED] PC detecting brand new SSD, but not brand new HDD

[sleds_90k]

First, some context: a few months ago my main hard drive with windows installed on it failed. PC crashed, upon restart the drive couldn’t boot and wasn’t showing up in BIOS. I tried to reboot a few times and heard the drive spinning so I think I damaged the platters because I brought the drive to a data recovery place and at first they told me it was a read/write head issue and there was a high chance of recovery but later told me the data couldn’t be recovered.

A few days ago I had the same initial symptoms. Crash, restart, windows won’t boot and the drive it’s installed on stops showing up. This time, however, I stored most of my data on a 2TB expansion and not on the 1TB drive windows was on. That 2TB drive showed up after the initial crash and restart so I assumed it was still working. I took all the drives out and powered down until I could get some more parts. I bought a Samsung 860 EVO 250GB SSD and a Seagate 1TB HDD. I installed the SSD only at first and then installed windows on it. I assumed at that point I’d be able to reconnect my 2TB expansion and start working but when I started up the PC didn’t detect it. I then replaced my 2TB with the brand new 1TB and that didn’t show up either which lead me to believe it was a SATA issue and not my 2TB failing at all. I checked both SATA cables and they seem to be working. I used both motherboard connection points and both cables on the SSD and it showed up every time. Still, I ordered some new SATA cables so I can try those as well when they arrive.

I’m not really sure what happened or what I should do. Is there an extra step I’m missing? What reason could there be that the brand new HDD wouldn’t show up?

 

[Grobe]

Any HDD is sensitive to movement while running. Do you have the habit of moving the computer case while powered on?

Does the computer show any other symptoms other than frequent hdd failing ?

 

[sleds_90k]

Any HDD is sensitive to movement while running. Do you have the habit of moving the computer case while powered on?

No.

Does the computer show any other symptoms other than frequent hdd failing ?

Blue screen not too long ago. I believe it was a memory error.

 

[fzabkar]

Do the drives spin up?

 

[Grobe]

A memory error is serious, and can cause all kind of malfunctions including hdd write error (because data written to disk is corrupted).

Or - another posibility is a bad PSU. I had a case several years ago where I thaught I found bad memory, but it turned out to be a bad PSU. That alone may also explain why your hdd is short lived.

 

[sleds_90k]

A memory error is serious, and can cause all kind of malfunctions including hdd write error (because data written to disk is corrupted).

Or - another posibility is a bad PSU. I had a case several years ago where I thaught I found bad memory, but it turned out to be a bad PSU. That alone may also explain why your hdd is short lived.

I think you may be right. I’ve had my PSU for a while but it’s off-brand and was admittedly cheap for the wattage. If I replace my memory and PSU should I try to boot again with the expansion and/or the new drive? Or should I go straight to trying to recover the data on my expansion via other means? Also is it really that likely that the brand new HDD is busted already? I mean I only tried to boot once and it just didn’t show up. I don’t think I got all the way to starting windows with it plugged in. Would seriously suck if that’s the case as I bought it two days ago.

 

[Grobe]

No - There is no definite answer, the PSU is just a suggestion - but still a likely one.

What you do to your drive must be your own decision. Is that very important data that you don't have another backup copy from?

What you do to your ram is also something I cannot answer. You can try to only replace the PSU and do another run with Memtest - and then take the decision to buy new ram if it is faulty.

 

[sleds_90k]

No - There is no definite answer, the PSU is just a suggestion - but still a likely one.

What you do to your drive must be your own decision. Is that very important data that you don't have another backup copy from?

What you do to your ram is also something I cannot answer. You can try to only replace the PSU and do another run with Memtest - and then take the decision to buy new ram if it is faulty.

Already bought new ram and PSU. Had been wanting more ram anyway. I think I’m going to try to put the new parts in and then run it once with just the ssd and then again with the empty drive. If it works I’m going to try with the expansion. 1.3TB of the 1.7 TB I had on there are backed up on the cloud anyway so I’m not too worried. Thank you very much for your help.