[SOLVED] Why is secondary HDD preventing BIOS boot-up ?

[bandreev]

I got a new 2TB hard drive, transferred all my files from an old drive, everything was great... for 3 days. I had disconnected the HDD for a day to wipe the old drive and when I reconnected the new drive, it prevents the system from booting up. Boot-up drive is SSD (not changed), but whenever I add the new HDD in the system, it does not boot-up and stays only at the Dell circle black screen, cannot even get into BIOS setup. Please help with ideas how to get the drive online, most importantly to recover my data.

Saw some ideas about hotplugging the broken drive post-BIOS, but unfortunately my system seems to not support that (no hotplug option in BIOS and no response when I hotplug that or another good drive).

Also tried switching the BIOS boot-up mode from Legacy (default) to UEFI and booting up from a USB drive - no luck (when the broken HDD is in).

HDD: Seagate BarraCuda 2TB, model #ST2000DM008
System: Dell XPS 8700, Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz
BIOS Revision A09 from 11/22/2014 (Aptio Setup Utility by American Megatrends Inc)

P.S. After posting this I noticed another post about similar issue and with same Seagate drive, unfortunately no solution there.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I wouldn't hotplug that drive to a system if mission critical data was residing on it. I'd instead source a dock of sorts to tether the HDD to a system using an available USB port after you're in the OS GUI. Out of curiosity, how old is the PSU in your prebuilt? Was it ever changed or replaced? Did you add any hardware to said prebuilt, like a discrete GPU(apart from the HDD)?

BIOS version for your prebuilt at this moment of time?

 

[geofelt]

If you put the hdd in a usb connected powered external enclosure, you should be able to read it. A simple usb to sata adapter cable will not work, a 3.5" drive requires too much power.

If the old drive was present when windows was installed on the ssd, windows placed a hidden recovery partition on it.
As a result you needed the hdd to boot.
There are measures to fix this, but I don't know them.

 

[bandreev]

Thanks Lutfij and Geogelt,
I added the BIOS description to the main post above. The PSU is original in the XPS 8700 tower box, I don't suspect it much since it was powering the same drive for 3 days while I transferred the data. I also did a test disconnecting two other SATA devices (HDD and DVD) to ensure there is no SATA or power conflict - no luck.

Don't have any experience with the USB external enclosure - do you mean something like this?
SABRENT USB 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Lay-Flat Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD, SSD [Support UASP] (EC-DFLT)
Any specific features I need to check to ensure it would work with my system? I guess it should behave like a regular USB stick?

>> If the old drive was present when windows was installed on the ssd, windows placed a hidden recovery partition on it.
No, I have not touched anything on the boot (system) SSD since the new (broken) HDD has been in the system. The SSD still loads Win10 fine, sees the other HDD fine, but when the new (broken) HDD is plugged, I cannot get past BIOS (black Dell circle).

 

[geofelt]

Thanks Lutfij and Geogelt,
I added the BIOS description to the main post above. The PSU is original in the XPS 8700 tower box, I don't suspect it much since it was powering the same drive for 3 days while I transferred the data. I also did a test disconnecting two other SATA devices (HDD and DVD) to ensure there is no SATA or power conflict - no luck.

Don't have any experience with the USB external enclosure - do you mean something like this?
SABRENT USB 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Lay-Flat Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD, SSD [Support UASP] (EC-DFLT)
Any specific features I need to check to ensure it would work with my system? I guess it should behave like a regular USB stick?

>> If the old drive was present when windows was installed on the ssd, windows placed a hidden recovery partition on it.
No, I have not touched anything on the boot (system) SSD since the new (broken) HDD has been in the system. The SSD still loads Win10 fine, sees the other HDD fine, but when the new (broken) HDD is plugged, I cannot get past BIOS (black Dell circle).

That device looks good.

 

[bandreev]

While I am waiting for the USB enclosure, can someone clarify the technical explanation/hypothesis what and how may fail in an HDD, such that it fully blocks BIOS from booting up (or even entering the BIOS setup), even when it is plugged as secondary non-boot device?

 

[mdd1963]

Is it possible the Windows bootloader might have been on the old spinning drive? (i.e., once removed, no boot)

 

[DSzymborski]

When you installed Windows on the new hard drive, was the old one still installed? That may cause the issue referred to by mdd.

Of course, no matter what happens, please have an actual backup plan. Losing data when you don't have proper backups is a question of when, not if.

 

[bandreev]

>> Is it possible the Windows bootloader might have been on the old spinning drive? (i.e., once removed, no boot)
Not possible because

1. The Win10 system is on an SSD drive
2. When I disconnect the Barracuda, Win10 loads fine
3. If I am missing a Win10 boot-loader, I would still be able to get into BIOS and see the drive recognized. In my case, the BIOS elaboration of SATA slots/devices just hangs and blocks the whole system, so I cannot even get into the BIOS utility.

>> When you installed Windows on the new hard drive, was the old one still installed? That may cause the issue referred to by mdd.
I did NOT install Windows on the new drive, just transferred data files from an old HDD.

>> Of course, no matter what happens, please have an actual backup plan. Losing data when you don't have proper backups is a question of when, not if.
Fully agree, I do have an external drive backup, but my last backup is from June 2021, so I would miss a year of data files. Painful lesson learned - backup more often!

 

[fzabkar]

If a drive develops bad sectors, it may spend too much time dealing with reallocation and internal error recovery issues during its own POST. BIOS sees that the drive is BUSY and allows a certain time for it come ready before eventually timing out.

 

[bandreev]

Problem Solved (sort of):
With the Sabrent USB enclosure, the "broken" 2TB HDD was recognized normally in Windows 10 and functioned without any glitches. More interestingly, (after backing up my data), I put the HDD back into the regular SATA channel as internal drive and the computer booted up just fine with the drive fully intact. Now the only question still remaining is what did "lock-up" that drive in such a way as to prevent BIOS from recognizing it and hang, until the USB connection got it "unstuck"?! (and can it happen again)

The drive passed all tests of the SeaTools suite - short and long self-test, short and long generic test. No SMART or any other error.

Sequence of events:
1. 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD working normally (3 days)
2. HDD disconnected from PC
3. HDD reconnected into PC => BIOS hangs at Dell circle (cannot even get into BIOS utilities setup)
* Nothing seemed to be able to recover from this hang (different SATA channels, long wait times)
* My old motherboard and BIOS do not support SATA hot-plug
4. HDD inserted into a USB enclosure and into Win10 => drive visible and working normally
* Passed both (short and) long self-test and long generic test with SeaTools. No errors!
5. HDD inserted back as internal drive into SATA channel => PC boots up and HDD working normally (even after power disconnect and few shutdowns)

 

[fzabkar]

The drive was probably going through some internal error recovery. BIOS timed out while waiting for it to finish. The drive completed its recovery in the enclosure, and then BIOS was able to see it.

Examine the drive's SMART report with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo. Look for reallocated, pending or uncorrectable sectors.

I would no longer trust this drive. Backup your data if you haven't already done so.

 

[bandreev]

>> The drive was probably going through some internal error recovery. BIOS timed out while waiting for it to finish. The drive completed its recovery in the enclosure, and then BIOS was able to see it.
I don't think so - I let the BIOS hang stand for more than hour, waiting for a timeout (no luck). The USB recognition of the drive was immediate like any other USB stick.

>> Examine the drive's SMART report with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo. Look for reallocated, pending or uncorrectable sectors.
Clean health record, including SMART (with SeaTools).