Windows not booting when secondary HDD is connected

[tomsbombs]

I have a ~2 year old PC setup that has 1 SSD (Windows is installed here) and 2 HDD connected. Today I noticed that one of my HDD wasn't showing up in Windows and decided to reboot my PC. This was the point I began to sweat a little as Windows wasn't booting up and the screen was just stuck in motherboard's loading screen. I disconnected all the cables from the HDD that wasn't showing up and now Windows boots normally.

Additional details:

-I switched the cables (SATA & power) from my HDD that is still working to the faulty one, but it didn't help -> so cable shouldn't be the problem
-I can enter BIOS just fine whether or not the HDD is connected and I can see the faulty HDD listed there with it's size showing up. Neither of the HDDs are listed in boot priority.
-The faulty HDD spins normally when connected, no abnormal sounds.
-I haven't changed my hardware in 2 years and no significant software changes either recently.

So now I'm wondering: Is my HDD simply dead? Is there still something I could try? If the HDD is dead, are there some easy ways to check if data can be restored? I read of a similar problem that was fixed by turning the internal hdd into an external, but I don't have the required tools currently available to test it out.

Specs:

Windows 10
MB: Asus Z170-PRO-GAMING
Faulty HDD: 3000GB Seagate Desktop HDD ST3000DM001 7.200U/min 64MB 3.5" (8.9cm) SATA 6Gb/s

 

[camieabz]

Does the system post at all? If you can, try to get into Safe Mode and ascertain the drive presence / state.

 

[Geef]

If your running Windows 10 then run the program called Disk Management and see if that drive is showing up there.

 

[tomsbombs]

I activated Safe Mode in msconfig boot settings but it didn't work with the HDD connected. Same story, still stuck in Motherboard loading screen.

When I removed the HDD and booted up, Safe Mode started normally.

 

[tomsbombs]

If your running Windows 10 then run the program called Disk Management and see if that drive is showing up there.

Unfortunately I cannot see it there because Windows won't start when the HDD is connected.

 

[Evvvvv]

I have a ~2 year old PC setup that has 1 SSD (Windows is installed here) and 2 HDD connected. Today I noticed that one of my HDD wasn't showing up in Windows and decided to reboot my PC. This was the point I began to sweat a little as Windows wasn't booting up and the screen was just stuck in motherboard's loading screen. I disconnected all the cables from the HDD that wasn't showing up and now Windows boots normally.

Additional details:

-I switched the cables (SATA & power) from my HDD that is still working to the faulty one, but it didn't help -> so cable shouldn't be the problem
-I can enter BIOS just fine whether or not the HDD is connected and I can see the faulty HDD listed there with it's size showing up. Neither of the HDDs are listed in boot priority.
-The faulty HDD spins normally when connected, no abnormal sounds.
-I haven't changed my hardware in 2 years and no significant software changes either recently.

So now I'm wondering: Is my HDD simply dead? Is there still something I could try? If the HDD is dead, are there some easy ways to check if data can be restored? I read of a similar problem that was fixed by turning the internal hdd into an external, but I don't have the required tools currently available to test it out.

Specs:

Windows 10
MB: Asus Z170-PRO-GAMING
Faulty HDD: 3000GB Seagate Desktop HDD ST3000DM001 7.200U/min 64MB 3.5" (8.9cm) SATA 6Gb/s

If I were you I'd try the gparted tool and see what's what.

 

[camieabz]

Confirm boot drive is on the SATA 0 port, confirm boot device order is the boot drive first, and try the rogue drive on a different port from it's usual one.

Failing that, suggest you try the rogue drive on another system.

 

[Geef]

Besides switching the cables try to make sure to use a totally different SATA port, and double check to make sure in the boot menu if that hard drive is listed at all its at the bottom.

 

[tomsbombs]

If I were you I'd try the gparted tool and see what's what.

Thanks for the tip. I am still however unable to boot Windows with the HDD connected. Is there some other way to use the tool?

Confirm boot drive is on the SATA 0 port, confirm boot device order is the boot drive first, and try the rogue drive on a different port from it's usual one.

Failing that, suggest you try the rogue drive on another system.

Besides switching the cables try to make sure to use a totally different SATA port, and double check to make sure in the boot menu if that hard drive is listed at all its at the bottom.

I don't see SATA 0 port, but my SSD is on SATA 1 and has been working so far. I tried to switch the faulty HDD to another SATA port, but it didn't seem to help. I checked the boot menu and I can see the faulty HDD there.

 

[Geef]

The last option might be to enable hot plug for that drive's SATA port and just leave the power connected to it but not the SATA cord. Then once windows boots up and is working then plug in the drive's SATA cord. You should then be able to check it out in Disk Management.

 

[Evvvvv]

gparted is a bootable tool. You dont need to access Windows to use it. Just put it on a USB drive and boot the USB drive. Another tool is Hiren's Boot CD it also has a ton of useful tools. Just check tutorials for both.

 

[tomsbombs]

The last option might be to enable hot plug for that drive's SATA port and just leave the power connected to it but not the SATA cord. Then once windows boots up and is working then plug in the drive's SATA cord. You should then be able to check it out in Disk Management.

I managed to hot plug the HDD and now I can see it in Explorer but unfortunately I cannot interact with it. Even clicking properties on it does nothing. The HDD also somewhat showed on Disk Management and I was able to look at it's driver information etc but it also didn't show in all lists and refreshing the view freezes Disk Management. Is there some specific part in Disk Management that would be worth a try?

 

[Evvvvv]

The last option might be to enable hot plug for that drive's SATA port and just leave the power connected to it but not the SATA cord. Then once windows boots up and is working then plug in the drive's SATA cord. You should then be able to check it out in Disk Management.

I managed to hot plug the HDD and now I can see it in Explorer but unfortunately I cannot interact with it. Even clicking properties on it does nothing. The HDD also somewhat showed on Disk Management and I was able to look at it's driver information etc but it also didn't show in all lists and refreshing the view freezes Disk Management. Is there some specific part in Disk Management that would be worth a try?

As I said, gparted is your friend. Download YUMI and Gparted. Make a bootable USB stick with YUMI of the Gparted. And use it.

 

[seagate_surfer]

Hello tomsbombs, sorry to see that your drive has encountered problems. We suggest trying it in another computer to see if it detected in the BIOS but after reviewing this thread it does so seem that the HDD is faulty. You may check to see if the warranty of the drive is still valid here.

 

[tomsbombs]

Hello tomsbombs, sorry to see that your drive has encountered problems. We suggest trying it in another computer to see if it detected in the BIOS but after reviewing this thread it does so seem that the HDD is faulty. You may check to see if the warranty of the drive is still valid here.

Unfortunately I don't have a spare computer currently available. Although, the HDD is detected in my own BIOS too.

As I said, gparted is your friend. Download YUMI and Gparted. Make a bootable USB stick with YUMI of the Gparted. And use it.

I managed to get Gparted from USB working finally. I tried it without HDD connected and I was able to see all my partitions. But when I booted the USB with HDD connected, I couldn't see any partitions and it was just displaying a message "Searching /dev/sdb partitions" with the loading bar moving. I waited 20 minutes with no change so it seems to freeze just as the windows tools.

If there are still more ideas about how to save data etc, I'm willing to try but it starts to seem like a lost case... Thanks to everyone so far for the help though.

 

[seagate_surfer]

Helo tomsbombs, if all else fails, take it to store to have it looked at and there you may ask for recovery options. We do also offer that service if you are interested.

►How does In-lab Data Recovery pricing work?
You pay a flat engagement fee for every recovery case (for one or multiple drives in case of RAID) you submit at the time of case submission and it covers the cost of initial evaluation. Two-way shipping is complimentary in most locations globally. Once data has been successfully recovered, your payment method on file will be charged for the cost of data recovery. To make the entire process transparent, the total cost is clearly stated even before you submit the case and we will never charge anything extra.

 

[JaredDM]

Helo tomsbombs, if all else fails, take it to store to have it looked at and there you may ask for recovery options. We do also offer that service if you are interested..

What moron would pay good money to have a drive recovered by the same company who sold the defective product in the first place?

Seagate should be offering this service for free given that nearly 40% of these drives failed (based on some stats) and they're in a class action suit over it. Reference: https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/seagate

There's been a lot of warnings about these drives across the web. But, I guess it's a bit late now.