After sitting for a year in storage in an outdoor shed, I find the 1Tb WD (blue) HD is dead. This is the data drive and the system boots to the M.2 SSD just fine.
In BIOS I cannot see this drive, and get an error message, see attached. I can see the SSD and optical drive just fine.
I have years of Tech experience, and I am aware that conventional wisdom is that the drive is dead, but my experience and awareness of some Tech tools that have been available have shown me that this is not always the case. Fair warning, using these kinds of tools can render a fixable drive dead forever, and may cause damage to other parts of the System. I have personally killed hardware by poking around and not knowing what I am doing, so this isn't just a theoretical disclaimer. I have personal caused permanent damage to computer systems by "experimenting"
But I have also fixed things that should be dead forever. I know the risks, and am hoping for a good outcome.
One reason I have hope is that the (dead) WD data drive appears in Windows Device Manager. If the drive only had power and no signal data, this would not be the case.
It cycles regularly, at least once an hour, and makes clicks and pops like it's doing something.
It's a low-priority project, and I'm posting a separate thread to prevent hijacking another thread with this (different) topic, and intend this thread to document my progress, in case others are interested.
At this point, I don't even have a thumb drive to make a bootable USB, and may not get one for at least a week. I'm just looking now for names of utilities that might help recover this drive. Google search results show "Easeus" claims to be able to help, and so my assumption is if there is one available retail, there is probably a better one available for free, somewhere.
In BIOS I cannot see this drive, and get an error message, see attached. I can see the SSD and optical drive just fine.
I have years of Tech experience, and I am aware that conventional wisdom is that the drive is dead, but my experience and awareness of some Tech tools that have been available have shown me that this is not always the case. Fair warning, using these kinds of tools can render a fixable drive dead forever, and may cause damage to other parts of the System. I have personally killed hardware by poking around and not knowing what I am doing, so this isn't just a theoretical disclaimer. I have personal caused permanent damage to computer systems by "experimenting"
But I have also fixed things that should be dead forever. I know the risks, and am hoping for a good outcome.
One reason I have hope is that the (dead) WD data drive appears in Windows Device Manager. If the drive only had power and no signal data, this would not be the case.
It cycles regularly, at least once an hour, and makes clicks and pops like it's doing something.
It's a low-priority project, and I'm posting a separate thread to prevent hijacking another thread with this (different) topic, and intend this thread to document my progress, in case others are interested.
At this point, I don't even have a thumb drive to make a bootable USB, and may not get one for at least a week. I'm just looking now for names of utilities that might help recover this drive. Google search results show "Easeus" claims to be able to help, and so my assumption is if there is one available retail, there is probably a better one available for free, somewhere.
