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Drive dead or not?

C

ComputerGeek

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
1,199
Hey Guy's got a couple questions.

1. Is there a way to tell if a drive is dead or not? I have this drive that drops out of windows when you are transferring data. However, It was in an enclosure and I think that might be the problem I want to make sure that it's good before I sell or keep it.

2. Is there a way to Stress and Check new drives before I go put my data on them?

3. If it turns out that the drive from 1 is dead what software can I use to try to get the info off of it?
 
Okay. Are we talking about a HDD or SSD. If the drive is in a USB2 enclosure, then that's the problem right there (I'd wager).

Why don't you just take it out of the enclosure and test it?
 
Is there a way to tell if a drive is dead or not?
Click to expand...

I would start by looking at the SMART data using a program like CrystalDiskInfo. And yes like the person above said remove the drive from the enclosure first and install it in a PC.

Is there a way to Stress and Check new drives before I go put my data on them?
Click to expand...

Yes. I like to use badblocks (available on any linux livecd) however a few Full Formats followed by looking at the SMART data should do the trick as well. And I mean Full Format.

If it turns out that the drive from 1 is dead what software can I use to try to get the info off of it?
Click to expand...

If a drive is dead, no software can help only expensive HW recovery. If it is dieing then I recommend using dd_rescue to make a bit for bit copy of the drive to a second same sized or larger disk then using GetDataBack or TestDisk to try to recover from a corrupt filesystem (assuming the filesystem is corrupt).
 
It's a standard mechanical Hard Drive, I have taken the drive out of the enclosure, I just want to make sure it is good. What will happen is as you are transferring files the Hd will drop out with connection from the Pc within a couple minutes if you power it off and wait a few minutes it will connect again, and will work for a few more minutes. The time it works is proportional to the time it was powered off.
 
Run CrystalDiskInfo. It will tell you if the drive thinks its operating out of spec. I bet the problem is UREs caused by a problem with the heads.
 
Last edited:
smartmontools

smartctl --all /dev/sda

assuming the device is /dev/sda

Get that then post the result here.
 
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