Is my HDD screwed?

S

Shiymmas

Guest
Hi all. First thread, but long time lurker here.

To keep it short, I recently upgraded my power supply. Everything worked great for about the past four weeks or so. However, last night while doing some gaming, my PC BSOD'd on me. After a quick reboot (without paying the error message much attention) my POST sequence got hung up at 5A which indicated a SATA error. After some patience and an OS scan, I finally managed to get into my BIOS to find that only my secondary drive was being detected.

I attempted to do a bit of research on the subject before coming here to post, but I really don't know where to start, or what to do. Having never encountered such an issue, I lack any previous knowledge with such a problem so it has left me a bit stuck. What I do know is that after removing the drive, reconnecting it outside my case, and listening to it is that it's definitely spinning. As for whether or not it's doing anything else, I'm not sure.

Really, any help would be greatly appreciated. It's been about a good 6+ months since my last format, so I guess it's not the end of the world if it's lost, and the drive is still under warranty. Which, before I forget; the drive is a Western Digital Raptor 74gb model #WD740ADFD, my PSU is an Antec EW 650, on a D975XBX motherboard (yeah, I'm in the hunt for new mobo/processor and this doesn't help:(). Either way, I'd rather not have to deal with the hassle of a fresh Windows install if it can be avoided as I generally tend to take a while to get good and cozy after a fresh start, but if I need to RMA the thing, I'd rather know now and get it on its way out the door.

Again, thanks in advance for any help.
 
You should first check the cabling, then try another SATA port on the maiboard and a different SATA cable and if this does not help try a linux live-cd to check if this detects the drive. But you may be out of luck here, the harddisk controller may be broken in which case you have to RMA.
 
Already swapped ports, then cables. I've tried the drive on 4-pin Molex and SATA power (obviously not at the same time). In fact, the only thing that changed - which I didn't realize until a bit ago - is that the drive was formerly powered on a SATA connection, but when I swapped PSU's I used the molex. Of course, according to the installation instructions for the drive, I was perfectly fine to do so and the only other thing in line with the drive were some fans.

At any rate, I do have some old linux boot CD's that I'll probably give a shot. I mostly didn't want to continue running the drive if it could potentially exacerbate whatever the issue may be because it is still powered and spinning even though it's undetected.
 
So after trying as much as I could (short of tossing it in the freezer) I've just decided to RMA the drive.

I am wondering, though, after thoroughly inspecting the drive while contemplating the RMA, I did notice one thing that caught my eye. Just curious if it's out of the ordinary, because it seems so to me. I suppose it could be a minor, inconsequential thing caused by regular use and heat, but I figured I'd see what anyone else thought. Circled it, and it's the lowest part. It's just a discoloration, almost rainbow-ish in the right light.

Anyway, take a look if anyone's interested.

badhdd960x1280.jpg
 
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