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Problem description: My custom build has 2 solid-state hard drives on it; one for Windows and most of my stuff, and one for my music and media and such. It's worked very well over the last 3 years, but the drive containing Windows isn't being recognized in BIOS. Is there a way to determine if the drive is really dead and in need of data recovery, or is this something I can fix? Attempted fixes: Messed around in BIOS to see if the drive worked, switched around power and data cables to see if it was the cables, and did several power cycles. Recent changes: No new hardware or software, and no recent viruses. I cleaned out the cupboard it was in and gave it more air space when it overheated earlier this year. That was months ago, though. Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit. System Specs: Home-built, AMD FX-4170 Quad-Core Processor 4.20GHz, my motherboard is an ASUSTek99X EVO, AMD Radeon Series HD 6700 series graphics card, 12.0 GB RAM, I have 2 memory drives: a Corsair Force 3 SSD SATA and a Samsung SSD 830 Series SATA, Corsair GS 600 power supply. It's the Corsair what's done busted. Location: US, in San Francisco I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes
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Oct 4, 2015 08:39
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 06:56 |
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Which drive is it? Did it have the latest firmware installed? You can try leaving the system in the BIOS for 30 minutes or so and then exiting out to see if that gave the drive time to initialize, but yeah if it still won't detect it probably died.
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Oct 4, 2015 15:15
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It's the Corsair Force 3 SSD drive that died. It's only 3 years old and supposedly high-quality. I honestly don't know about its firmware; it was on when I left for work yesterday morning and instead of going to sleep like it should have it was asking for a boot disk when I got home.
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Oct 4, 2015 16:24
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That drive was over 4 years old, early SSDs weren't substantially more reliable than HDDs so that seems like a pretty reasonable lifespan, especially if you didn't keep the firmware updated. It is important to apply the manufacturer's firmware updates in order to correct issues.
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Oct 4, 2015 17:34
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Is there a way to check to see if the dead one is really dead? If it's a matter of bad data cables or fried ports on my motherboard it'd be cheaper trying to address those before taking it in. I don't recall either SSD having lights or anything.
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Oct 5, 2015 03:17
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By all means try a different data cable, port on the motherboard, or connecting it to a different system, but the best thing to do is like I said above, enter the BIOS and let the system set for 30 minutes or so, then exit the BIOS and see if the drive detects. If so, you may only get one chance to copy off your data. If not, there's probably nothing that can be done.
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Oct 5, 2015 13:06
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Different SATA cables, different power cables and the power cycle you mentioned all still ended with the same result: the fucker is toast. 15 years of tinkering with computer guts and this is my first hard drive failure. I already have a new, higher-quality SSD on the way which I will back up religiously. I live in an expensive-rear end area, but what would a reasonable rate for data transfer normally be? I would normally avoid Best Buy for anything, but their $125 quote is less than some of the astronomical numbers I've heard thrown around.
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Oct 5, 2015 22:55
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There's not any way to transfer data from the dead drive if it won't detect in your computer. A professional data recovery firm might manage it for an astronomical price, but it's not like harddrives where you can swap a controller board or motor assembly from a working drive.
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Oct 5, 2015 22:59
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Well, poo poo. Back up your data, folks. Thanks for all your help. I thought it was a hopeless case, but at least now I know for sure.
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Oct 5, 2015 23:23
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I do have one final question: Would my hard drive be any more corrupted if I wait until I have a bit more money on hand? That is, would waiting a while before trying data recovery affect the amount of data that would be recoverable?
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Oct 6, 2015 00:27
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 06:56 |
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Yes, being left connected to power is worse, but even being left unpowered will slowly degrade data, though drives are supposed to retain their data for at least a year (that's working drives though). Just to clarify, an SSD is not a hard drive, so lower-cost tools and services that claim to be able to recover data from failed harddrives will not work on SSDs. You can't just work around bad sectors or replace a controller board, since the entire drive is just an array of memory chips connected to a controller chip. Because the contents of the drive are encrypted internally, failures that result in the loss of the decryption key render the data completely unrecoverable. I don't want to discourage you from getting a free quote, but you'd probably be better off regarding the data as lost.
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Oct 6, 2015 01:08
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