How do I repair an invisible HDD?


  1. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
       #1

    How do I repair an invisible HDD?


    The issue I'm having didn't start until today. I was about to play FFXIV and I clicked on Transformers Devastation and it gave me an error about the boot file being missing. This is on (:R) the hdd in question. Okay, now it locks up when I go to steam and delete local files of the game that messed up. I go to restart and when it does it freezes at the Bios and I have to restart it. When I do restart it, it starts the Automatic Repair and it freezes. When it's scanning and repairing it's scanning and repairing (:R), but when I go and look for that same HDD when the computer finally loads after numerous restarts, it's not there. So I can't do a chkdsk on that hdd. It's not under Disk Management either. I hear it working inside of the computer, it doesn't sound broken, no weird noises or anything. I had to get really close to hear it. My HDD is a Seagate ITB Barracuda. What can I do?

    Thanks!
    Last edited by Asilee; 30 Sep 2016 at 13:30.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Update: I recently rescanned for the hard drive under Disk Management, it popped up and made explorer crash and then disappeared when I clicked on the hdd. I can no longer get it to show up now. I'm afraid to restart the computer because it may freeze at the bios screen again. It never makes it to the S.MA.R.T screen when it does. It ends up with me having to restart numerous times to get it past the Automatic Repair scan / "scanning and repairing" screen.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 9,765
    Mac OS Catalina
       #3

    I would try a Repair install. Some games create an Emulated or Virtual Drive. We do know that there are still issues with certain games and Windows 10, that are unresolved at this time. It is suggested to stick with Windows 7 if you are a gamer.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 15,027
    Windows 10 IoT
       #4

    As far as I know a virtual drive will not stop a PC from booting to the BIOS. It shouldn't stop a physical drive from showing up in disk management either. I just recently had a similar issue with my fathers laptop. Windows would just boot to an endless Windows repair screen. I connected that drive to a SATA to USB adapter to recover the files and it just locked up explorer. PC wouldn't shut down with it connected either. Disk management just froze when launched with that drive connected. It was clicking etc, and had failed. It sounds like you might be in a similar situation?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    alphanumeric said:
    As far as I know a virtual drive will not stop a PC from booting to the BIOS. It shouldn't stop a physical drive from showing up in disk management either. I just recently had a similar issue with my fathers laptop. Windows would just boot to an endless Windows repair screen. I connected that drive to a SATA to USB adapter to recover the files and it just locked up explorer. PC wouldn't shut down with it connected either. Disk management just froze when launched with that drive connected. It was clicking etc, and had failed. It sounds like you might be in a similar situation?
    Hi. I can't get it to recognize the drive at all anymore. I have it doing an automatic repair again and it'll probably take the rest of the night. I'm worried that after it's all said and done I still won't be able to obtain visibility to that HDD. I opened my computer and unhooked everything and changed SATA cables prior and now I'm just waiting. The locking of explorer when I was able to access the HDD in question is correct. As of right now, I haven't had any weird clicking sounds coming from that particular HDD. Disk management doesn't freeze, but it no longer scan and retrieve my :R HDD.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #6

    bro67 said:
    I would try a Repair install. Some games create an Emulated or Virtual Drive. We do know that there are still issues with certain games and Windows 10, that are unresolved at this time. It is suggested to stick with Windows 7 if you are a gamer.
    Thank you.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 9,765
    Mac OS Catalina
       #7

    Steam is the biggest offender right now with not wanting to get on board with Microsoft. That is because they are still working on Steam OS and also competing against better streaming devices like NVidia's Shield TV.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 15,027
    Windows 10 IoT
       #8

    Asilee said:
    Hi. I can't get it to recognize the drive at all anymore. I have it doing an automatic repair again and it'll probably take the rest of the night. I'm worried that after it's all said and done I still won't be able to obtain visibility to that HDD. I opened my computer and unhooked everything and changed SATA cables prior and now I'm just waiting. The locking of explorer when I was able to access the HDD in question is correct. As of right now, I haven't had any weird clicking sounds coming from that particular HDD. Disk management doesn't freeze, but it no longer scan and retrieve my :R HDD.
    This laptop had done at least one automatic repair. Then tried to do another one but would never finish. I couldn't do a repair install even when booting from my install media. It would just freeze when it got to where it looked for the existing OS. Accessing my drive was hit or miss. On my SATA to USB adapter, in explorer, several partitions were listed. All the data (documents etc) was on a separate partition. I had installed Windows that way originally for my father. If I made the mistake of clicking the Windows partition explorer locked up, or just crashed to a totally blank desktop. I then had to do a ctrl alt del to get out and reboot. Even then the PC wouldn't shut down until I unplugged that drive. Really weird. I eventually got most of his files back over many hours. They copied very slowly from that drive. I got some unreadable errors. Some that copied may be corrupt, I won't know until he tries to access them. Disk management for me, just loaded with a blank page, no drives listed at all. If I unplugged that drive it loaded. I did hear the occasional click. I was very surprised I got any files off of that drive. I don't have any file recovery software.
    I then put a new drive in his laptop and reinstalled Windows for him.
    File corruption can be fixed. When the drive has physically failed, there isn't much you can do. My drive physically failed. If it had just been file corruption a reinstall would have fixed it. It would have shown up in disk management OK too. If the drive can't been seen by the BIOS or disk management its usually a hardware fault, drive or cable, or power. Sometimes its the motherboard that's the issue. Putting that drive in another PC will confirm its the drive and not the motherboard. If you slave it into another PC and its still MIA, its the drive that's failed.
      My Computer


 

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:46.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums