DIY hdd sata repair

In detail: do-it-yourself hdd sata repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

Good day.

If your external hard drive is no longer displayed when connected, or does not show signs of life at all, do not rush to throw it away and write it off. After sitting for 5-10 minutes with a screwdriver, you can try to repair it and restore it to work.

In general, I do not professionally repair hard drives (I only load them professionally), therefore, everything described below is just my experience and my point of view.

Important! Guided by what is written below - you can damage the disk and lose all data on it. If the disk contains important documents, it is better to take them to the service center to the specialists. Everything that you do further in the article - do it at your own peril and risk.

In general, of course, the word "repair" is too loud in this article, but there is no other way to convey the meaning.

Not so long ago, they brought me an external hard drive, which refused to work: when connected, a light bulb (LED) turned on and then went out, then the hard drive did not react in any way until you disconnect and connect it to the USB port again. The disk, by the way, is a fairly popular model today - Seagate Back Up Plus Slim 2 Tb BLACK.

Rice. 1. External hard drive Seagate Back Up Plus Slim 2 Tb BLACK

An external hard drive is a small box with a USB cable, inside which is a normal hard drive and a small board (controller), a kind of adapter from the USB port to the SATA input of the drive.

So, very often it is not the disk itself that fails (unless, of course, you dropped it), but this scarf. By the way, in many models of disks it is very thin and fragile, it can be damaged once or twice.

Video (click to play).

Therefore, before putting a “cross” on an external hard drive, you can try to open it, take out the drive itself and connect it directly to a PC / laptop, or insert it into another BOX.

How to disassemble an external drive

Specifically, the Seagate Back Up Plus Slim 2 Tb BLACK model can be opened very easily - just pry off the lid with a knife (see the red arrow in Fig. 1).

Important! Not all disk models are so easy to disassemble. Some are generally sealed “tightly”, and to open them you need to break the case (at the same time, there is a great risk of killing the HDD itself).

By the way, there are often cases when you open the case and you see loose contacts, a crack on the board, etc. defects - if you have experience in soldering, you can try to restore the board.

Actually, in Fig. Figure 2 below shows an external drive as it looks from the inside: a small board / adapter connected to a regular 2.5-inch drive. Nothing tricky.

Rice. 2. External hard drive - inside view

Next, you need to carefully disconnect the disk from this board and remove it from the case.

The next step is to connect the drive to your computer / laptop. There are two options here:

or buy a separate BOX for the disc and insert it there. Get the same external hard drive, only in a different case;
or connect it directly to the PC, like any other drive (by the way, this is what I recommend doing (for a start) to make sure it works).

Rice. 4. The removed disk is connected to the PC

So, the disc I removed turned out to be completely functional. Having connected it to the SATA port of the computer, I was able to copy all the information from it. In general, having bought an external BOX, it still serves faithfully.

Rice. 5. External container (BOX) for the disk - looks the same as if the external HDD was originally

The motive of the article is this: before throwing out your old non-working external HDD, check the drive itself, perhaps you can “repair” it so easily and quickly.

Do-it-yourself hard drive repair

In this article, we will consider the issues of diagnosing the hard drive, the hard drive will be repaired later. How to deal specifically with troubleshooting or identifying them, we will consider in the second part. The importance of the device cannot be overestimated, and its loss is sometimes worse than the failure of any of the hardware components of the computer: in the end, you can buy and deliver any piece of hardware, slightly tweak the drivers for the device and that's it. Motherboard troubles can happen too, but the hard drive is everything. System settings, browser bookmarks, downloaded movies and music, programs from a torrent, pictures from a camera ... Imagine that at some point all this is now gone. So, so that such a nuisance does not happen at the wrong moment, we will learn to predict this moment, and it will not hurt to get information about our hard drive right at the time of purchase or in front of it.

DESCRIBED HERE AND OTHER PROGRAMS ARE IN EXCESS IN ASSEMBLIES Live cd / dvd on the example of Hiren’s Live CD

Let's start with diagnostics. Whatever the manufacturer of the disc on your computer was, he included a very interesting technology in the hard drive. It will avoid such troubles as costly repairs. It is called the SMART technology (it is also possible through the points - S.M.A.R.T) or the self-diagnosis process. We will mainly talk about it and we will. The thing is extremely useful, it resembles information from the on-board computer of a car, offering information about some components of the hard drive. So, you can see how many times the disk was turned on and off, how it successfully accelerates to the declared speed. Based on this and many other data, you can make the right decision about the possible life of the disk or the remaining life time, and this will already allow you to save data on time and prepare for the inevitable. It is possible, because the technology is still of an advisory nature, and it is not 100% reliable.

We start with the option when nothing portends trouble, but you stumbled upon this article by accident or are reading for self-education. Then you can be prepared for the fact that after a while you will find out what you will not like at all. I'm talking about a Winchester. But forewarned means forearmed, no matter what information is unpleasant.

Make sure SMART technology is enabled in BIOS. Let's see how it might look on your computer. Reboot, enter the BIOS by pressing DEL. Then you have to turn on the head a little, because it is not easy to indicate the specific path to the function, there are many manufacturers. But let's set the right direction. Our task is to view the section under the name of the type Advanced BIOS Features (Advanced BIOS settings). There is a section in every BIOS of all motherboards, so you shouldn't get lost:

Here it is on my old man. By default, the entry is inactive. Check Enabled.

if the computer is stationary, remove the side cover and check all the cables: are they securely fastened (in a laptop, the HDD is inserted into the groove and fixed in this position - so it is unlikely to pop out of the connector by itself)
turn on the computer and go to the BIOS. These are traditionally the DELETE or F2 keys. Rarely others.
in point Boot Device — Hard drive you need to find your drive. This is the starting point for starting a hard drive repair. Let's see if the BIOS sees it or not. If the BIOS does not detect it even after several reboots, check the correct connection of the loops, the reliability of the connection to the ports on the motherboard.

So, the disk is visible in the BIOS. Now the main task is to find out the name of the hard drive. Such a hard disk repair will subsequently be carried out in accordance with the manufacturer's name and the appropriate program. If it is installed on a computer, it will be difficult to read the name on the label, and it is not necessary: the same BIOS will tell us this right now.

Standard CMOS Features section. My name, as you can see from the photo, is Hitachi HDS721616PLA.

The manufacturer of the company is needed in order to use the proprietary utility for it, and this is exactly how I recommend examining the hard drive. There are universal ones for "any" firms, but your own shirt is closer ... for many reasons. BIOS can now be closed as unnecessary.

Unfortunately, there is no built-in SMART display directly through Windows. We will have to use third-party programs all the time. However, Windows has a great way to check SMART status right from the Command Console. In addition, there are a number of popular programs on the software market that can analyze a disk from under Windows or from a live disk like Hiren’s. Read about testing a hard drive in the article "How to check the health of a hard drive".

Here is a list of well-known manufacturers of hard drives on the Russian market, whose products may be in the womb of your machine. Opposite the name of the company, you can download the specified utilities directly from our website. If you want to refer to the original source - follow the appropriate link.

First, use SMART to test your disk for damage. Remember that each of the programs, if mishandled, can cause irreparable harm to your hard drive. Read instructions and help files!

What exactly does the S.M.A.R.T. test result look like? , and how to carry it out right now, you can read in the article How to check the status of a hard disk?

Before you start using specialized programs, I suggest starting with the most common and high-quality option: the so-called LiveDVD / CD disc... If you are faced with a problem with Windows loading, then most likely you have heard about such a disk. Read about working with a disk in the article Working with Hiren's BootCD... And most importantly, I do not consider myself a professional data recovery engineer, so everything described here works from under DOS. I would also recommend this mode to all readers.

MHDD - low-level diagnostics of hard drives. The program is as powerful as it is dangerous. Repairing a hard drive with it can turn into killing a hard drive. It killed a lot of hard drives. I woke up even more and returned from oblivion. I offer you a version of MHDD 4.6 in an ISO image that can be burned to a CD, and an assembly of all versions of MHDD programs in folders for installation and launch from a USB flash drive. What can the program do? The program is capable of performing extremely accurate diagnostics of the mechanical part of the disk, viewing SMART attributes, formatting at a low level, correcting defective sectors, all sorts of tests, plus many more features:

HDD Regenerator - simultaneously localizes and restores bad disk sectors. Works with various manufacturers. Does not affect existing data during operation. However, it is not always effective and, after several tens of minutes of work, returned the hard drives with the same results as before the repair. Costs money.

Hard Disk Sentinel - rather a test utility than a repair utility. Purpose - to conduct tests in order to identify means of improving performance. Able to diagnose a disc by vibration, overheating. Runs in the background, consuming crumbs of resources. But he can hardly do anything else. Costs money.

Victoria - the utility of the Belarusian programmer has firmly entered the arsenal of any system administrator. Knows how to measure the speed of the disk in various modes, reduces the noise level, tests electronics (it will help to draw a conclusion and the cable to the hard disk). With its help, you can forcibly reduce the volume of the disk. And most importantly, it can read from the damaged disk what is left to read. I have come across Victori in several forms, including for working from under Windows: in that case, of course, if the hard disk on the neighboring controller is being tested. So I don’t recommend testing a disc on the same channel:

Here is a list of the most famous manufacturers of hard drives (I will try to constantly update; if there is no link, the program is in the process of expropriation):

Western digital - download Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics 1.22 (0.8 MB, freeware, zip-archive)
Seagate -downloadSeagate Active SMART (5.8 MB, trial, exe-file in rar archive)

Hello dear friends!

Many articles have been written about the problems that our computer "presents" to us. I've decided to illuminate problem with hard drives, or rather - how to solve this problem. I mean purely the mechanical part of this question, that is, the moment when suddenly, during operation, your HDD begins to emit some heartbreaking sounds, such as: squeak, rattle, "Morse code" or clang. What to do in this case? Read the article and your problem will be solved with your help. So!

When your hard drive begins to emit "uterine" sounds (squeak, clank, rattle), it is very, very sad: after all, working in such conditions is simply unbearable! Why is there strange sounds in the HDD? Answer options - the sea: ranging from the notorious "out of service life" to a possible strong fragmentation. One way or another, but one should not lose sight of such an aspect as a purely mechanical problem, that is - your HDD is clogged with dust, and in addition - on it contacts oxidized... Believe it or not, it is mechanical problems that are most often ignored by the so-called "forum gurus". (From the author: "forum gurus" are such a "higher caste" of computer know-it-alls who give stupid advice, for example, how to kill a video card and a processor using the overclocking algorithm. Or how to fix a video card in ... OVEN! Well, now you understand, what kind of creatures are they - "forum gurus").

Well? Are you ready for work? Let's start then.

Unplug your computer from the electrical outlet.
Remove the wall of the system unit and take a curly (Phillips) screwdriver of the required size: you will unscrew your hard drive.
Be sure to disconnect the hard drive inputs so as not to break the wires.
Carefully removing the hardware (well, bolts or screws) remove the hard drive.
Flip it over.
See: there is such a metal cover on one of its sides? It is attached to the plastic base of the common hard drive enclosure using bolts or screws. But there is one thing: the splines! What are splines? These are the slots in the bolts or screws into which you insert the "tip" ("nose", point) of the screwdriver. Clear? So: there are ordinary cross-shaped slots, and there are also slots for a special hex key. A bolt that has such a slot is very difficult to unscrew, although you can try it if you wish. But still, I recommend buying a set of special miniature hex keys - such a set is worth a penny, and the benefits are a lot! In general, you understand me. We continue to disassemble the hard drive.

When you have removed all the bolts, very carefully lift the cover: what do you see? And you should see the following: a contact track that is covered in some kind of dark "crap"... This "crap" is the source of the problem! Due to the fact that the contacts are oxidized, the flow of signals that go to and from your HDD is disrupted. As a result, your oxidized hard drive begins to wildly slow down and rattle (squeak, clank and squeak). This also increases the rotational load on the discs that spin inside the hard drive. All this taken together leads to the fact that your disk simply dies, but not from old age, but from illness. What should you do? Right: clean up rusty oxides and dirt!

Search for oxidation of contacts and soldering of a hard drive

Take pure rubbing alcohol, a cotton swab and a regular school eraser.

Use an eraser to carefully remove any oxides: just wipe off any dark spots or rust.
Then, dip the stick in alcohol and wipe the contacts you just cleaned. Do not be too zealous, otherwise you will fill in contacts.
After that, look again: have you deleted everything? If yes, then collect the disk to the heap and insert it back into the computer.Before the start - be sure to cross yourself: you never know what! Just kidding: turn on your computer: nothing else rattles and will not rattle for the next six months. But that's not all: do a complete defragmentation of the HDD and registry. After that, be sure to restart the system again. Now that's it!

With this method, I have healed more than a dozen hard drives, the owners of which wanted to throw them in the trash. So believe me, friends: the method is simple and very helpful!

Hard disk repair is a procedure that, in some cases, allows you to restore the drive to work. Due to the specifics of this device, it is usually impossible to fix serious damage on your own, but minor problems can be eliminated without contacting a specialist.

You can return the HDD to a working state even if it is not visible in the BIOS. However, it is far from often possible to repair a drive due to the complexity of its design. In some cases, it may be necessary to pay for repairs an amount several times higher than the cost of the hard drive itself, and it makes sense to do this only to restore extremely important data stored on it.

It is necessary to distinguish the repair of the hard drive from its restoration. In the first case, we are talking about restoring the operability of the device, and in the second, about the return of lost data. If you need to get back files deleted or lost as a result of formatting, check out our other article:

You can also replace the hard drive with your own hands, and, if possible, copy the files from the old HDD to the new one. This is suitable for those users who do not want to contact specialists and prefer to simply get rid of a failed drive.

Broken sectors can be divided into software and physical. The former are easily restored by various utilities, and as a result, the HDD works stably and without failures.

The treatment of physically damaged sectors does not involve the use of programs. In this case, the drive itself may begin to emit sounds unusual for it: clicks, creaks, rustling, etc. Other manifestations of problems include system freezing even when performing simple tasks, disappearance of files or folders, or the appearance of an empty unallocated space.

It is impossible to fix this problem of a computer or laptop hard drive manually. Therefore, the user has to either replace the hard drive with a new one and, if possible, transfer important data to it, or use the services of wizards who recover data from a physically damaged surface in special conditions.

You can understand that there are problems with sectors using the programs:

If the device is still working, but is already unstable, you should think about purchasing a new drive as soon as possible. At the same time, the use of a PC with a damaged HDD is strongly recommended to be minimized.

After connecting the second hard drive, you can clone the entire HDD or only the operating system.

A physically sound drive may not be detected by the operating system even when connected to another computer, but it may be visible in the BIOS.

There are several situations in which Windows does not see the device:

Missing drive letter. It may happen that the volume is left without a letter (C, D, E, etc.), due to which it will no longer be visible to the system. Simple formatting usually helps here.

After that, if you need to get back the deleted data, use special programs.

Read more: Programs for recovering deleted files
The disc is in RAW format. Formatting will help resolve this situation, but it is not the only way to get the NTFS or FAT file system back. Read more about this in our other article:

Lesson: How to change the RAW format of HDD disks
Windows does not see the new hard drive. The newly purchased HDD and connected to the system unit may not be detected by the system, and this is absolutely normal. To start using the device, you need to initialize it.

In more serious cases, the hard drive may not be visible not only in the operating system, but also in the BIOS. Typically, the BIOS displays all connected devices, even those that are not detected in Windows. Thus, you can understand that physically they work, but there are software conflicts.

When the device is not detected in the BIOS, in most cases this is due to one of two reasons:

Incorrect motherboard connection / motherboard problems

To perform the test, turn off the computer, remove the cover of the system unit and carefully check if the cable from the hard drive to the motherboard is properly connected. Inspect the wire itself for physical damage, debris, dust. Check the socket on the motherboard, make sure the cable is firmly attached to it.

If possible, use an alternative wire and / or try connecting another HDD to check if the socket on the motherboard is working and if the hard drive is visible in the BIOS.

Even if the hard drive was installed a long time ago, it is still necessary to check the connection. The cable can simply move away from the socket, as a result of which the BIOS cannot detect the device.
Mechanical breakdown

As a rule, in this case, the user can hear clicks when starting the PC, and this will mean that the HDD is trying to start its work. But due to a physical breakdown, he cannot do this, so neither Windows nor BIOS can see the device.

Only professional repair or replacement under warranty will help here.

In both cases, the data on the disk will be lost.

If you hear a knock inside the hard drive, then most likely the controller has been damaged. Sometimes the hard drive may additionally not be detected in the BIOS.

To fix this problem, you will need to completely change the controller, but it is almost impossible to do this on your own. Specialized companies carry out such repairs, but it will cost a lot. Therefore, it makes sense to contact the masters only when the information stored on the disk is very important.

In a normal state, the drive should not make any sounds other than noise during reading or writing. If you hear uncharacteristic squeaks, pops, clicks, knocks or even scratches, it is very important to stop using the damaged HDD as soon as possible.

Depending on the severity of the damage, the drive may not be detected in the BIOS, stop abruptly, or, on the contrary, unsuccessfully try to start spinning up.

In this case, it is very difficult to diagnose the problem on your own. A technician will need to disassemble the device to determine the source of the malfunction. In the future, based on the results of the inspection, replacement of the damaged element will be required. It can be a head, cylinder, plate or other elements.

Repairing a drive yourself is a very dangerous endeavor. Firstly, you may not always be able to understand for yourself what exactly needs repair. Secondly, there is a huge chance of destroying the drive. But if you want to try your hand, then you should start by properly disassembling the hard drive and getting to know its main components.

Disassembly will be relevant if you are ready for a complete failure of the device, are not afraid to lose the stored data, or have already made a backup.

Decreased performance is another common reason why the user will feel that the hard drive is having some kind of malfunction. Fortunately, an HDD, unlike a solid state drive (SSD), does not tend to decrease in speed over time.

Slow performance usually results from software factors:

Garbage;
High fragmentation;
Overflowed startup;
Unoptimized HDD parameters;
Broken sectors and errors;
Outdated connection mode.

How to eliminate each of these reasons and increase the speed of the device, read in our separate article:

A hard drive is a fragile device that is very easy to damage by any external physical impact, be it shaking or falling. But in some cases, it can break even with careful use and complete isolation from negative factors. The declared service life of the HDD is about 5-6 years, but in practice it often fails 2 times faster. Therefore, you, as a user, need to take care of the safety of important data in advance, for example, have an additional HDD, USB flash drive or use cloud storage. This will save you from losing personal information and additional money spent on its recovery.

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Hard disk repair (or HDD - Hard Disk Drive) - the procedure for bringing the HDD to a working state, in which it is possible to read the necessary data from it, including service information, file table, user data, multimedia information, etc., even if the BIOS does not see the hard disk. In this article, you will learn how to fix a hard drive, if possible, and what to do if hdd is not detected in the BIOS or an error appears when trying to load the operating system.

It is necessary to distinguish between recovering deleted files from repairing a hard disk. The fact is that HDD repair does not provide for the return of data to the storage device, while data recovery is not always possible due to a hard drive breakdown or partial or complete damage to the disk surface.

So, let's list the reasons why a hard drive may need recovery and how to repair a hard drive: on your own, with your own hands, or it is better and more reliable to resort to the help of qualified specialists familiar with the hard drive device.

The disk starts to make strange sounds (for example, loud enough rustling of heads, squeaks, clicks), the operating system slows down, there are “brakes” and “freezes” on the hard disk, files, folders, and whole partitions may suddenly disappear. You can open the disc - and there is a void, unmarked space.

The fact is that from time to time you need to check the hard disk for bad sectors, bad blocks, perform defragmentation, diagnostics, observe normal operation at the optimum temperature, and do not apply physical pressure to the disk. Therefore, violation of these general rules of good form, as a rule, leads to disastrous consequences like damaged sectors.

Various recovery techniques are used to recover hard drives with these read errors. All procedures are carried out under laboratory conditions using expensive equipment that allows you to read sectors many times, ignoring errors. Thus, the owner of the hard drive has no choice but to seek the services of specialists who may have access to the appropriate equipment for resuscitation procedures in relation to the HDD.

The situation with hard disk recovery becomes more complicated if the file table or partition table or other service information has been damaged. In such cases, it is necessary to make a "clone" of the HDD onto a "donor" - a working hard drive, to which files are then transferred from the failed hard drive.

However, you can fix some hard disk read errors yourself. These include bad sectors, bad blocks. If you think you have enough experience and straight hands, we can recommend two great programs for diagnosing a hard drive and fixing bad sectors.

Clicks during HDD operation are another characteristic symptom when the hard disk does not start and, accordingly, is not detected by the system. This is usually due to wear or damage to the hard drive heads. Like any other mechanical failure of a HDD, you cannot fix it with your own hands.

However, if you hear clicks on a working hard disk (that is, it reads and writes files normally), then you need to urgently take certain measures and play it safe. Be sure to back up your valuable information to another hard drive, USB flash drive or cloud hosting, since nowadays this is not an expensive procedure at all. Indeed, at one moment it may happen that the hard disk will not start or stop being detected - and if you made a backup, then the loss of information will not cause a shock.

What if the BIOS does not see the hard drive? An HDD on which such errors have occurred has characteristic symptoms: it is not detected in the BIOS, and it can also produce strange noise (clicks, taps). In some cases, the hard disk is available in the BIOS, but is not able to load the operating system.

Accordingly, to restore the ROM and service data on the HDD, the above-mentioned components of the hard disk will need to work correctly. This type of repair is carried out by specialists using special equipment. It is impossible to make it with your own hands. At the same time, the physical structure of the hard disk surface is read correctly, so the data physically remains intact.

If your computer does not see the hard drive (Sata or IDE interfaces), it is not necessarily caused by a disk failure. The easiest way to solve the problem yourself:

Remove the hard drive from the system unit
Clean the hard drive from dust
Replace the drive by checking the SATA / IDE cables and power cable from the motherboard and power supply to the hard drive for damage, whether it fits snugly into the device slot.

Sometimes the hard drive is not detected in the bios for the most commonplace reason: the cable accidentally moved away from the storage device, which is why the HDD does not start and, of course, does not work.

A characteristic symptom of this type of breakdown is knocking inside the HDD. The second feature is that the device may not be read by BIOS. To solve this problem, a complete replacement of the controller and, in some cases, flashing and replacement of the hard disk electronics will be required. Otherwise, the data on the device can be read as if nothing had happened. Is it possible to repair a hard drive yourself in case of such a breakdown? The answer is rather negative. First, most computer firms do not specialize in fixing components. Secondly, such an HDD repair will cost several hundred dollars. However, if the information on the disk is of particular value, you can start looking for a computer lab for recovery.

As with any HDD breakdown, the disk begins to emit knocks and clicks. The device is usually not detected through the BIOS. Winchester can suddenly stop, "start" unsuccessfully. To solve the breakdown and successfully restore the disk, you will need to completely disassemble the faulty block and replace its filling, which includes heads, cylinders, disks and other elements. Thus, in this situation, repairs are inevitable.

Hello! After upgrading from the 7th to the 10th version of Windows, the external drive was no longer detected on the laptop and on all other devices, including a computer with the seventh version of Windows. Why is the hard drive not detected? What could be the problem and how to fix it?

Answer... The HDD may well not be detected because during an update or a clean installation of the OS, you could delete the partition using the Windows Setup Wizard. In any case, the disk partition could not just take and disappear. You can check with the Windows utility - Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) or any partition manager like Partition Magic. If you need to recover a deleted partition, use the free TestDisk utility.