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Why is my hard drive no longer recognized?

You are faced with a storage unit recognition problem and you do not have a backup, the loss of your personal data would be a real disaster.

Your hard drive won't boot, or it boots but it's not recognized by the operating system, or the file explorer doesn't see it, these are all symptoms you need to deal with.

I offer you some ideas to help you resolve the problem. Verification can be done at several levels, hardware, software, operating system et BIOS .

 

COMMON CAUSES!

  • The infection.
    • Your system may be infected with malware that modifies the management settings of your storage units or your BIOS.
  • The BIOS.
    • Le BIOS provides information on the physical recognition of the hardware elements of your computer.
  • The knights.
  • The connectors.
    • A fault in the connection of the power supply connectors.
  • The sectors.
    • Bad sectors linked to wear, shock or unsecured removal in the case of an external storage unit.
  • The pilots.
    • A driver update issue or failed driver.
  • The disk manager.
    • The operating system's Disk Manager refuses to assign a letter to the drive.
  • The fan.
    • A fan is faulty and the temperature of your rotating hard drive is too high.
  • The defect.
    • This is not a software problem but a hardware problem, you must realize that your hard drive is probably defective.

 

 WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT DO !

Formatting is the action of formatting, “predisposing to recognize certain signals and not others, and interpreting them in a predefined way”. It is the action of preparing a computer data carrier by writing a file system onto it, so that it is recognized by the computer's operating system. Wikipedia

In the event of a breakdown, you may have the reflex to open your Hard disk and replacing a tray, an action which is strongly discouraged. Replacing an element must only be done in a laboratory to avoid any risk of contamination. Contamination can occur both through traces of handling (fingers) and through ambient dust particles.

A hard drive is fragile and the slightest shock can cause the platters to move and/or the creation of bad sectors. This action would inevitably risk damaging it even more and compromising the recovery of your data.

 

  WHAT TO DO !

 

Check for bad sectors.

CrystalDiskInfo from hiyohiyo is software that allows you to know the status of your computer's disk drives. The software is portable and therefore does not require any installation.

It displays information about the health status of disk drives. Note that it includes a disk manager. As a precaution, carry out a regular analysis with this software to detect the presence of possible unstable sectors. It supports technology SMART, in order to obtain the temperature and other useful information. This software is free for personal, non-commercial use.

More information about CrystalDiskInfo

 

Check for an update to your driver.

  • DUMO (Drivers Update Monitor) from KCSoftwares lists the drivers present on your PC and checks the installed version.

It lists the drivers present on your PC and checks the installed version.

In case a more recent version is found, this will be indicated in the software interface.

This software is free for personal, non-commercial use.

More information about DUMo

 

Check for infection.

  • ZHP Cleaner Antimalware from Nicolas Coolman allows you to restore proxy settings and remove browser redirects. It aims to remove adware programs that display popups, potentially unwanted software, certain browser-grafted toolbars, and certain legitimate but unnecessary programs. The software does not require any installation procedure, so it can be transported on removable devices. Difficult to make it simpler, three buttons, “Scanner","Clean" and "Report". This software is free for personal, non-commercial use.
  • You can also call a free IT support forum.

More information about ZHPCleaner

 

Check in BIOS. 

You can run the “-Setup” when your computer starts. You must use a key or key combination to access the BIOS. This information usually appears, but stealthily at startup.
When the BIOS appears, First of all, you need to search for the term that corresponds to boot, such as “Boat","Advance Bios features" Or simply "Start-up".
Then you select “Boot Device" or "Boot Device Priority” depending on the configuration.
Finally, the list is displayed of all connected devices. All you have to do is check the presence of the hard drive in the list.

More information about BIOS

 

Configure Disk Manager. 

Windows Disk Management allows you to check the assignment of a letter for each internal or external disk unit. This drive letter allows access to its contents via File Explorer.

The hard drive may not be recognized, but visible in the BIOS, and without an assignment letter in the disk manager. From then on you can try to assign a letter.

More information about Disk Manager

 

Check the temperature. 

CrystalDiskInfo from hiyohiyo is software that allows you to know the status of your computer's disk drives. The software is portable and therefore does not require any installation. It displays information about the health status of disk drives. Note that it includes a disk manager. As a precaution, carry out a regular analysis with this software to detect the presence of possible unstable sectors. It supports technology SMART, in order to obtain the temperature and other useful information. This software is free for personal, non-commercial use.

This software is free for personal, non-commercial use.

More information about CrystalDiskInfo

 

Test on another computer. 

If you have the possibility, you can test your faulty hard drive on another PC.

You can check it by installing it externally on another computer. The experts have thought of providing you with USB connectivity adapted to the model of your hard drive (USB/SATA, USB/SSB, etc.).

Opening your tower must be done carefully, installing the connector/Adapter and the hard drive in external mode must be done cold.

More information on adapters

 

Recover personal data. 

Recuva of CCleaner can recover images, music, documents, videos, emails or any other type of files that you lost. And it can recover from any rewritable media you have: memory cards, external hard drives, USB drives and more! Unlike most file recovery tools, this software can recover files from damaged disks or newly formatted. Greater flexibility means more chance of healing.

This software is free for personal, non-commercial use.

More information about Recuva

 

LAST RESORT !

 

ADVICE !

ON THE SAME TOPIC !

Ontrack, how to recover data from an HS hard drive?

Recovering data from an HS hard drive is entirely possible. Moreover, the recovery possibilities are high, generally around 80 – 85%. You can also recover all of the data from a dead hard drive as long as you do it the right way. (on-track)

ChronoDisk, how to recover data from an HS hard drive?

The first precaution to take is, of course, not to make the situation worse. A hard drive is fragile, especially if one of its components is no longer in perfect condition. Also, any mishandling or inadequate treatment could complicate the work to recover the datasystem. (Chronodisk)

GEEK Tip – What to do if your external hard drive is not recognized?

I plug in, I wait, I unplug, I plug back in, I reboot, I try again. But nothing can be done, my external hard drive or my USB key does not appear on the screen. Invisible! However, on PC as on Mac, solutions exist, from the simplest... to the most complex, sometimes. (Geek tip)

Recover data from a faulty hard drive. 

This video can give you practical tips for recovering your data (Youtube)

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