Hard Drive not recognised, unable to reinstall Windows or format hard drive

Question

Hello.

Trying to fix a friend's laptop after they dropped it, causing Windows to boot into self repair mode which then failed to repair the problem.

I managed to use an Ubuntu Live CD to access the hard drive and copy data off onto an external drive. Ubuntu's Disk Utility showed there were corrupt sections of the drive, but I don't remember it showing any physical damage.

I attempted to use the built in Dell factory restore functionality, effectively wipe and reinstall the hard drive as if the computer was brand new. That process reached 6% completion and then took around 16 hours to move to 7% completion. Something was clearly wrong and I couldn't have the laptop running constantly so I just had to switch it off knowing it would cause issues.

After this I tried to use the Windows reinstallation cd that came with the laptop but it can't write to the hard drive, it complains it has no drivers, I tried to download the drivers (from the Dell site) and install them via an external drive but it errored due to the file being a exe.

The built in Dell diagnostics which I ran from the boot menu doesn't detect the hard drive, the Ubuntu Live CD has to install the driver for the hard drive each time I use it and it can't run any tests or format the drive via Disk Utility. The drive isn't always listed in the laptop boot list (after pressing F12 on start up), and I've created an Ultimate Boot CD and tried to use Parted Magic to wipe the drive but Parted doesn't even detect the hard drive.

Anyone got any ideas why the drive doesn't appear to be available to all these different apps, but before the Windows reinstallation failed, it was accessible via the Live CD? What could I try to get the drive detected, could it be missing drivers?

Sorry about that lengthy post, wanted to get all the info down.

Thanks,

Mark.

ejn63 · Accepted Answer

You were lucky that the data wasn't located in the sectors where the heads likely crashed onto the platters.

What model system is this? If it's within the last five years or so, any standard 2.5" 9.5 mm or slimmer SATA notebook drive will work to replace the damaged one.

osprey4 · Answer

Hi Mark, Time for a new hard drive, my friend. Tell your friend they are fortunate to have saved the data.

mjweston · Answer

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Can you provide any reasoning as to why it would definitely require a new hard drive? I suspected it could need a new drive, but it seemed odd I was able to access the drive via the Live CD and then when the Windows installation failed, the drive seemed to become useless.

I have spotted a drive which is an equivalent. In terms of installing it, is it basically plug it in and use the Dell Windows installation disk?

Thanks.

mjweston · Answer

So it's likely that there is actual physical damage? This is the drive i've seen: www.scan.co.uk/.../250gb-samsung-hn-m250mbb-25-hdd-95-mm-sata-ii-3gb-s-5400rpm-8mb-cache-12ms

ejn63 · Answer

Yes, there is physical damage to the platters.  Any standard, 2.5' 9.5 mm SATA notebook drive will work as a replacement.

Rupesh Punna · Answer

Noticed the same problem here but while in the diagnosis test it is showing that hard drive is well working

Storage, Drives & Media

Hard Drive not recognised, unable to reinstall Windows or format hard drive

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