Is my HDD dead? PC won't boot

tomi19

Junior Member
Aug 19, 2013
16
0
0
I turned on my PC this morning, but it would only boot into the BIOS and my HDD wasn't being detected (it didn't show up on the boot device list). Everything was working just fine 12 hours ago.

After changing some settings in the BIOS and restarting my PC I somehow got it to recognize the HDD but I got the error: S.M.A.R.T Status Bad: Backup and Replace. I read on the internet that you could make the pc boot if you turned off SMART check on the BIOS. I did that and this time it booted until the windows 10 logo but it got stuck there for 10 min or so and got the error CRITICAL_PROCCESs_DIED.

I changed the SATA cable and plugged the HDD into another port and now the BIOS always detects it but I can't even get it to boot to the Windows logo anymore. After the BIOS logo I get a yellow, brown-ish screen with white vertical lines and a blinking cursor on the top left (that screen is usually black..)

I'm really lost. Is there anything I can do? Or is my HDD just plain dead?
 

Elixer

Lifer
May 7, 2002
10,371
762
126
Well, if it can be seen in BIOS, then your only option at this point is, either play it safe and send it to the pros for data recovery, or, use ddrescue on it, and clone it onto another HD, and then try to recover files there.

Nothing much else will work, and the more times you play with this HD, the worse your chances for recovery get.

Time for a new HD either way.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
10,196
126
Yeah, it's toast. If you have anything REALLY important on there, that you need to save, don't mess with it any more, and send it to some data-recovery pros with a clean room.

If you have anything on there that isn't super-important, but it would be nice to get it off of the failing HDD, then investigate using Linux and dd_rescue.

Otherwise, just get a new HDD (or better yet, an SSD!), and then use your recovery media for your PC to restore your OS to the new drive. (You DID make recovery media, when you got your PC, right?)
 

tomi19

Junior Member
Aug 19, 2013
16
0
0
I don't have anything important in the drive. I was just asking to make sure it's dead because just two weeks ago I installed a new CPU and I checked the HDD with HDTune and it showed 0 errors, so it's kinda weird it suddenly died.

Thanks for the answers. I guess I'll try and save some money for a new drive
 

Elixer

Lifer
May 7, 2002
10,371
762
126
I don't have anything important in the drive. I was just asking to make sure it's dead because just two weeks ago I installed a new CPU and I checked the HDD with HDTune and it showed 0 errors, so it's kinda weird it suddenly died.

Thanks for the answers. I guess I'll try and save some money for a new drive
Usually, HDs do die just like that...
On rare occasions, you might see a SMART error thrown, but, usually, nope. Nothing. Just one day it works, the next it dies.