Corrupted Hard Drive !!!

Hi,
   I had a new problem with my HDD  (It's my month of computer issues!  )

My HDD doesn't respond (The computer won't boot)
I took the HDD off the computer
Plugged it to my laptop with a USB/IDE SATA cable, and a new hardware is detected, and then Drivers are installed successfully, But does not show up in COMPUTER
I have Windows 7 on my laptop, and the HDD that's not working is a 4 or 5 months old HDD only !

When I go to "Devices and Printers" it shows that there is a SATA disk drive connected, and when I clicked on Troubleshoot, it told me that there is no problem.

I right clicked on Computer, and then MANAGE.
The HDD is reconized but as "Unknown" and "Not initialized"
So, according to my research it may be corrupted...

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic122125.html#post720762

Here they suggest to use a recovery tool... But before I try it... did you ever had the same problem?
What do you suggest me to do ?
Can I make it work again ?
Can I get the Data off it ?

Thank you for all your help ! 

The problem you describe does not mean the drive is bad.
Any USB adapter may or may not map a drive the same way as a resident host controller. So the OS does not see a file system.

Metaphorically, the USB adapters speak Greek, but the resident controller of the PC speaks English. Is that clear? Well, its Greek to me.

Resolution: Plug the drive into another working computer. But no using a USB adapter. You may be able to recover data using one of the free data recovery tools.
This might be of some help:
http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php?topic=66522.0

Hi nasroo7

In you post you don't say the make and model of hard drive ? Normally if a harddrive is detected, as yours is, a program Like Get Data back NTFS will recover it. When using recovery software please don't write back to the original drive until you are sure that you have recovered all the data.
Most data recovery software explains this.
Get data back NTFS is available from
http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

or free software which takes a bit of learning
HDat from here http://www.hdat2.com/download.html

Regards
Lisa

Further to Geek-9pm Post
When working with unknowns like how your USB adapter displays drives in windows it pays to check with a known good drive. In fact before I do any data recoveries I always check and confirm all items of test equipment are working correctly before connecting the suspect drive.

Regards

Lisa

Try hooking it up to your computer directly. You might then want to boot off a linux live CD to see if the contents of your hard drive are in order and salvage 'm accordingly.

Thank you all for your answers ! 

So, the Bad HDD is a Western Digital
model: WD3200BPVT (It's a 320Gb)

I have HBCD, which includes a Mini Win XP in that CD....
I put back the HDD into the computer (ACER Laptop)
and booted up with the Mini Win XP CD... There is no Hard drive detected in "My Computer"

And if I boot it directly from computer, it tells me NO BOOTABLE DEVICE

I plugged my Desktop HDD in my ASUS laptop (my Asus laptop is working fine)
using the same cable USB/IDE SATA
and the HDD is detected in only few seconds, and I can access all the Data in it

Resolution: Plug the drive into another working computer. But no using a USB adapter. You may be able to recover data using one of the free data recovery tools.

You mean like I plug that HDD into my working desktop for example? (plug it directly on the motherboard, and PSU ?)

You mean like I plug that HDD into my working desktop for example? (plug it directly on the motherboard, and PSU ?)

Yes, USB/IDE/SATA adapters can map the drive in a different way. So do not use the USB adapter. When you plug it into you motherboard the BIOS may recognize it correctly.a
Here are the free tools for WD.
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=608&sid=2&lang=en

[Moderator]

Very rare a HDD has both IDE/SATA.....if at all...
Which is it ...because it makes a difference on how to proceed.

Very rare a HDD has both IDE/SATA.....if at all...
Which is it ...because it makes a difference on how to proceed.

I mean the adapter, not the drive.  The USB/IDE/SATA adapters can map a drive differently that the native motherboard controller.

Thank you all for your answers ! 

So, the Bad HDD is a Western Digital
model: WD3200BPVT (It's a 320Gb)

I have HBCD, which includes a Mini Win XP in that CD....
I put back the HDD into the computer (ACER Laptop)
and booted up with the Mini Win XP CD... There is no Hard drive detected in "My Computer"

And if I boot it directly from computer, it tells me NO BOOTABLE DEVICE

You'll want to use Linux, it's far more forgiving when it comes to damaged hard drives than Windows is.
It'll allow you to see what's wrong with the drive (Disk manager) and there's a chance you can get your data off.

Very rare a HDD has both IDE/SATA.....if at all...
Which is it ...because it makes a difference on how to proceed.

actually the HDD is a SATA,
by USB/IDE SATA, I mean the adapter that I have (have two plugs, one for SATA, and one for IDE ATA 

Yes, USB/IDE/SATA adapters can map the drive in a different way. So do not use the USB adapter. When you plug it into you motherboard the BIOS may recognize it correctly.a

But I took the HDD off to try it with my USB adapter, because the HDD wasn't recognized by the laptop...
Right now I plugged the HDD WD320 (The failing one) into my desktop (Hooked it up with the SATA power, and SATA data on the motherboad.
I went on the boot menu, and the computer recognizes it as WD3200BPVT (which is the model number))

But while in windows, I went on MY COMPUTER (I precise that i'm running with the Windows installed on my desktop, not the HDD WD)
doesn't shows up.

Clicked on MANAGE on mycomputer, and there is no HDD WD detected. not even an unknown disk or anything!

You'll want to use Linux, it's far more forgiving when it comes to damaged hard drives than Windows is.
It'll allow you to see what's wrong with the drive (Disk manager) and there's a chance you can get your data off.

Where can I get it ?

Where can I get it ?

Too many to recommend just none.
http://livecdlist.com/
Here are three:
KnoppiXMAME
Mint
Puppy Live CD

Too many to recommend just none.
http://livecdlist.com/
Here are three:
KnoppiXMAME
Mint
Puppy Live CD

Thank's, I will get one or maybe all those three, and then try
 

Where can I get it ?

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

Pick the "Live" option when booting from the CD.

I don't know if any of the other distributions have the disk management feature that'll let you read the definitive S.M.A.R.T status.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

Pick the "Live" option when booting from the CD.

I don't know if any of the other distributions have the disk management feature that'll let you read the definitive S.M.A.R.T status.

thank's! Can I use the 32x on a 64x windows?
Because they say 32x(Recommended) ?
Or do I have to use 32x with 32x, and 64x with 64x ?

if you use a 64-bit kernel with a 32-bit processor, it'll refuse to load.

The other way around should work just fine.

if you use a 64-bit kernel with a 32-bit processor, it'll refuse to load.

The other way around should work just fine.

Ok , thank's !

if you use a 64-bit kernel with a 32-bit processor, it'll refuse to load.
The other way around should work just fine.

Nominated for post of the month. 

Nominated for post of the month. 

Yeah I guess the other way around would be the exact same but you get the idea.