Bricked Drive?

[Mike McCall]

So the client has a bad 1TB drive. I order a new WD 1TB Black drive and when it arrives I image the drive and install it. After several "What the...?" moments I conclude that the MB isn't seeing the drive. I investigate and apparently this MB has a history of failing to see the SATA drives. Nice. I call the client and give them the good news and he agrees to buy a new system. Fine. I plug the new drive in via USB and my system won't see it. I attempt to initialize it but am unable to because "The disk is not convertible because the size is less than the minimum size required for GPT disks." I can't initialize it as an MBR because "The device is not ready." WD's Data Lifeguard is no use to me either. Did installing it in the bad system brick this brand new drive?

 

[Boston Pro Comp Serv LLC]

I would say it's coincidence and the drive has now failed. Maybe I am not understanding the problem though. Obviously MBs with support for TB drives or larger have been around forever now your not trying to connect this drive to age old hardware are you? I assume your bench is well qualified hardware wise for new equipment.

 

[Markverhyden]

It may have bricked the drive. But it may have also messed with the partition structures. Did you try partitioning it under a *nix? I've had similar situations, including with OS X drives, and have been able to resurrect drives that way.

 

[Mike McCall]

I would say it's coincidence and the drive has now failed. Maybe I am not understanding the problem though. Obviously MBs with support for TB drives or larger have been around forever now your not trying to connect this drive to age old hardware are you? I assume your bench is well qualified hardware wise for new equipment.

No, the machine is from 2010 (HP) so it's not completely outdated. Since the MB is one with known issues seeing SATA drives (Pegatron M2N78-LA), I'm beginning to suspect that both the old and new drives were bricked by the on-again/off-again MB. I did manage to find a description on WD's website regarding the error code...

"A Device I/O Control command during the test has failed. This may be due to a media or read/write error. It also may be due to a defective connection. Retest after checking the connections. Replace the drive if the error repeats."

This tells me that this wasn't something I did, but points directly back to the MB causing the error. I'll be that the MB is what caused the initial drive to fail, just as it apparently did the replacement drive. A new replacement is on its way. Ugh.

Edit: Corrected MB having problems seeing SATA drives, not drives.

 

[Mike McCall]

It may have bricked the drive. But it may have also messed with the partition structures. Did you try partitioning it under a *nix? I've had similar situations, including with OS X drives, and have been able to resurrect drives that way.

I tried attaching it to a Linux laptop and it is unable to see it either.

 

[Markverhyden]

I tried attaching it to a Linux laptop and it is unable to see it either.

USB2SATA adapters, which I am guessing you used, do not always provide full access like attaching to the native interface does. I read an article sometime ago, cannot find it now, which discussed using hdparm to secure nuke a regular SATA drive. The author clearly stated that using hdparm with USB2SATA bridge might brick the drive. So for things like you mentioned I always attach via the native interface. Some related info on hdparm.

http://linux.die.net/man/8/hdparm
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

At any rate your situation is not critical since it's new, no data needed, etc. I'd bet that one of our data reco specialists might be able to resurrect the drive with the tools they have. Maybe someone will comment.

Personally, I can't remember where two good drives, in a row, were permanently bricked with a problematic MB.

 

[Mike McCall]

USB2SATA adapters, which I am guessing you used, do not always provide full access like attaching to the native interface does. I read an article sometime ago, cannot find it now, which discussed using hdparm to secure nuke a regular SATA drive. The author clearly stated that using hdparm with USB2SATA bridge might brick the drive. So for things like you mentioned I always attach via the native interface. Some related info on hdparm.

http://linux.die.net/man/8/hdparm
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

At any rate your situation is not critical since it's new, no data needed, etc. I'd bet that one of our data reco specialists might be able to resurrect the drive with the tools they have. Maybe someone will comment.

Personally, I can't remember where two good drives, in a row, were permanently bricked with a problematic MB.

I agree that I need a better solution than a USB2SATA adapter for this. It's on my list of things to get. Until then... Fortunately I was able to get into the original drive long enough to use Fabs, and also get an image made. Since I don't know what else may have done damage to the drives (both now are in the same condition), I am prone to think it's the MB.

 

[lcoughey]

Do the drives detect correctly by any BIOS?

 

[Mike McCall]

Do the drives detect correctly by any BIOS?

Linux Mint can see that there's a disk, but cannot see any information about it, nor communicate with it. Windows see's nothing. Logic board?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Certainly it is possible that you bricked the drive. What bricked the first one? It is also possible that your USB connection is compatible. USB

I agree that I need a better solution than a USB2SATA adapter for this. It's on my list of things to get. Until then... Fortunately I was able to get into the original drive long enough to use Fabs, and also get an image made. Since I don't know what else may have done damage to the drives (both now are in the same condition), I am prone to think it's the MB.

It's a PITA but you can't pull the cover on your machine and plug the unit up directly?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Also I have seen motherboards that would cook a HDD. Don't think I've seen that on a SATA system but it certainly possible. It's much more likely that your Power Supply is what toasted the unit. That happens a lot. The PSU is the most common device to fail, the one item that PC makers seem to scrimp on the most, and they often can produce very dirty power without actually tripping the power good circuit.

 

[jbartlett323]

Linux Mint can see that there's a disk, but cannot see any information about it, nor communicate with it. Windows see's nothing. Logic board?

So if you look in the BIOS, Does it give the correct model number?

OS makes no difference, as at this point it sounds your not getting data off the drive easily. So we're really trying to determine if the drive is bricked or not. In an OS of any flavor, it may look bricked and be perfectly functioning. The data is totally hosed, but the firmware of the drive should be fine. You need to get out of an OS to determine whats actually happening.
What happens if you get into a tool like MHDD? Can it test all sectors? Can it see the correct Model and LBA's? If yes, the drive is fine and data is toast, wipe it to RAW and re-partition accordingly, or proceed with proper data recovery method. If no, then yeah its bricked. But either way, gotta forget about an OS else your just spinning your wheels.

 

[coffee]

If I can jump in here.

What I always do is boot a linux Mint disk and at the desktop click on menu / Accessories / disks . Then select your failing drive,click the upper right button for 'More Actions' and select 'Smart Data and Self Tests'. I have a cloning computer with hotswap bays (2) that have power switches on them. I load up the drive and power it up. Then test it. Of course, If the 'Disks' program does not show the drive then yes the drive is hosed.

Good Luck

 

[Mike McCall]

Certainly it is possible that you bricked the drive. What bricked the first one? It is also possible that your USB connection is compatible. USB


It's a PITA but you can't pull the cover on your machine and plug the unit up directly?

I would be looking more at the possibility of my bricking the drive if the first one wasn't already toast when I got it. I pulled the drive out and CrystalDiskInfo agreed it was bad. I immediately used my USB2SATA adapter to connect it to my system and use Fabs to back it up. I then was able to image the drive. The drive was then set aside and a replacement was ordered. When it arrived I restored the image to the new drive and installed it in the original machine. No love. It would start to boot, but then reboot. Then it would start to load Windows, then reboot. Then it just quit altogether. I tried a different SATA connection, same thing. I even took it and put it into my own machine thinking maybe his MB had a bad temperature sensor or something. My thought at this point was that it was a software issue that came over from the old drive. It did the same thing in mine. Now I'm thinking there's a problem with the drive itself. Rare, but it happens. I went back to the original drive and tried to mount it in the original machine. Zip, nothing, Nada. Alright, something strange is going on here. So, I go looking for information on the MB (Pegatron m2n78-la), and read thread after thread about this board's failure rate being insanely high. The problem? Losing connection to the SATA drives. My suspicion is that the MB started acting up on him awhile back and he just ignored it until it wouldn't boot at all anymore and brought me in.

 

[Mike McCall]

Also I have seen motherboards that would cook a HDD. Don't think I've seen that on a SATA system but it certainly possible. It's much more likely that your Power Supply is what toasted the unit. That happens a lot. The PSU is the most common device to fail, the one item that PC makers seem to scrimp on the most, and they often can produce very dirty power without actually tripping the power good circuit.

If it wasn't for the history of failure for this MB, yes, the PS would be a good suspect.

 

[Mike McCall]

If I can jump in here.

What I always do is boot a linux Mint disk and at the desktop click on menu / Accessories / disks . Then select your failing drive,click the upper right button for 'More Actions' and select 'Smart Data and Self Tests'. I have a cloning computer with hotswap bays (2) that have power switches on them. I load up the drive and power it up. Then test it. Of course, If the 'Disks' program does not show the drive then yes the drive is hosed.

Good Luck

Hooked it up to a netbook running Linux Mint. It could see that there was a drive attached, but could not tell me anything about it, nor could it do anything with the drive. There was nothing Linux could see about it, or do with it.

 

[lcoughey]

Linux Mint can see that there's a disk, but cannot see any information about it, nor communicate with it. Windows see's nothing. Logic board?

Do you not know what the BIOS is or how to connect the drive directly to this or any other system? I think you may want to take the drives to a qualified computer technician.

 

[Mike McCall]

Do you not know what the BIOS is or how to connect the drive directly to this or any other system? I think you may want to take the drives to a qualified computer technician.

Nice!

 

[lcoughey]

Nice!

Sorry, but several members have asked if the drive is fully detected in the BIOS on any computer and you only respond to how it is detected in windows. It is very frustrating to try to help if the other person is going to ignore what you are advising or asking.

 

[Mike McCall]

Sorry, but several members have asked if the drive is fully detected in the BIOS on any computer and you only respond to how it is detected in windows. It is very frustrating to try to help if the other person is going to ignore what you are advising or asking.

I assumed that if you read the first 8 words of my reply to you, you would have your answer since in order for any OS to see it the BIOS must see it first. If that is not true, then please explain to me how an OS can see a SATA drive connected to a MB that a BIOS cannot. No, "several" members did not ask me about any BIOS seeing the drive, it was you and @jbartlett323, and I thought I had answered you both in my reply to you. Nevertheless, if you thought my reply was in error or incomplete then either respectfully correct me, or ask for clarification. I have given you no reason to treat me in any other way, have I?