I've been using my WD Scorpio Blue 750GB hard drive since 2011 without any issues, but recently, it just stopped booting Windows. Instead, it goes straight into startup repair mode, which fails repeatedly. After a week of storing it safely, I got a SATA to USB dongle but when I connected the drive, Windows didn't recognize it at all. I then tried booting from Linux with the drive attached, but that caused the SATA bus to crash with error messages. I attempted to use ddrescue to recover data, but even in Linux, the drive wasn't detected. Typically, plugging in the drive would show it as sda or sdb in the dmesg output, but this time, nothing appeared. I can hear it spin up and make some seeking noises, followed by a click sound, but then the head parks and it stops working, even though it still gets power. There's no scratching or grinding, just that one click. Could this be a PCB failure? Is there any way to salvage the files?
2 Answers
Given that your hard drive is 14 years old, it's likely reached the end of its lifespan. Honestly, it’s a good time to switch to an SSD for better performance. Unfortunately, since you mentioned you don't have backups, recovering files may be challenging. If possible, consider reaching out to a data recovery service—it could be your best bet to retrieve those tunes while making the leap to an SSD. Good luck!
I don't think the issue is a PCB failure. It sounds more like a mechanical failure since you’re hearing those odd sounds. Check if the connections are solid, but if it's consistently not recognized, you might need professional help. Sometimes drives just give out after years of use.
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