Hey, first time poster on the forum here. A few months ago my previous hdd felt like it had done its work, and
I haven't been able to access my files on it since then. It wasn't my main disk, but I still got a few files I'd like to
recover if at all possible. As in title, it's a Seagate Barracuda 2TB (ST2000DM001).

To mention the basics first, the disk still spins and I've been able to recognize the disk as far as I know, with the help of a sata through usb connector.
If I plug it in normally through sata, then I can't recognize the drive and I get a few weird bugs in my system. Otherwise there are no sounds to indicate
anything being wrong, just that it doesn''t show. PCB doesn't look burnt either.

:::Edit::: On Windows Computer Management, I think it popped up as unrecognized device, but I were unable to apply any drivers to it.

Onto the advanced part...
When I do connect the hdd normally, I get some bugs as stated. Could be connected to my moba (ASRock X99 EXTREME4/3.1, Socket-2011-3), paired with one of my other disks
Samsung 950 Pro 512GB which is a M.2 card, but that's just speculation. I had a few problems at first when connecting the M.2 card, because it apparently shared one of the ports,
along with one of the sata connectors on the moba, so at a few times I could see either one of my hdd or the M.2.
I fixed that problem, and I've tried the broken hdd on several different sata ports.
Regarding the bugs itself, I can't get into uefi when it is connected as the computer apparently froze when I tried.
Had to switch to completely uefi with no bios support to get all my M.2 gains, so not sure if that messes with the hdd or other way around.

When connected to a usb sata, then at least Windows recognized a 4th disk, but that pops up as long as I had the usb sata device connected with or without hdd.
I could go into chkdsk or that other Windows hdd dos tool, to check the size of the hdd. It showed as 500gb with no bad sectors, but once more a tricky part.
I had been messing a bit with TrueCrypt, the last version which supported encrypting before they dropped in the few last versions. I had then encrypted the whole drive.

A week or so since I last messed with it, so a few fuzzy memories regarding everything I've tried. I tried to mount the 4th disk in TrueCrypt when connected in usb sata,
but it reported back that the volume was the wrong size. Not sure if connected to the 2TB -> 500GB thing, or as someone has mentioned with problematic TrueCrypt volumes before,
is that you might have to remove the corrupted data in front of the archive, for TrueCrypt to detect it properly (I might be putting it a bit wrong)

Lastly, one of the recently purchased hdds was of the same kind as I struggle with now, but I would guess a newer rendition, as the old one was 3-4 years old.
I considered switching PCBs if it were the same, but from what I've seen it's more likely to ruin my new hdd, than to help fix the old one.

Hoping any experts can give me a bit of clarification, or if I should just throw it out without giving it more thought.

Cheers, ToxicCookie

Still stuck with the issue, so bumping with hope

I don't understand what you talking about. Does 2tb spin well?

It appears to spin as normal, I can't notice anything strange with it there at least.

Main problem would be that it doesn't appear in Windows, other than in Computer Management as an unrecognized device.
Seemed to work slightly better while connecting with sata through usb cable.

If the drive is unable to be recognized in the UEFI, then I'd guess it's an issue with the auto reallocation or media cache. It's very common with this model, but may be difficult to repair without access to any pro data recovery equipment. The drive is most likely just getting stuck busy when the motherboard requests it's ID causing the UEFI to hang.

_________________
Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

Guess this could explain a bit, as I guess this problem wouldn't appear when the drive is connected through usb?
And just to cover this, if the new hdd has the same firmware number, replacing the PCB would still be considered too risky, or?

Not risky at all, it just won't do any good. These drives almost never have failed PCBs, and from what you're describing it's 100% certain to not be a PCB issue. Besides if it was a PCB issue you'd need to transfer the adaptive ROM to the replacement. Cold swapping PCBs never works on these.

_________________
Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

I see, but thanks for helping narrowing the problem down. Will take a look around for people with similar problems, and see if it all matches up.

That's because Windows is detecting the USB-SATA bridge IC in the enclosure, not the HDD behind the bridge.


That's strange. What does CrystalDiskInfo or HD Sentinel tell you about the drive, if anything?

I would try to obtain a terminal log from your drive. That may tell us what is happening. You would need a TTL serial adapter. If it is a media cache problem, then there may be a DIY solution.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.