The problem Huckleberry is that what has been posted has worked for someone, then they try to be a good samaritan and try to help someone else. Where this goes wrong is when the second problem is not related the first and makes the problem worse. What you are seeing, is this type of amateurish help in a very technical field.
The professionals, (including myself) would always say something along the lines of 'if the data is important, take it to a data recovery company' and then we would get flamed for making such statements and it is implied that we are 'trying to cash in', which I suppose is correct, this is how we make our living, but it is also good advice.
I gave up posting to the
main topics here, except the odd basic advice - check cables, etc.. and anyone that posts help on a forum without analysing the problem is not really offering any help, they are just reciting what they did when they had a similar problem or what they 'think' based on what a user says. Often a users description is not technical enough to make a diagnosis. I'm not saying all users are non-technical but hard disk engineering is totally different from bolting a computer together

_________________
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you probably don't fully understand the situation. ... Mr Kipling
https://www.mjm.co.uk/