Hi need help with accessing files on my HDD: i have a Seagate Barracuda 500gb ST3500320AS, it was the main C drive on my computer it suddenly stopped working- that is it became inaccessible. the drive is seen by the bios as a 500gb drive, windows sees it when it is plugged in via a usb sata link but it shows up as raw. it cannot be formatted or accessed, chkdsk will not work but diskpart sees it, i can list and select it but when i try to format i get and error. i cannot get it to be seen as a second drive on the computer.
the drive spins up and no unusual noises from it. i changed the PCB - the bios chip was transferred to the new board.- still the same. i transferred the donor board bios to my old board and it worked fine. Seatools cannot see the drive in windows . Seatools bootable sees the drive and it fails the smart test and the short drive self test, it passes short and long generic test. i know these drive had issues when new.
so at this stage i looks like the pcb bios is the problem but how can i check and how do i repair it if it is ? any help appriciated

It’s very, very, very unlikely to be the ROM (or “bios” as you call it). Like 0.001%

It will be media issues (drive media failing) which have quite possibly caused some firmware issues.

It’s showing up as “raw” because the O/S can’t read it at all so it just reports as raw.

If you don’t particularly care about your data and happy to risk losing it permanently, then you can try cloning using ddrescue...

https://www.data-medics.com/forum/how-t ... -t133.html

Then if that works, then scan the clone you’ve made with some DR software like GetDataBack, R-Studio, ReClaime, UFS or DMDE.

But be aware it’s not a “free shot” at DIY before passing to a professional service, as the drive IS failing and could rapidly degrade and destroy your data.

Good luck

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If you are trying to format the drive I presume you don't need the data so swap out the drive with a replacement and move on.

If you need data back please contact a DR center.