Hi all - I'm new to this forum and also to data recovery, however, I am an IT Manager, and no stranger to the internal workings of a PC!
The story so far is that my son's laptop suddenly wouldn't boot - the disk is making a couple of 'chirrup' noises on first startup, and then nothing. He assures me that he hasn't dropped it...
By a strange quirk of fate, I have exactly the same PC, so I first off tried inserting his disk into mine. No dice - my PC wouldn't boot then, either. After putting my disk back in place, I tried putting his disk in my PC's secondary disk bay, but no improvement.
Next, I got a USB caddy, and have put his disk in that, so I can try accessing it from a working OS. I have tried a few bits of freeware to try and see what might be the problem (physical damage, corrupt partition, corrupt MBR, etc.) but I have yet to find anything at all. All the programs are able to locate the USB device, but claim to see a 2TB disk there (obviously, the Momentus is actually only 500GB). I don't know if the software is getting that from the disk itself, or if it is just a default value because nothing can be seen.
So far, I have tried SeaTools for Windows, MiniTools Partition Wizard, FileScavenger, and EaseUS Data Recovery - none of which have revealed anything about what the problem might be, nor have they identified any scraps of data - just days and days of scanning and reporting media errors in every sector.
I can't believe that the disk is so totally trashed that there is absolutely nothing recoverable on it - I just don't (yet) know the right methods or tools to use.
My son has resigned himself to buying a new disk and rebuilding the PC - but if there is any chance of scavenging some of the photos and music he had on the disk - it will be a bonus for him. However - the $150 for a new disk is the limit of his willing outlay. We certainly won't be sending it to a lab for 'pro' treatment - but I may be tempted to spend a little on some software if there was some degree of certainty of being able to recover some of his files.
So having said all that, I throw myself at your mercy... any suggestions or advice would be welcomed.
Cheers
Grum.

Likely the disk has developed multiple failures, from bad sectors to firmware and possible damaged head(s).

At times, these drives are pretty tough to recover all data from even with the necessary pro equipment.

Any software out there will not get you anywhere.

No DIY, sorry.

If you want to determine what the failures really are, then send to a reputable company and they will do an analysis for free. You will only have to cover for shipping. The benefit will be that you will find out the issue(s) with the drive.

Best wishes

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

.6 momentus have a known to DR problem with translator. Unfortunately its a non DIY situation and the equipment required to bypass the issue is VERY expensive. Calling it a non DIY is maybe incorrect. If the problem is what i think it is ( translator ) then i guess one CAN do smth about it. But the amount of knowledge necessary is pretty serious and the info is not readily available anywhere. Sry m8 for the grim news.

Those 5400.6 have a lot of issues with FW and heads, that make them not DIY jobs.