Need help saving files out of the 2.5" internal regular HDD on my 2018 Dell laptop that can no longer boot in either AHCI or legacy mode.

AHCI mode would keep looping to a diagnostic-looking screen, that ends up saying hard drive not found. Legacy mode would also end up saying no boot device found.

The HDD is still detected in BIOS.

If performing an actual diagnostic, it would come to say something as HDD is operating out of its parameter, basically no good anymore was my understanding.

Took the HDD out and tried accessing the content on three different computers via an USB SATA docking station, but to no avail.

Computer 1 has Windows 7, the drive icon does show up but has a gold lock with key in it. I reckon that it has some to do with bitlocker, which I don't recall ever using. Double clicking the drive icon will freeze up the computer, and frees it once I unplug the USB cable of the docking station.
Computer 2 is an even older Windows 7 laptop, would freeze midway installing driver for the dock station/HDD setup, again, frees itself when USB is unplugged.
Computer 3 is a recent Windows 11 laptop, drive icon showed up with a grey lock on it that is unlocked, and I can actually double click into the drive to see its main folders (user, windows, etc), but any further access would freeze up, and again free up when USB is unplugged.

Any advice on rescuing the files would be appreciated.

what hard drive is it? Provide full model details or a photo

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Zero Alpha: zeroalpha.com.au
Find Cheap Donor Drives App: https://www.zeroalpha.com.au/donor-drive-app Updated February 2026

Seagate ST1000LM035-1RK172

Part Number 1RK172-036

Seagate Rosewood drive from 2018 that "freezes"
If data is important, my advise is to seek professional help.

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Quick update

I connected the HDD on a SATA docking station to a Windows 10 machine, and this one did not freeze. The drive showed up in explorer, and when I double clicked into it and then into the main folder (user) it took a long time to load, "working on it..." and just stays loading. I finally stopped it and nothing inside the folder is revealed. I opened up command prompt and tried access the user folder the old fashion: "cd user", then "dir". It then says that content is not accessible.

Not saying that it's not a physical HDD issue, could this be an encryption issue and if so how can one get around it?

The more you turn it on, the less chances you have to extract data...
If the data is worth money, contact a professional DR.
If the data is not valuable, Seagates are diagnosed via a terminal (USB-TTL 3.3 - 1.8V).