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I've received a Seagate 2.5" 5400rpm 500gb HDD that was throwing up a Boot configuration error post some windows updates. I've tried the following on it and nothing seems to work:

First step: I tried Windows repair to re-install the bootloader but the installer wouldn't interact with this particular Disk. (disk was inserted in it's original machine)

Second Step: I used testdisk to recover data from it, which I did successfully.(disk connected to my laptop through a Sata to USB adapter)

Third Step: I tried formatting the HDD with fdisk but it threw a read error when trying to create partition table and exited. I was able to delete de old NTFS/FAT32 partitions but not able to create new ones.

Fourth Step: Started Windows installer and tried formatting from the installer but it threw an error saying it cannot format the disk. (again with the HDD in it's original machine)

After this things get weird. Some times my laptop would recognize the HDD other times not.

Fifth Step: I checked the disk with smartmontools and it did show some read errors in some sectors. I tried to write zeroes to those sectors, which seemed to work but not sure it did. I tried partitioning the disk but now fdisk would throw fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdb: Input/output error.

Sixth Step: I tried partitioning with parted which would open up the disk and it did threw some errors to which I said ignore. After about 8 ignores for the partition table and some more for the actual partition(which I set to take up the entire disk space, from 1 to 500G) the following happen:

lsblk now sometimes shows disk sdb with partition sdb1 sometimes it only shows the disk, sometimes not at all.

smartctl now sometimes shows data/executes test, but more often it throws Read Device Identity failed: scsi error unsupported scsi opcode.

hdparm -I /dev/sdb throws /dev/sdb: HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(identify) failed: Invalid argument

tune2fs/debugfs throw Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdb1

If I disconnect the disk and reconnect it I have to recreate a partition table and re-partition in with parted.

DMESG log when connecting the drive:

[ 4708.480592] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4708.480598] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4708.480603] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00
[ 4708.480610] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[ 4708.480617] buffer_io_error: 6 callbacks suppressed
[ 4708.480620] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[ 4708.843190] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE cmd_age=0s
[ 4708.843199] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4708.843204] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4708.843210] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 07 00
[ 4708.843216] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 1 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 7 prio class 0
[ 4708.843223] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 1, async page read
[ 4708.843229] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 2, async page read
[ 4708.843232] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 3, async page read
[ 4708.843235] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 4, async page read
[ 4708.843238] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 5, async page read
[ 4708.843240] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 6, async page read
[ 4708.843244] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 7, async page read
[ 4708.976204] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE cmd_age=0s
[ 4708.976212] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4708.976217] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4708.976223] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00
[ 4708.976228] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[ 4708.976235] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[ 4709.153850] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE cmd_age=0s
[ 4709.153860] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4709.153865] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4709.153871] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 07 00
[ 4709.153877] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 1 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 7 prio class 0
[ 4709.153885] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 1, async page read
[ 4709.320307] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE cmd_age=0s
[ 4709.320316] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4709.320321] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4709.320327] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00
[ 4709.320333] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[ 4709.486795] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE cmd_age=0s
[ 4709.486803] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4709.486809] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4709.486814] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 07 00
[ 4709.486820] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 1 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 7 prio class 0
[ 4709.488688] audit: type=1106 audit(1606925626.528:133): pid=2818 uid=0 auid=1000 ses=1 msg='op=PAM:session_close grantors=pam_limits,pam_unix,pam_permit acct="root" exe="/usr/bin/sudo" hostname=? addr=? terminal=/dev/pts/2 res=success'
[ 4709.489637] audit: type=1104 audit(1606925626.528:134): pid=2818 uid=0 auid=1000 ses=1 msg='op=PAM:setcred grantors=pam_faillock,pam_permit,pam_faillock acct="root" exe="/usr/bin/sudo" hostname=? addr=? terminal=/dev/pts/2 res=success'
[ 4709.653391] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE cmd_age=0s
[ 4709.653395] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4709.653398] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4709.653400] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00
[ 4709.653403] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[ 4709.831007] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE cmd_age=0s
[ 4709.831011] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4709.831013] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4709.831016] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 07 00
[ 4709.831018] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 1 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 7 prio class 0
[ 4709.997153] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE cmd_age=0s
[ 4709.997162] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4709.997167] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4709.997173] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00
[ 4709.997179] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[ 4710.174596] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE cmd_age=0s
[ 4710.174599] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 4710.174602] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error
[ 4710.174604] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 07 00
[ 4710.174607] blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev sdb, sector 1 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 7 prio class 0
[ 4710.174653] ldm_validate_partition_table(): Disk read failed.
[ 4711.206717]  sdb: unable to read partition table

I'm thinking I could write zeroes on the entire HDD but not sure if it would help. Is there any way to recover this HDD?

fluffehStack
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  • Try running Seagate's bootable [Seatools](https://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/) program. There's a chance it can map out all the bad sectors. But there's a good chance the disk is dying and will continue to sprout new errors. If that happens and it's not under warranty, erase it and throw it away. – Mark Plotnick Dec 02 '20 at 17:52
  • I’m voting to close this question because it is about data recovery, not Unix or Linux – AdminBee Dec 03 '20 at 10:41
  • @AdminBee the question is not about data recovery since, as stated, data has been recovered. It's about the options that I have, other than the ones I have already tried ( within the Unix environment), of checking and possibly restoring this HDD back to a functional state. – fluffehStack Dec 03 '20 at 15:15
  • You are right, "data recovery" is the wrong term. I still think it is off-topic because ultimately the issue is about reviving dead hardware. – AdminBee Dec 03 '20 at 15:48
  • What community would you say this question is better suited for? Stack Overflow didn't have the needed tags. I also don't believe this has its place in neither Ask Ubuntu nor Server Fault. – fluffehStack Dec 03 '20 at 21:11
  • Not an easy question, but you might try over on SuperUser. They have question tags specifically for [hard drive failure](https://superuser.com/questions/tagged/hard-drive-failure) and [recovery](https://superuser.com/questions/tagged/hard-drive-recovery). – AdminBee Dec 04 '20 at 09:11

1 Answers1

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You've got a dead disk. You might have been able to scrape some remains off it if you had avoided trying to write to it, but updating the partition table has all but put that idea aside.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's dead and you will need to replace it.

roaima
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