HDD freezing PC that's as a slave drive

H_L

Member
I have a laptop that I want to format and start again as it's either clogged up or virus or the HDD maybe faulty.
I plug it in as a slave and it just freezes the computer or freezes when I double click the HDD icon most of the time. Sometimes I can access the backup partition of the drive but yeh I think it has errors on the main partition.
I would like to retrieve some files off it if possible, it doesn't matter if it's not really usable as I can put a new HDD in but I just need the files off it.
Would software like stellar phoenix work? I'll see if it does or better software?
If there's any suggestions that would be greatly appreciated!!! :)
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
You will most likely have problems getting data off that drive if its having issues reading it. What brand of drive does it have? You will need to use diagnostic software to scan the drive for errors. If they can be fixed, then you should be able to recover the data.
 

H_L

Member
Thankyou so much for your reply.
It's a Seagate Momentus Thin 500gb laptop HDD. If I try and handfull of times plugging it in as a slave and rebooting the computer heaps it sometimes comes up with the main drive icon and the recovery icon but you can't even click the main icon without the computer freezing, most of the time I can access the recovery icon flawlessly but I think the files in there are useless to me anyway.
Cheers
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, thats the way it sounds to me as well. Download and run seatools on that drive.


Don't try accessing the drive manually just use the software to run diagnostics on it. In the end it will tell errors were repaired or they weren't and drive has permanently failed on you.
 

H_L

Member
Thankyou heaps!!! johnb35
when I plug the drive into a usb to sata adapter it appears and I can access the recovery partition no worries as it's perfect but when I try the other partition with all the files I need it goes crazy and starts to freeze up everything except the cursor it still works haha but I can't even shut down the computer I have to reset it.
I did try and run the SeaTools for Windows and this is what it does: see photo.
It comes up as storage device as the model and when I select drive information it comes up as this:
I've also done a short and long generic test but the status bar doesn't move and I've waited for about 20mins unless it takes way longer?
I'm thinking a virus maybe? because even tho I've disconnected it from the computer and everything is still so slow to the point it freezes all the time so I have to reset it.
Cheers

HDD.jpg
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Make sure you are selecting the drive before you run test or no test will run. Can you post a screenshot with the test in progress? This isn't gonna be malware related, this will be the drive actually failing.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Run the Long Generic test. It can take 3-6+ hours honestly. If it just says storage device though, I bet it's dead or dying.
 
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