Internal Hardrive Potentially dead?

[champs4life]

I have read information thats all I have been doing but I cant find the basic information to setup the receiver basically.

In all honesty I think this place now is last place I would ask for help. People who I classed as friends showed their true colours.

Guess people like me cant get help without being bullied or looked down upon by many.

[champs4life]

Unfortunately due to finances I am unable to pay what computer shops are asking to fix the HDD issue.

Is there an easy way to check if HDD is alive or dead? For example is getting a SATA enclosure/caddy the main way to check HDD is being recognised or not?

I have read you can connect HDD in PC with power lead and SATA cables but have no idea how to do that and dont feel comfortable opening my PC. Rarely open any of my devices up.

Any response would be appreciated.

[silverblack]

You can get one these connects to USB no need to open up your PC.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-to...3D320895175406

[Willo3092]

You can buy a usb HDD caddy for about £8, plug it into your PC and use the free version of Minitool Partition Wizard to delete all existing partitions and create a new primary ext4 partition.
That should be all that's needed to get the HDD up and running.

[champs4life]

You can get one these connects to USB no need to open up your PC.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-to...3D320895175406

If you dont mind me asking how does this differ to a caddy/enclosure and which is better of the two?

[champs4life]

You can buy a usb HDD caddy for about £8, plug it into your PC and use the free version of Minitool Partition Wizard to delete all existing partitions and create a new primary ext4 partition.
That should be all that's needed to get the HDD up and running.

I am assuming you can buy a 2.5" and 3.5" caddy right?

Do you have to do anything when putting HDD in the caddy like using any connectors inside?

What happens when connecting the caddy with HDD to PC and nothing shows up?

[silverblack]

If you dont mind me asking how does this differ to a caddy/enclosure and which is better of the two?

Ease of connection to different HDD 3.5" or 2.5" ,IDE or Sata.
A caddy will usually only accept one type of HDD.

[ccs]

Ease of connection to different HDD 3.5" or 2.5" ,IDE or Sata.
A caddy will usually only accept one type of HDD.

Caddies can be bought which support both 2.5" and 3.5" drives.

[silverblack]

Caddies can be bought which support both 2.5" and 3.5" drives.

I bought one of them tried 3.5,2.5 sata none worked it's in the bin.

[ccs]

I bought one of them tried 3.5,2.5 sata none worked it's in the bin.

Mine works fine.

[Willo3092]

I am assuming you can buy a 2.5" and 3.5" caddy right?

Do you have to do anything when putting HDD in the caddy like using any connectors inside?

What happens when connecting the caddy with HDD to PC and nothing shows up?

The hdd just slots in the caddy and you plug it into a usb port.
If the drive is initialised it won't show up anyway. Download the free version of Minitool Partition Wizard and it will show up in that.
PM me and I'll send you a guide on how to use it.

[nsw9154]

you could try one of these to connect your Hard Drive to your PC fairly Cheep and it might help you find if the Hard Drive is beyond repair it's worth a try and it could be useful later

http://www.ebuyer.com/229065-startec...ion-satdock25u

[champs4life]

To clarify can you get caddys, docking stations and adapters which support 2.5" and 3.5" HDDs?

There is so many way and methods hard to tell which is right and best one.

[birdman]

To clarify can you get caddys, docking stations and adapters which support 2.5" and 3.5" HDDs?

Yes. If you want to be able to swap disks around you can get, e.g. this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N9M2UHW?psc=1

If you wanted to have a drive permanently connected over USB you'd be better of getting an actual enclosure.
You can also get (cheaper) "USB to SATA" converter cables, but these have no external power supply so are only intended for use with 2.5" drives (which can run on the USB power line).

[champs4life]

I have seen HDD docks which can take IDE or SATA 3.5" or 2.5" but not come across a caddy/enclosure which does the same guess you have to buy specific ones for the latter.

So HDDs docks arent meant to be connected all the time like caddy/enclosure?

I just need to see if my HDD is faulty or dead? Wouldnt use HDD as external HD which I assume can be done with both caddy and docking station.