Windows is losing access to a hard drive. Is this drive failing?

"Yes, these symptoms are for a failing hard drive.

But I would first rule out the PSU as the source of failure by replacing it (e.g. from some other computer or a brand new one).

It is most likely bad blocks on the harddisk.

I use SpinRite to save data in bad blocks. Even if there are a few unrecoverable bits in a sector (4096 bits) SpinRite will save all other bits and thus there is a much higher probability that the data can be saved (those bits may not be used by the file system or some file).

If SpinRite finds any unrecoverable data I would copy all the data onto a new harddisk and discard the old one.

SpinRite is a commercial program (USD 89.00) and is available from http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm .

I have never experienced it, but please note that by running SpinRite you may push the harddisk over the edge if it is about to fail completely. Thus try to save as much as possible BEFORE you run SpinRite."

"Seagate has a good support website for warranty and returns with plenty of help on determining what is wrong and what to do. I had tried SeaTools for windows, but by that time the drive was too far gone. I realized there was a SeaTools for DOS recently and gave that a go. The ""short test"" came back failed as incomplete. The ""long test"" came back with the error that the drive had stopped responding to commands shortly after starting the test. Each test started with the warning that the drive was giving an over-temperature error with a temperature of greater than 70C. I expect this to be bunk because the drive was not plugged in less than five minutes before the tests. This confirms for me that the drive is dead, and I suspect it's a mechanical or electrical problem, rather than bad sectors.

For the record, I called Seagate's data recovery company to get an estimate. The support tech said that in-lab recovery starts at around $300, and in my particular case, he expected the price to be around $1700. Unfortunately, that's way too high for me. What data I haven't recovered yet myself isn't worth that much.

Also for the record, as a last ditch effort before sending the drive back, I tried the freezer trick, and on one attempt the drive actually lasted over a full day without crashing. It may have lasted longer, but after I got all the data I needed, I shipped it back to Seagate for a replacement. I don't trust the thing any more, even if it was ""working."""