HDD failure!?

I've just tried to run a game installed to my new 2TB HDD, but an error message pooped up saying "Windows security has prevented 1 or more files from being opened", the game had always worked before and I hadn't changed anything. After some googling it turns out to be related to Internet Explorer, but I never use IE! I tried to run a different game, which did nothing for about 5 mins then loaded but ran extremely slowly (used to workperfectly). I had to end task to get out, then went to click my setup files folder in the drive and it told the directory was unreadable or corrupt!

I've restarted the computer and checkdisc is running now, but its been stuck at 73% (verifying indexes) for about 10 minutes, its never taken this long before. I'm literally terrified right now, because I have a LOT of important data on this new drive and nowhere to back it up (my other drives are practically full). Luckily I've backed up my music & photo's but have 100s of gigs worth of other precious data. About 2 days ago, the computer froze while trying to access my music folder, 5 mins later the drive disappeared from 'my computer' which spurred me to back it up straight away but I hoped this wasn't a sign of things to come. Checkdisc ran smoothly that time but now it won't move past 73%! I've tried twice now and its the same...

I've had the drive for less that a month, how can it fail so quickly? It seems like EVERY PCpart Ive ever bought from the net dies within 2 years, no matter where I get it from. I can't afford to lose all of this data, a lot of it is irreplaceable! Is there anything I can do? I'm having a heart attack as I type.

The HDd is SATA3 and my mobo is SATA2 but I read from multiple sources they are compatible with eachother. I have 550w PSU and I don't think I'm running out of juice. This thing already set me back £70, I don't have the funds to splash out on yet another HDD, and SSD £ per gigabyte is still way too expensive for me. I don't have 100's of DVD's either, or the space to store them...

 

I've restarted with checkdisc for a 3rd time. This time it reached stage 3 but got stuck at 79% for about 10 mins, then skipped the rest and booted up Windows but my HDD is gone now. I've restarted again but it was still gone... I take it its game over? I've lost nearly 10 years worth of data in one instant.

I reseated the drive to another SATA port. No difference... There HAS to be an option left, surely!

 

I've checked the bios and the HDD isn't detected so I can't even run checkdisc again. The drive had been making noises from day 1, but not clicking or scratching, it's almost impossible to explain them, I've heard HDD failure noises before but these were completely different, I just assumed they were something to do with SATA-3 technology.

I'm definitely within warranty but that's not the point. Right now I don't care about a replacement, I care about 10 years worth of data...

Edit: I disconnected my other HDD and my GFX to see if powder was the problem... No difference.

 

Just a curious thought - How did the data get on the new drive ? You must have some of it somewhere?

On a try to get the data back off this new drive maybe try using a live linux cd or thumb drive to see if it can see and access the drive. I have a linus puppy cd that boots and sees every drive available. Also comes with ethernet and wireless configs.

Also does the drive manufacturer have any testing or diagnostic tools available - check their website for support or tools.

Best of luck!

 

Thanks for the reply, I ordered the drive off the net, its a Seagate BTW, which judging by some research seems to be the worst HDD manufacturer in business, but this drive had good reviews, almost flying colours... If only I knew the truth about them before buying this "built to break" piece of crap. It didnt come with any software, no documentation, not even any jumper config info. I have the same puppy Linux CD, I used it to sort out a messed up dual boot config but I doubt it will pick up my drive. If the BIOS or PC boot up 'auto-detection' doesn't find it, doesn't that mean its game over?

As for the data I've lost, its about 270gb worth of media. All the movies & series I've collected over the past 10 years, all of my music production folders (100gb+ of drum samples, vocal samples, sound effects, many of which can't be replaced because I sampled them myself, there and then), possibly all of my UDK projects which are about 2 years in the making, all my recent digital paintings etc etc. 90% of the hundreds of tracks I've written won't be editable anymore because drum hits & vocals will be missing.

The reason much of it only exists on the dead drive is because it was mostly migrated from the old 500gb which is now my system drive. I thought, like a trusting idiot that "this is a new drive, things'll be okay for atleast a year, Seagate are a popular brand, I'll move 100s of GB of data from the old HDD to this new one where it'll be safer" I didn't have a spare drive big enough to back any of it up and I needed to format the drive it all came from for a new OS.

All of that data, with the exception of most of the videos is/was invaluable to me. Its basically 10 years of my life in data form and now its gone. Its hard for me to even face the reality.