BIOS sees Seagate, but Windows 7 doesn't

The BIOS and some other utilities can see the Seagate, but Windows 7 just won't acknowledge it exists. I already tried nuking and reinstalling the SATA drivers—nothing worked.
I ran the Western Digital diagnostic tool for a quick scan that was supposed to take maybe two minutes, but it's been sitting there for over two hours with zero progress.
It’s a WD Black drive—dead silent, too. No spinning, no nothing.
Honestly, I've already written it off; I have a replacement on the way and there isn't anything life-altering on this one anyway.
Any bright ideas on how to salvage what's left?

I ran into that exact same issue with a brand-new drive, only to discover it was simply a dud right out of the box. As for getting your data back, I'm honestly stumped; perhaps there is some sort of recovery software you could boot from a CD or a thumb drive to try and salvage things.

Look, if it’s dead, it’s dead. Period. You aren't getting any data back until that drive is actually functional again. Most likely, the PCB just fried. In those cases, a data recovery outfit—think something like DriveSavers—can usually swap out the board, assuming it's even possible. I've heard lately that with these newer drives, replacing the electronics is becoming an absolute nightmare, if not impossible. If you can get the board swapped, though, the drive should technically act like nothing ever happened. But man, trying to recover stuff that’s been deleted or reformatted? That's the real headache. The files end up totally fragmented and basically unreadable.

electricsurfer47 said:if the drive isn't spinning, then it simply isn't working, and there is no way to perform any kind of data recovery until that hardware is actually fixed. It is most likely a failure in the control board, and in those cases, a specialized recovery firm—something along the lines of DriveSavers—could theoretically swap out the electronics, though I have heard whispers that with modern drives, that particular workaround is becoming increasingly impossible. If you could successfully swap the board, the drive would ideally function as if nothing had ever gone wrong. However, the real nightmare begins when you are trying to recover data that has been deleted or reformatted, as the fragments can become incredibly scattered and nearly impossible to reconstruct.

It is rarely that straightforward, truth be told. I once had a drive that suddenly sprang back to life, and I was even bold enough to install some massive software suites on it, only for it to go completely dark again the very next day. You never truly know where you stand, but I suppose it might be worth a shot if you are hoping to salvage something precious.

As for the mention of "electronics," that feels like a rather broad and imprecise diagnosis to me. At the end of the day, a Seagate is an electronic component, and there isn't much else to fail besides its own circuitry.

Physical recovery of a Seagate is an expensive endeavor, and unless the data sitting on those platters is absolutely vital, the cost usually outweighs the value. Typically, when these professional recoveries take place, they are essentially swapping out the read/write heads repeatedly until they finally manage to get a clean read from the disk.

Look, there’s no "expert rescue" coming here. It’s not like this drive holds anything life-altering.
I only posted the question here hoping someone might toss out a suggestion for a Hail Mary recovery attempt—anything at all.

Just realized I actually had a partition on that disk labeled "Music"...

Terry Collins9 said:There isn’t going to be some grand rescue mission led by IT experts here, because frankly, there is nothing on this drive worth the effort.
I suppose I only posted the question in the first place hoping someone might offer a glimmer of hope regarding a recovery attempt.

It just dawned on me, in a rather inconvenient moment of clarity, that I actually have a partition labeled "Music" on that very same disk...

So, it’s headed straight for the trash bin. Take care.