HDD Not Available!

[perknh]

Hello Peppermint's Finest!

I seem to have eliminated my HDD from appearing in inxi -F.  I can't install Peppermint; I can't format my HDD; heck, I can't even find it!  I like to get my internal hard drive back and running again if possible.

I don't know what to do. 

Right now I'm running 32-bit Peppermint 6 from an older DVD-R.

Thank you, 

perknh

[PCNetSpec]

Does it appear in the BIOS ?

If not you either have a bad connection, or failed hardware.

[perknh]

Hello PCNetSpec,

I screwed up last night.  I ended up terminating a secure format on my internal hard drive when I was trying to format my external hard drive.  Now, I have my old external 320 GB hard drive with 500000 bad sectors as my internal hard drive, and my good 500 GB Toshiba internal hard drive as my external hard drive --because it doesn't work.

If I install it internally I get this password request for HDD/SDD.  I'd like to find a way to power format through this, so I can have my Toshiba drive back again and installed internally.  I've switched the drives around a few times, and tried using my Windows Recover Drive, and old Windows 8 installation media to save the day --but no luck.  Called Toshiba, was told I'd find help and a video in the Toshiba forum --that I needed to go inside my computer to hit a reset button.  I've found no solution to such a silly problem.

And suggestions would be appreciated.  Right NOW I'm running 64-bit 16.04 Unity internally.  Using Disks and Gparted has done nothing to repair my 500 GB Toshiba hard drive that I now have as a USELESS external drive.

What a jam I've found myself in here. 

Thank you,

perknh

P.S.

I get the message from Disks:

Error Formatting Volume (for DOS)

Spoiler (click here to view / hide)

Error creating file system: Command-line `parted --script "/dev/sda" mktable msdos' exited with non-zero exit status 1: Warning: Error fsyncing/closing /dev/sda: Input/output error
Error: Input/output error during read on /dev/sda
Error: Input/output error during write on /dev/sda
Warning: Error fsyncing/closing /dev/sda: Input/output error
 (udisks-error-quark, 0)

[close]

&

Error Formatting Disks (for Ext4)

Spoiler (click here to view / hide)

Error creating file system: Command-line `mkfs.ext4 -F -L "" "/dev/sda"' exited with non-zero exit status 37:
stdout: `/dev/sda is entire device, not just one partition!
Creating filesystem with 122096646 4k blocks and 30531584 inodes
Filesystem UUID: b4414ce3-c124-4518-b9a8-bfc54c03dd74
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
   32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
   4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968,
   102400000

Allocating group tables:    0/3727 485/3727         done                           
Writing inode tables:    0/3727         done                           
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information:    0/3727'
stderr: `mke2fs 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
Warning: could not erase sector 2: Attempt to write block to filesystem resulted in short write
Warning: could not read block 0: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read
Warning: could not erase sector 0: Attempt to write block to filesystem resulted in short write

Warning, had trouble writing out superblocks.' (udisks-error-quark, 0)

[close]

[PCNetSpec]

perknh, that looks like a failed hard drive .. it's simply not able to write to certain parts of the disk resulting in an input/output error.

Have you tried telling Gparted to create a new partition table before you try setting up any partitions on the drive ?
(BE AWARE - creating a new partition table will effectively wipe the drive)

[perknh]

Hello PCNetSpec,

Yes, I get this:

Invalid partition table - recursive partition on /dev/sr0.

Ubuntu Unity 16.04 doesn't work a damn on that old Hitachi drive I installed internally yesterday.  I'm running off of a 32-bit Peppermint 6 DVD right now. 

I couldn't even turn off the computer last night.  Finally did a cold shut now at 1:00 AM in the morning.

perknh

Also get this in G-Parted:

LIbparted bug Found!

Can't write to /dev/sr0, because it is opened read-only.

[PCNetSpec]

Ignore that .. that's talking about the DVD .. just select "Ignore" then continue to create a new partition table ON THE HDD

BTW, you still haven't mentioned if the BIOS "sees" your hard drive ?

What's the output from

Code: [Select]

sudo fdisk -l

?

[perknh]

Five weeks later:

I'd hate for somebody else to make the same mistake I had made recently when formatting his or her hard drive.

Do NOT makes this mistake:
 
Do not ignore the written warning from our accessory called Disks by prematurely aborting a secure format on a hard drive.

In my case, my internal hard drive only needed approximately one more hour to finish formatting, but I ignored the written warning from Disks and terminated the secure format prematurely.   Apparently, and unbeknownst to me at the time, many Japanese laptop manufacturers have a HDD/SDD password wired into their hard drives.  And if you don't know that particular password, the laptop will not boot --period!

So, with my hard drive attached externally, I spent many unfruitful weeks working with Darik's Boot And Nuke trying to bust through a Toshiba hard drive block.  I would spend 10 days with Darik's formatting tool (which would be running 24/7) only to find after getting two thirds though a formatting option, that the format itself would be unable to continue.  I tried many formatting options many times, called Toshiba twice, tried time and time again to use a trick I learned on YouTube, but all to no avail.  I finally just had to say the hell with it.

One more time:

Do not ignore the written warning from our accessory called Disks by prematurely aborting a secure format on a hard drive.

Heeding this advice may help save somebody here lots and lots of unnecessary grief and even a little bit of money. 

[PCNetSpec]

Fire up Gparted

Select the correct device (top right) .. be SURE to select he correct device.

Then go  to

Device > Create Partition Table

and tell it to create an "MSDOS style partition table"

does that work ?

[perknh]

Oh I tried that too --time and time again.  PCNetSpec, I finally took both hard drives, the Toshiba, and that old Hitachi external HDD with the 500,000 plus bad sectors, and brought them where they belong --to my city's local metal recycle center.  They're goners!

Gparted couldn't penetrate that Toshiba lock either.