Anything in Disk Management?

Or was that what you meant by Computer Management?

Those symptoms indicate that no file system is being found.

However Disk Management should still show the drive as RAW.

You could also try the manufacturers diagnostic:

HDD Diag .................................................. ..........................

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

Please only post one thread per topic.

We are trying as best we can to help.

Originally Posted by jephree

Please only post one thread per topic.

We are trying as best we can to help.

Sorry, I figured if it was hardware problems it should go to a different topic.

Yes, I meant that in Disk Management. Nothing is showing up in Disk Management. But it detects a USB storage device as VISUALDISK USB Device as a 2048GB device.

2048GB is quite strange. There are 1000GB drives and 1500GB on the way but only a RAID array would show 2048GB.

2048GB would be a measure for RAM but not a hard drive.

Did you try putting it back in the laptop simply checking the connection issue?

Also try the manufacturers diagnostic in the laptop although again if the BIOS does not see it nothing will.

If problems persist I'd suggest taking it in on the warranty.

I know this does not help your data problem but might be the best overall.

In the future back up your data everyday.


Perhaps others here might have other ideas for you.

I tried putting back, but same problems. Cannot boot. I guess the entire contents are all gone.

I tested with Seagate SeaTools. It detected the VisualDisk again. But cannot perform any tests except Short Generic Test and it was successful. Though I have no idea what that means.

I could try some drive recovery ... but don't know where exactly to find those.

I don't know where VisualDisk is coming from.

All I can find in searching is that it is some download or torrent file indicating a CD/DVD device rather than a data device i.e. hard drive.

The contents are not gone but if a BIOS cannot detect the drive then recovery options would run into thousands of dollars.

Almost anything can be recovered for that price. Professional labs would dismantle the drive then read the platters/disks on their own systems.

Just a brief starting search:

hard drive recovery - Google Search

Unless your data is worth more than the laptop I would suggest you return it under the warranty and start all over on this one.


Again someone else might have an idea. I am the only one awake at this hour. Besides you.

Well, I don't exactly live in the States, so kinda of hard to look for hard drive recovery here. Besides, the data is not worth couple of thousand dollars. They are timed work, but definitely recoverable with time... just the pain of it.

Thanks for the help all these while, Jephree. I am just surprised that the notebook can suddenly happen like that. I mean it was just working fine and going into screensaver. Why did it suddenly "reboot and die" ..... ??? any explanation?

On the topic of backup, what would you recommend for small office? We have around 6-7 PCs, handling data from employees, stocks, accounting and production. The network used is just a simple router. No server.

If you mean the Windows screen saver not much happens. The hard drive in many cases becomes more active depending on the screen saver. 3D screen savers actually use quite a bit of resources including the hard drive; CPU; graphics card.

If you mean hibernation or any type of Power Scheme then a definite power shift occurs.

Either way this could have triggered a break down of a faulty or weak circuit.

I'd suggest getting an IDE adapter and trying it on an IDE channel inside a desktop computer.

Extracting data from a dead laptop with a laptop hard drive adapter

I'd also suggest pursuing your warranty options.


As to backup there are many options. Even with only 6-7 PC's it might be best to hire a part time IT professional.

If one of your machines is a main system setting up a RAID mirror is often done but this requires a setup from scratch i.e. reinstalling Windows and data etc. A RAID mirror writes data to multiple hard drives at the same time so if one fails you have exact duplicates.

The easiest on as far as individual machines is an USB hard drive. Western Digital makes some really nice ones like this:

My Passport Overview

Just plug it in and copy what you want. Most programs contain a backup option that once chosen you can send your data to the external drive.

You can also use a general backup software to expedite this process. Acronis is the best in my opinion:

Complete hard disk drive copy, cloning and image backup software: computer files and disk copying

Thanks for the past help, Jeph!

I actually found a Hard Disk Recovery! They said it was the head problem. The mechanism reading the head was "out of place". They recovered it, and even managed to place back the warranty sticker in the untouched state. They charged me $100. I proceeded to go to ASUS for warranty replacement, and they replaced my HDD in 3 days no question asked.