Is my disk dead?

Question

My laptop was not working. Before sending it for repair, I decided to remove the hard drive (M2 SSD) and back it up as the manufacturer said they would reimage it

So I bought a caddy, put the SSD into it and tried to read it but cannot read it. Below is the output from dmesg

[ 3405.369844] usb 2-2.3: new SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 12 using xhci_hcd
[ 3405.393576] usb 2-2.3: New USB device found, idVendor=7825, idProduct=a2a4, bcdDevice=15.07
[ 3405.393580] usb 2-2.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 3405.393582] usb 2-2.3: Product: SSK Storage
[ 3405.393584] usb 2-2.3: Manufacturer: JMicron
[ 3405.393585] usb 2-2.3: SerialNumber: DB98765432111F3
[ 3405.401157] scsi host9: uas
[ 3405.402585] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SSK                       1507 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[ 3405.403645] sd 9:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[ 3411.560919] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Unit Not Ready
[ 3411.560922] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Sense Key : Hardware Error [current] 
[ 3411.560925] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81 
[ 3411.561695] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Read Capacity(16) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[ 3411.561698] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Sense Key : Hardware Error [current] 
[ 3411.561700] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81 
[ 3411.562451] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[ 3411.562456] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Sense Key : Hardware Error [current] 
[ 3411.562461] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81 
[ 3411.562940] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] 0 512-byte logical blocks: (0 B/0 B)
[ 3411.562942] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] 0-byte physical blocks
[ 3411.563684] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[ 3411.563938] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Asking for cache data failed
[ 3411.563940] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 3411.564959] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Optimal transfer size 33553920 bytes not a multiple of physical block size (0 bytes)
[ 3411.566116] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Unit Not Ready
[ 3411.566124] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Sense Key : Hardware Error [current] 
[ 3411.566129] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81 
[ 3411.567230] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Read Capacity(16) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[ 3411.567238] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Sense Key : Hardware Error [current] 
[ 3411.567245] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81 
[ 3411.568207] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[ 3411.568213] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Sense Key : Hardware Error [current] 
[ 3411.568216] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81 
[ 3411.570438] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Attached SCSI disk

Is there anyone who might be able to tell me what those mean? It appears that there are errors but at the end it seems to recognise it as a disk

I had never used that caddy before. I don't know now what to do. Whether to try to buy a different caddy or to contact a specialist to try to recover the data. There is some data on that disk that I really want to keep

Answer 1

Most caddies have a small USB to SATA converter module inside them, and this can cause problems sometimes, as HDD/SSDs may require reformatting before they can be used in the caddy. Return your SSD back to its original location, and backup from there.

However, without knowing more about your failure mode, I can recommend performing a fsck on the file system to see if it can find errors and repair them.

• boot to a Ubuntu Live DVD/USB in “Try Ubuntu” mode
• open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T
• type sudo fdisk -l
• identify the /dev/sdXX device name for your "Linux Filesystem"
• type sudo fsck -f /dev/sdXX, replacing sdXX with the number you found earlier
• repeat the fsck command if there were errors
• type reboot

Update #1:

User re-seated the M.2 module in the caddy, and now the M.2 is seen properly, and the user is performing backups before sending laptop in for repairs.

Answer 2

You can run Smart data and test runs on your SDD.

Open disk utility and select your hard disk from left menu.

Press Ctrl + S and run smart test on your disk.

It will run test and generate report. If overall assesment is OK then it is fine.

Answer 3

I'm going to assume that you have tested this drive thoroughly to make sure that it should not have any problems recognizing the drive, no matter the connection type. With the "ass-out-of-you-and-me" steps behind us, time for some fun.

A few testing steps: Step 1: Make sure that your BIOS is set up to boot from your original HDD, the one currently connected through your default SATA connection. (Can you see the second drive in BIOS?) Step 2: Boot the PC, does it boot without a hitch? Step 3: When you open "My Computer" or what have you, the second drive should show up just like any other drive would, and I'm assuming this is where you are not seeing it. Step 4: Open Device Manager (devmgmt.msc in the run) and open the "Disk Drives" tab, do you see the drives that you should be seeing? Step 5: If the drive is not showing up in Device Manager, then we have a problem. ANY device, whether it has drivers or not, should show up in the device manager; if they are not showing up in the device manager at all, then the PC itself cannot SEE the device. If it cannot see the device, your issue is a bad connection from your new SATA connector, or a bad set of pins on the drive itself, or maybe even a bad board on the SSD.

The steps I listed above are not fool-proof as there are MANY other steps we can take, but try those, and tell me what you see!