Member Avatar for bikitybam15

My computer was on in the morning and out of no where a blue screen reading "Unmountable Boot Volume" popped up. I tried rebooting, but the same screen appeared over and over.

I put in my Windows XP Home Edition disk, and I tried repairing it using the steps from the following link:

When I pressed "R" for repair, I received a message saying that it could not find any hard drive.

I ejected the Windows XP disk and rebooted.

I then came to a screen saying that the Primary Hard Disk could not be found.

I had the option to hit F1 to retry the boot or F2 for setup utility.

Retrying the boot does nothing, and I don't know what to do with F2.

Is my hard drive dead forever?

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This looks like two separate failure states stacked together: the original STOP 0xED "Unmountable Boot Volume" (file‑system/boot corruption) and then the BIOS message "Primary Hard Disk could not be found" (firmware/hardware level). As noted, the drive can be dead — but the BIOS message means the firmware truly can’t see the device, so start with hardware-level checks before assuming media recovery is impossible. (makeuseof.com)

Immediate, prioritized actions (preserve data first)

  1. Power off, open the case and reseat or swap the SATA/IDE data cable and the drive’s power connector; try a different SATA port or PSU connector. 2) If available, connect the drive to a different working desktop (as @lashmk suggested) or a USB‑SATA adapter so the drive appears as a secondary device — that will tell you whether the original PC or the drive failed. If the drive becomes intermittently readable, create a block image to a larger healthy disk before attempting repairs. For imaging, use GNU ddrescue (example shown only as illustration): 
ddrescue /dev/sdX /path/to/backup.img /path/to/ddrescue.log

ddrescue is designed to copy failing media while skipping bad sectors and resuming safely. (gnu.org)

If the drive is detected but Windows won’t boot
Run Recovery tools only after imaging (if data matters). The usual next step for an unmountable boot volume is to run CHKDSK from Recovery/Repair console (chkdsk C: /r) and then repair boot records if needed — but those change the filesystem, so image first on a flaky drive. Microsoft documents these Recovery Console steps for STOP 0xED. (support.microsoft.com)

Diagnostics, warnings and final options
Run the drive maker’s diagnostics (SeaTools for Seagate, WD tools for Western Digital / Dashboard replacement) if the drive is visible — manufacturer tools give the best hardware test and RMA path. If the drive emits rhythmic clicks or won’t spin, that indicates a mechanical/head failure; stop powering it and consult a professional recovery service (software won’t help a clicking drive). If the drive is truly dead, replace it and restore from backups; if it’s under warranty pursue the manufacturer RMA. (seagate.com)

Notes on suggestions already posted: ’s sector‑repair tools and other paid utilities sometimes help with remapping a few bad sectors, but for intermittent/hardware faults they are secondary to imaging and manufacturer diagnostics.

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Member Avatar for raybay

Your hard drive is a dead duck. With a lot of luck, you may be able to rescue some of the data using it as a slave in a desktop with a simlar drive and dragging the data across.
But if the power chips or a plate is broken or the coating is peeling, you have the joy of installing a new hard drive. The Seagates are good and have a five year warranty.

Member Avatar for lashmk

Your hard drive may, in fact, be dead. However, it may not. RayBay is correct in suggesting you install your drive in another machine and make an attempt to recover some or all of your data. If you get data, great, if not, before buying a new hard drive try reformatting yours first. If the drive is not physically damaged, reformatting should work.

The problem with your drive is most likely a scrambled file structure and not physical damage to the drive. The error message you received is generally caused by a hardware failure or some kind. Typically a failed stick of memory can cause this error. And ol' XP itself is not immune from causing this kind of damage to the file system.

So, try to recover your data (if your drive is a SATA (serial drive) you'll have to find a machine that can run a serial drive) then try reformatting.

Good luck.

Member Avatar for Selwyn

HELLO
A good peace of software that i use is harddrive regenerator which can be bought in most shops on the internet for about 30 or 40 pounds.
Place the hard drive regenerator disc in the cd dvd drive and boot from the disc and it will repair all your bad sectors on your harddrive and you will still have all your data on the hard drive too.
Here is the website it http://www.downloadatoz.com/hdd-regenerator
Don't bother with the free version as this will only repair the first bad sector , the full version is what you are after.

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