Steam Killed my HDDs

[kerolisand]

**STORY**
Hi, from a while ago i installed a game called "Combat Master season 2" on my laptop

Ryzen 7 pro 2700U
24 gigs ram
500 HDD
256 SSD SATA

** MY HDDs **

On my first HDD (a brand new hdd only 1 year usage) after playing the game for a while when trying to launch it, it was stuck, i stopped it and closed my laptop, the next day my laptop was super laggy, because the HDD was unaccessible, it was "software-locked" as the repair man say

The second time while i Playing the same game (after getting brand-new hdd & reinstalled windows) it was not responding, so i ended the task from task manager, then the new HDD got locked again

I mean by "locked" that windows cannot access that drive anymore, and when i get it to the repair man he said that (it was software-locked and i can only retrive 140GB of it's original size)

**QUESTIONS**

why did this happen? Why steam locked that hdd?

Is this a game issue or a possible issue with any other game on the same scenario?

Is it safe to download the game again but this time in the SSD (the windows drive)?

[kerolisand]

Publicado originalmente por V3LTA:

my ssd has seen so much viruses and torrents its kinda insane
still works perfectly fine after 7 years D:

Gigachad

[davidb11]

Publicado originalmente por kerolisand:

Publicado originalmente por davidb11:

What do you mean by locked?

I mean by "locked" that windows cannot access that drive anymore, and when i get it to the repair man he said that (it was software-locked and i can only retrive 140GB of it's original size)

That's weird, because no hard drive works like that at all.

[Elucidator]

It turns out the HDD drive bay is not standard:
(quoting from a reviewer site)

Inside the ProBook 645 G4, there is a 2.5-inch drive bay for an additional hard drive or an SSD. However, our review device offers neither an installation frame for an HDD nor a SATA connector. Having said that, you can buy all the necessary parts from HP’s online store for 13.45 Euros (~$16).

Actually the entire laptop seems to be upgraded, originally it had:
AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2500U
8 GB DDR-2400 Single-Channel. (The laptop has two RAM slots, but only one is occuppied)
Toshiba XG5 KXG50ZNV256G, 256 GB SSD, (182 GB free for the end user)
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

This makes the entire thing very difficult.
How is it possible, it is locking its drive to only 140GB?
and a repairguy cannot get more out of it? ----
Assuming of course, it is not a fake / false drive size.

At the very least it seems to me that the laptop is consuming more power by default than it was designed to consume. With its original hardware and a brand new battery, that battery would only last for 5 hours. I assume it is a lot less with the upgrades in there.

If it is software, then it has to be something installed on the OS that locks the drive to 140GB. The question is of course what it is, and what triggers the drive locking to 140.

Did you try things you can find on youtube, like for example:
- check if the HDD has a password in the Bios (and remove this)

[7IПFΉ_]

Does this happen on the C; or D; drive, sounds like ransomware to me.

[kerolisand]

Publicado originalmente por 7IПFΉ_:

Does this happen on the C; or D; drive, sounds like ransomware to me.

In the first time it was the D; (the hdd drive), the second it was one e (the new hdd drive), on the second time it was a on fresh windows installation, and only downloading steam & the game (no virus)

[kerolisand]

Publicado originalmente por Elucidator:

It turns out the HDD drive bay is not standard:
(quoting from a reviewer site)

Inside the ProBook 645 G4, there is a 2.5-inch drive bay for an additional hard drive or an SSD. However, our review device offers neither an installation frame for an HDD nor a SATA connector. Having said that, you can buy all the necessary parts from HP’s online store for 13.45 Euros (~$16).

Actually the entire laptop seems to be upgraded, originally it had:
AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2500U
8 GB DDR-2400 Single-Channel. (The laptop has two RAM slots, but only one is occuppied)
Toshiba XG5 KXG50ZNV256G, 256 GB SSD, (182 GB free for the end user)
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

This makes the entire thing very difficult.
How is it possible, it is locking its drive to only 140GB?
and a repairguy cannot get more out of it? ----
Assuming of course, it is not a fake / false drive size.

At the very least it seems to me that the laptop is consuming more power by default than it was designed to consume. With its original hardware and a brand new battery, that battery would only last for 5 hours. I assume it is a lot less with the upgrades in there.

If it is software, then it has to be something installed on the OS that locks the drive to 140GB. The question is of course what it is, and what triggers the drive locking to 140.

Did you try things you can find on youtube, like for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa4FyKbJTIw

My hdd wasn't passowrd/bitlocker locked

So basically on the second time that happend
When i go to check the D drive (hdd partition) the windows readed that it exists, but any information about size/files inside or accessing it was impossible, even when trying cmd dskchk (i guess that was the name) it didn't respond with any details about D:, just a message about it unable to access the drive

Also the repair man used a tissue to hold the hdd in place (the hdd place was to large for a hard disk)

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

This is very hard to follow but I tried and failed while some questions were answered, more were raised.

Wipe the drive clean, use deep clean (BIOS-level formatting) and recover the space was my thought at first but as I read on, things got weirder and wierder, the HDD is too small was one thing that threw me for a loop; although, it is a laptop and some of them are pretty wild if its an off-brand.

[kerolisand]

Publicado originalmente por WinterSolstice:

This is very hard to follow but I tried and failed while some questions were answered, more were raised. :csd2huh:

Wipe the drive clean, use deep clean (BIOS-level formatting) and recover the space was my thought at first. :csd2smile:

I don't think i got one of the HDDs (the repair man took them) but how to do BIOS LEVEL formatting ?

[KalGimpa]

Publicado originalmente por kerolisand:

Publicado originalmente por Elucidator:

It turns out the HDD drive bay is not standard:
(quoting from a reviewer site)


Actually the entire laptop seems to be upgraded, originally it had:
AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2500U
8 GB DDR-2400 Single-Channel. (The laptop has two RAM slots, but only one is occuppied)
Toshiba XG5 KXG50ZNV256G, 256 GB SSD, (182 GB free for the end user)
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

This makes the entire thing very difficult.
How is it possible, it is locking its drive to only 140GB?
and a repairguy cannot get more out of it? ----
Assuming of course, it is not a fake / false drive size.

At the very least it seems to me that the laptop is consuming more power by default than it was designed to consume. With its original hardware and a brand new battery, that battery would only last for 5 hours. I assume it is a lot less with the upgrades in there.

If it is software, then it has to be something installed on the OS that locks the drive to 140GB. The question is of course what it is, and what triggers the drive locking to 140.

Did you try things you can find on youtube, like for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa4FyKbJTIw

My hdd wasn't passowrd/bitlocker locked

So basically on the second time that happend
When i go to check the D drive (hdd partition) the windows readed that it exists, but any information about size/files inside or accessing it was impossible, even when trying cmd dskchk (i guess that was the name) it didn't respond with any details about D:, just a message about it unable to access the drive

Also the repair man used a tissue to hold the hdd in place (the hdd place was to large for a hard disk)

is it asking for a password even though you did not set one?

did you recently do a firmware update for it?

[kerolisand]

Publicado originalmente por KalCuey:

Publicado originalmente por kerolisand:

My hdd wasn't passowrd/bitlocker locked

So basically on the second time that happend
When i go to check the D drive (hdd partition) the windows readed that it exists, but any information about size/files inside or accessing it was impossible, even when trying cmd dskchk (i guess that was the name) it didn't respond with any details about D:, just a message about it unable to access the drive

Also the repair man used a tissue to hold the hdd in place (the hdd place was to large for a hard disk)

is it asking for a password even though you did not set one?

did you recently do a firmware update for it?

1. No id didn't ask for a password, because I didn't set one

2. a frimware update for what? The HDD, if so I'm not really expert at hardware/software i didn't know hdds has frimwares

[KalGimpa]

Publicado originalmente por kerolisand:

Publicado originalmente por KalCuey:

is it asking for a password even though you did not set one?

did you recently do a firmware update for it?

1. No id didn't ask for a password, because I didn't set one

2. a frimware update for what? The HDD, if so I'm not really expert at hardware/software i didn't know hdds has frimwares

some drives have their own programs that help run them

they come preinstalled with encryption and all that

there are posts of people getting locked out of wd's when they update them

and about the drives setting passwords

if it never asked for one, then it is probably not one

you can try making a bootable linux thumb drive

see if it can see the disk

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

This is what I found about WD HDD locks and such, maybe it will help:

https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/50390/~/wd-security-password-protection-for-wd-drives-guided-assist

[kerolisand]

Publicado originalmente por WinterSolstice:

This is what I found about WD HDD locks and such, maybe it will help:

https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/50390/~/wd-security-password-protection-for-wd-drives-guided-assist

Thanks, i will look into that after i boot into my linux-usb and see if that hdd works there

[Elucidator]

Publicado originalmente por kerolisand:

My hdd wasn't passowrd/bitlocker locked

So basically on the second time that happend
When i go to check the D drive (hdd partition) the windows readed that it exists, but any information about size/files inside or accessing it was impossible, even when trying cmd dskchk (i guess that was the name) it didn't respond with any details about D:, just a message about it unable to access the drive

Also the repair man used a tissue to hold the hdd in place (the hdd place was to large for a hard disk)

There are a couple of things that could be going on.

There is a tool called Disk Management. This is used to format or partition disk drives. You can see the actual physical drive there, not just the partitions with a file system.

Within this tool, it is possible to unmount (offline) and remount (online) a device to windows. This might fix the issue. You can also try "redetect". If this fixes the issue, then it is some kind of bug.

If it does not however.... then it could be a cable or power issue.

It can basically be compared to hooking your phone to the laptop. You can set it in Charge Only mode, which causes the phone to be displayed in My Computer, but you cannot access it; much like you said with your HDD.

I am guessing the data connection for some reason breaks, but the odd thing is that it doesn't break immediately, only circumstantially and after replacing (and likely reseating) the drive it works again.

It happens during higher voltage use of your system. I have to consider that it might be your motherboard or, rather a specific part on it, rather than software.

Considering the laptop uses a specific part to connect the HDD to the motherboard, its possible its just this part that is faulty. It might be caused by small leak basically, voltage loss; it for some reason triggered some kind of security in the HDD, which then resets when the laptop's power is completely lost (due to the battery being disconnected) within the Repairman's shop.

It could also be an overvoltage issue; which I hope not.

It's hard to say to be honest.