After analyse, disk doesn't appear in TestDisk

[conmcdon721]

(Apologies upfront if this is in the wrong forum or if it's a duplicate issue. I did look for this issue but couldn't find one similar enough to my situation)

Hey all, I was hoping someone could help me fix my Windows machine's boot problem.

Background:

• I was using my PC like normal, had played some games for a bit
• I got up from my computer and went to shower
• When I came back to my PC, there was a black screen with the message, "Select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key"

I've encountered this issue before, and (as far as I can remember) I was able to fix it before by going into my BIOS, adjusting the boot priority, tweaking CSM settings, and/or tweaking UEFI settings (again, can't remember exactly if the CSM/UEFI settings actually did anything).

My SSD appeared in my BIOS's boot priority list, but adjusting any of these settings didn't resolve the issue. I reset to default and then consulted the Microsoft Q&A forums. From there, I tried the following things.

What I've tried:

• I created a Windows Installation Media USB, booted from it, and used its "Repair my PC" feature to open a command prompt
• In the command prompt, I entered DiskPart and ran the command list volume. My SSD did not show up here.
• I exited DiskPart and then ran the command wmic diskdrive get status. It returned three OKAYs: presumably one for my HDD, one for my SSD, and one for my USB
• Per TestDisk's docs, I created a live Fedora USB to use TestDisk and booted from it
• I used Fedora's package manager to install TestDisk and entered it
• In TestDisk, I initially saw my SSD in the disk selection list. I highlighted it, hit enter, and then selected Intel as my partition table type (it was highlighted by default)
• I ran Analyse, but nothing appeared under "Partition / Start / End / Size in sectors"
• The only options displayed on that screen were "write" and something else I can't remember. Both seemed like permanent changes to my disk, so I used the X in the top right of the window to exit the program.
• I rebooted, installed and ran TestDisk again, and now my SSD doesn't appear in the Disk selection list.

I don't know what to do now. I did try running testdisk more explicitly after that, i.e. running sudo testdisk /dev/ with various "sd"s as the argument (e.g. sda, sda1, etc) but none of them were my SSD. Is the data on this disk still recoverable?

Here are some links to things I referenced:

• My post on the Microsoft Q&A forums
• The TestDisk docs I used to create a live Fedora USB
• The TestDisk step-by-step instructions I followed while using test disk

[recuperation]

If your device is not shown in TestDisk, you most likely have a physical issue with the device.
This is a case for a professional recovery lab, unfortunately.

You can cross check by putting your device in a different machine and see if it is recognized by TestDisk when it is installed in there.

I haven't seen a really well structured case description like yours for a long time.

If your device should become readible again for any miracle reason pulling SMART information is the way to go followed by an effort to clone the device as described in the manual.
About SMART:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10910

May i ask you the name of the manufacturer and the model by curiosity?

[conmcdon721]

I apologize for the delay in my reply, I was traveling for work. I did want to thank you, though, for your reply. It's a shame I have to take it to a repair shop, but at least in my case there's nothing totally irreplaceable on the disk (at least as far as I can remember).

Thank you for the kind words regarding my case description, by the way. I work as a technical writer, so I take pride in things like that. And thank you for the link to the post about SMART. Even if this SSD is a lost cause, it's still an interesting thing to learn about.

The SSD itself is an Inland Professional 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive. Its part number is #349365. The manufacturer, Inland, is MicroCenter's in-house brand. Affordable more than reliable, and that's why I'm not completely surprised it's failing after almost 7 years of use. My PC build was actually made for me via Reddit.com/r/buildmeapc. I don't believe MicroCenter even carries this exact model anymore, but here's its page on PC Part Picker.

[recuperation]

Beyond TestDisk:

I consider broken SSDs where operating systems reside as expandable!
I does not cost that much time to backup the operating system in addition to performing a new installation.
This kind of backup does not need to be updated very often.
There is no need to try to repair an operating system that can be replicated by a new installation.

Data, though, is the issue and justifies at lot of effort to be rescued.