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I may not have enough information for a good answer but here goes. I have a home ubuntu server with one wd 1.5 TB hard drive that was about 1.5 years old. After a 2-week shutdown it wouldn't boot. Couldn't read error messages because this installation never did allow the monitor to work (used ssh only). I tried to plug the drive into another (windows) computer but it wouldn't appear in my computer. It did show up in drive manager (not sure but maybe this is the way an ext-4 drive always acts when you plug it into a windows machine). The data is backed up and not an issue, but should I re-use this drive or replace it? Nothing seems to be physically wrong, no funny sounds or anything.

John
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Boot from a USB stick/LiveCD and see if you can access it.

Windows is not going to tell you squat, you should be able to run an fsck on it from the LiveCD and see if it's good.

TheFiddlerWins
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Symptoms doesn't look like a unquestionable hard drive physics failure. You should test it first. Try some tools like MHDD or HDDScan to determine if hard drive is usable.

DukeLion
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  • Could you clarify, I thought this was a logical failure but you think it still could have been physical failure? – John Aug 26 '13 at 19:31
  • logical failure should have it's cause.. If it's caused by software error/unexpected reboot - you can use the hard drive without any question. But it also might be caused by physics failure (mechanics, electronics, badblocks). You should test the hard drive to see if it's usable. – DukeLion Aug 27 '13 at 08:59