> 1. My HDD disconnects randomly
This is usually a good indication of cable, connection or insufficient power problem: if the drive can't receive enough power and/or there is no stable connection, this is very common cause.
Without knowing the details, hard to say anything for sure about the real cause, so if you use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, I can check and assist.
Generally for internal hard disk drives, the most common causes of random disconnects are
- 4-pin -> SATA power cable adapters,
- power cable splitters,
- older / not perfect SATA data cables
For external hard disk drives, the most common cause can be
- USB cable, possible USB cable extender or a passive USB hub (if used)
- external power supply of the USB drive
- front panel USB connections
> 2. Tried chkdsk d: /f /x /r
This is the most common user error in this case.
Sorry to say, but I wonder what did you expect from chkdsk? It will not fix the connection, it will not replace the cable
Chkdsk would happily make MUCH-MUCH bigger problems: if it can't read a sector (because of the above mentioned issues and disconnects) it can happily try to reduce the usable capacity by making many-many false bad sectors on the logical drive (partition) and can make things even worse. Not surprising that data recovery companies NEVER recommend chkdsk on a problematic drive.
Please check
https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_case_weak_sectors.php
which describes why/how chkdsk simply can't be used to repair REAL problems with the hard disk drives.
> 3. Sometimes chkdsk pulls through till the end and says windows performed repair or whatever the message was
If the drive not disconnected, then yes, chkdsk could make some changes ("repairs") but it is not actually a repair, exactly the opposite...
> 5. Surface test Quick Fix reveals there are 80 bad blocks (attached picture), recommends disk repair surface test (not the quick fix)
Yes, probably the drive also disconnected during the test / diagnostics too.
6. Surface test Disk Repair repeats the message "error 5 access is denied" in red in the white box under
Yes, if there is no "access" to the drive (as it's disconnected) then I'm afraid it is completely normal and expected.
> 7. Tried surface test disk repair WITH the option "Lock drive during test" in the test configuration,
> shows the message in the second attached picture
It is completely normal and expected if there is some other background applications running / using file(s) or folders on the drive.
It is not an error but a WARNING only and there is a CONTINUE button to proceed the test. Nothing to worry about it, just informs you about the situation that some other apps (or Windows itself) may have opened files and this may reduce the performance.
> 8. Tried using Hard Disk Sentinel Portable while booting from Live PE Windows (HBCD PE),
> gives me error about missing dll despite it working fine before booting from HBCD PE.
Yes, this can happen as some Live PE Windows distros may not have all Windows files, usually icmp.dll file is missing from that Windows (at least as I encountered similar). You may try to get that file from a different Windows and place in the folder of Hard Disk Sentinel as then it can be loaded (Hard Disk Sentinel package can't contain that due to licensing restrictions).
> 1. I understand that something is still preventing the drive to be locked,
> but can't HDS in anyway override that to unmount the disk and do the repair?
HDS can't "anyway override that" but of coure CAN DO the repair in general (please note the message in the window, asking to test it anyway and showing the CONTINUE button).
But of course can do the repair only if the drive is generally working: if there is no stable connection, not enough power (so the drive is hardly working) then it can't do anything of course....
> 2. Is this normal behavior/expected error/unfixed bug with the program?
This is normal behaviour.
Excuse me, but I do not understand why do you feel it is "unfixed bug" in the program, it is absolutely not true.
> 3. Any suggestions or workarounds? (even if it's about fixing the drive while bypassing the HDS disk repair test altogether)
First of all, please verify cables, connections. Maybe try different power and data cable.
Then attempt to use the PROPER ways to diagnose, test the hard disk drive, as described in Support -> Frequently Asked Questions -> Hard disk health is low or recently changed or I just installed a new (used) hard disk. How can I perform a deep analysis?
https://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests
This suggests many different testing options, including both
1) hardware tests (Disk menu -> Short self test, Extended self test). They run "inside" the hard disk drive with no real data transfer, so if they show no errors - then these can confirm the cable/connection problem
2) software tests (Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read test)
and may try the repair ONLY after the above tests show any error.
Generally attempting to repair without knowing WHAT is the actual problem, what we need to repair is not really a good solution.
As you can see, chkdsk never mentioned - as (even if sounds surprising) it does NOT repair the disk drive, just attempts to repair the logical drive (partition) only.
First, I'd recommend to use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option. Then it is possible to check the actual status of the drive, any possible troubles around cables/connections, so then it is possible to help even more specifically.