Hard Drive failure?

[hardtailstar]

Hi All,

 

My personal external hard drive has stopped working.

 

when I go into Disk Management it comes up not initialized and when I try to initialize it it comes up with the error in the photo.

 

 

It appears in the 'Safely remove devices' and 'Devices and Printers'

 

 

Any ideas on how to fix it or is it dead?

 

Thanks in advance

[DJ-1701]

Try after a reboot and try on another computer with a different USB cable... if it still doesn't work, certainly sounds like it's dead.

[Boredguy]

I'd put my money on dead

[hardtailstar]

Try after a reboot and try on another computer with a different USB cable... if it still doesn't work, certainly sounds like it's dead.

 

tried that. On my fourth computer now. :/

[Bedders]

Plug it into a Linux machine, see if you can mount it. If not I'm afraid it looks deceased. Good luck!

[Fazza]

Plug it into a Linux machine, see if you can mount it. If not I'm afraid it looks deceased. Good luck!

 

I second this! Linux isnt as fussy about mounting dodgy/faulty HDDs as Windows is so grab a Live linux ISO, boot from it and see if you can read any data from your HDD, if you can - then copy the data to another drive ASAP.

[TechieWils]

You could try Testdisk TestDisk - Partition Recovery and File Undelete I've had some success with drives that wouldn't mount before.

[hardtailstar]

You could try Testdisk TestDisk - Partition Recovery and File Undelete I've had some success with drives that wouldn't mount before.

 

no luck so far :/

[difinity]

An external drive ? Have you tried it without the enclosure ? Have you cleaned the contacts on the hard drive PCB ?

[hardtailstar]

An external drive ? Have you tried it without the enclosure ? Have you cleaned the contacts on the hard drive PCB ?

 

Yep, an external drive. Cleaned the PCB too.

[Rob_D]

Have you tried putting it in the freezer? (it apparently can work, but I wouldn't try it until you're ready to write the drive off)

[Fazza]

Yep, an external drive. Cleaned the PCB too.

 

The PCB of the HDD itself or the enclosure?

 

If the enclosure then you need to remove the HDD from it and connect the HDD itself to a PC with an OS on it either Windows or a Live Linux CD/DVD etc.

[hardtailstar]

No clicks or sounds from the drive?

If you have a spare identical drive that has the same PCB I would attempt to swap over the boards to see if you can access your files. Its not hard to do if you really need your files back and dont have backups.

 

Only clicks when powers up. I havent got a HDD with the same PCB.

 

Have you tried putting it in the freezer? (it apparently can work, but I wouldn't try it until you're ready to write the drive off)

 

not yet although might be close to it.

 

The PCB of the HDD itself or the enclosure?

 

If the enclosure then you need to remove the HDD from it and connect the HDD itself to a PC with an OS on it either Windows or a Live Linux CD/DVD etc.

 

Of the HDD, the usb cable connects straight to the HDD PCB.

[Fazza]

Only clicks when powers up. I havent got a HDD with the same PCB.

 

 

 

not yet although might be close to it.

 

 

 

Of the HDD, the usb cable connects straight to the HDD PCB.

 

Have you tried plugging it directly in to a SATA port on a motherboard?

[difinity]

Yep, an external drive. Cleaned the PCB too.

 

So you've removed it from the enclosure and tried without the USB controller ?

Do you have a multimeter ? There will be two TVS diodes on the PCB you can check, one on the 5v line the other is 12v.

If you have a photo of the PCB I can point them out if required.

 

Is the drive spinning up, then the freezer will do nothing. its for freeing the motor/spindle.

Edited August 8, 2017 by difinity

[hardtailstar]

Have you tried plugging it directly in to a SATA port on a motherboard?

 

Its not a sata PCB, its a western digital special connection.

[hardtailstar]

So you've removed it from the enclosure and tried without the USB controller ?

Do you have a multimeter ? There will be two TVS diodes on the PCB you can check, one on the 5v line the other is 12v.

If you have a photo of the PCB I can point them out if required.

 

Is the drive spinning up, then the freezer will do nothing. its for freeing the motor/spindle.

 

There is no USB controller in the enclosure. the cable connects straight to the HDD.

 

no mulitimeter im afraid

[DJ-1701]

There is no USB controller in the enclosure. the cable connects straight to the HDD.

 

The ones where they have a mini-usb connector directly on the board of the Hard Drive itself? I hate those...

[hardtailstar]

The ones where they have a mini-usb connector directly on the board of the Hard Drive itself? I hate those...

 

Yes but its not mini usb, its this

[Fazza]

Those built-in micro-usb-3 connectors are a pain!

 

If the data on it is important then you could look at sending it away for data retrieval - there are companies out there that will dismantle the HDD and remove the platters to get the data off for you but it will cost a fair bit.

 

Ive never seen it work but there has alway been talk about putting a faulty HDD in a fridge or freezer (make sure it's in an air tight container/bag first) for a period of time and then connecting it to a PC very quickly before condensation gets on it - probably best done in a cold air conditioned server room. Worth a last try (if you dont want to send it away) as you've nothing to lose at that point.

[hardtailstar]

I think the HDD is dead.

 

Tried two Linux live cd versions and the HDD is causing issues booting into the live disc.

 

If I dont have the HDD connected at boot they work fine but then plugging in the HDD it doesnt detect it :/

[Fazza]

I think the HDD is dead.

 

Tried two Linux live cd versions and the HDD is causing issues booting into the live disc.

 

If I dont have the HDD connected at boot they work fine but then plugging in the HDD it doesnt detect it :/

 

Definitely sounds dead to me so you'll just have to get the data from the last backup of it you did...

[hardtailstar]

Definitely sounds dead to me so you'll just have to get the data from the last backup of it you did...

 

Yeah there's a file on it I need which hasn't been backed up because I was transferring it from my dying laptop to my computer.

 

Next stop is to see if I can recover a previous version from my dead laptop!

[hardtailstar]

Its dead.....

[speckytecky]

@hardtailstar I share your pain - and I'm sure many others here do as well!

 

I had an encrypted 32 GB Toshiba USB thumb drive that had some data I needed on it. I'd always been careful in safe removal but one day it gave up the Ghost. Sadly I'd been a numpty and didn't have a backup of the data. I'm living without it okay is the good news!

 

Being on school holiday now I was watching a bit of daytime TV - an episode of the great Southern Irish production of Red Rock - made me laugh to see them watching CCTV footage off thumb drives on one PC then, just pulling the drive without safe eject and plugging it in and going again with no data loss on another PC. If only life was so.