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  #1  
Old March 10th, 2018, 02:50 AM
Mike Photo Mike Photo is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 224
HDD not initialized

Hello,

Havent been on here in awhile but just havent been able to figure this issue out.

I have an old WD external HDD that has been acting up. I noticed it wasnt connecting since I dont access it very often I'm not sure how long that has been the case. I powered it down and it started connecting and disconnecting every sec or so. I tried a new USB cable, different port, and power source. I then tried connecting it to a different PC same results.

I pulled the drive and connected it to the mobo and pulled up the device manager the drive shows up with no disk info or drive size and says disk not initialized.

The only solution Ive been able to find is to initialize the drive and use recovery software to recover the files. This seems like a last resort solution for me as I know sometimes you just cant recover everything.

Its about a 1tb HDD.

thanks in advance for any help.
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  #2  
Old March 10th, 2018, 04:47 AM
Ensign Tzap Ensign Tzap is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2005
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Posts: 956
It sounds like the 1TB drive is about to completely fail.

Recover and copy off what data you can from it to another Hard Drive, USB Memory Stick, or DVD/CD-ROM Disc.

Then get SpeedFan https://speedfan.en.softonic.com and install it on a good working computer.

When you have it installed, connect the HDD to that computer.
{Vie to the Mother Board or with USB to HDD Adapter}

Run SpeedFan
Go to the SMART Tab.
Then under the SMART Tab, find the Hard Disk window.
On the right side of the window is an arrow.
Press it, and it will show what HDD's are connected.
Select the HDD that matches the one you connected up.
Example:
HD0- Is the master or C:\ Drive

HD1- would be the USB or D:\ Drive
With the Drive you want to test selected.
Press the "Perform In-depth online analysis of this hard disk".
This will check the drive thoroughly, and give you the drives current status.

If it pulls up a lot of errors with the hard disk.
Check the warranty, and see if you can get it replaced.
Already out of warranty.
Then just chuck it in the recycling bin, after you wipe the drive.


Signed: Ensign Tzap
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  #3  
Old March 10th, 2018, 06:58 AM
Mike Photo Mike Photo is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 224
Hi Ensign thanks for the quick reply.

Unfortunately, I can"t recover any data from the drive unless I initialize it which will wipe it first. The Recovery software Ive used in the past needs to be able to see the drive to recover off it which It cant in its current state. Is there a software that will see it?

I have run several tests on the drive and all came back fine with no errors. I'll run speedfan and see what I get
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  #4  
Old March 10th, 2018, 04:07 PM
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Murf Murf is offline
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O/S: Windows XP Pro
Posts: 17,424
https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=3

Have you tried their software?
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  #5  
Old March 10th, 2018, 10:56 PM
Mike Photo Mike Photo is offline
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Yeah it said the drive was fine.
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  #6  
Old March 11th, 2018, 12:20 AM
Ensign Tzap Ensign Tzap is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2005
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Posts: 956
Mike,

Have you tried this?
Quote:
Click on Start --> In search box, type cmd and press Enter. "Command Prompt" will be opened. Now enter the below commands

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 and press Enter

cd \ and press Enter

cd windows\system32 and press Enter

start devmgmt.msc and press Enter

"Device Manager" window will be opened. Now in the device manager, click on "View" --> Select "Show hidden devices".

Expand all the nodes by clicking on "+" symbol. If you find any greyed or UNKNOWN entries --> Right click on it --> Select "Uninstall".

Restart your PC --> Now try connecting your external drive.

Good Luck
Signed: Ensign Tzap
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