Another Failing Hard Disk!

[Dario]

Is it only me or are there other victims around? Almost every 2TB hard disk I bought in recent years has failed. The newest failure happened today to a WD My Passport 2TB external hard disk I used to back up all important data. I put up lots of movies I downloaded for my little daughter, lots of youtube videos I have collected in various fields like travel, flight simulation, aircraft spotting, etc. This hard disk has cost me roughly 2 years ago 5'200 Baht. I bought it from www.invadeit.co.th, a TV sponsor.

It's not for the money I'm sad, it's for all the data I have downloaded with expensive True 3G signal from my iPhone I use as hubspot on my computer because even today in the year 2016 AD our village in northeastern Thailand still doesn't have cable Internet. I pay about 4'000 Baht every month for lousy 3G whereas my computer man in the nearby town gets 30 MB unlimited cable Internet for 799 Baht/month.

Now, when I plug in my WD My Passport 2TB external hard disk, my computer says: You need to format the disk in drive K: before you can use it.

If all these hard disks fail what other options are there to back up data?

Does anyone know what options I have to recover all my data?

Edited March 27, 2016 by Dario

[Gregory Morozov]

That message might be a result of a trivial filesystem corruption, and not necessarily signifies hardware problems with the drive.

[JaseTheBass]

I've read that the Toshiba drives are the most reliable at the moment.

[SoiBiker]

One copy of something is not a backup.

[Lannig]

Some people say it's an urban legend, but keeping the failed disk one night in a fridge (in the fruits/vegetable section, no need for super cold), properly wrapped in a sealed plastic bag with as little air inside as possible and plugging it back has allowed be to make it usable enough to recover my data twice.

Once fully and once very partially, to be honest.

These external hard disks, especially the cheap ones in plastic cases, suffer from very poor heat dissipation.

In tropical countries, this can mean much shortened life expectancy.

[bino]

Chances are that the filesystem or system files are corrupted and your data is still there.

Something you could try - Shadow Explorer

It is a great tool for finding and recovering files from a hard disk. You can copy them to a good disk.

Saved my bacon more than once. Maybe it will work for you.

[Dario]

That message might be a result of a trivial filesystem corruption, and not necessarily signifies hardware problems with the drive.

Thank you Gregory. I don't really know what this means, but I read here that I might have luck by updating the firmware of the HD. I didn't, the problem persists, but after the firmware update I got the following message:

To me it means that the HD is OK and functioning, but maybe something wrong with the USB connecting cable? I use this external HD to connect to my media player connected to my large flat screen TV. There it also doesn't work. Could it be the cable?

Edited March 27, 2016 by Dario

[lopburi3]

Pull it out and plug it back in (both ends) - have had that solve such issues in the past for me.

[Lannig]

I'd try Bino's solution (or mine, as remote as it seems) before engaging into a firmware update operation.

That's something nontrivial and you can make the disk unusable for good if you mess up.

I don't think that the error you're showing has anything to do with a faulty cable. It says that it can't find the driver for that particular device.

This SES thing is entirely optional anyway, check this article from WDC's site: http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=3739

[Dario]

I'd try Bino's solution (or mine, as remote as it seems) before engaging into a firmware update operation.

That's something nontrivial and you can make the disk unusable for good if you mess up.

I don't think that the error you're showing has anything to do with a faulty cable. It says that it can't find the driver for that particular device.

This SES thing is entirely optional anyway, check this article from WDC's site: http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=3739

Yes, thank you, I read that article before I saw your post. But somewhere they write that the cause might be the cable. I might try that. I think in order not to further mess up, the best would actually be to send the HD with the cable to WD Thailand.

[Dario]

Chances are that the filesystem or system files are corrupted and your data is still there.

Something you could try - Shadow Explorer

It is a great tool for finding and recovering files from a hard disk. You can copy them to a good disk.

Saved my bacon more than once. Maybe it will work for you.

Thank you. I downloaded Shafdow Explorer but the failing hd doesn't show up.

[SoiBiker]

I'd boot up a linux live cd, use dd to make an exact image of the whole drive on a fresh disk, then use fdisk and/or testdisk to try and fix the file system.

If that's gibberish to you, try and locate a local nerd.

[Lannig]

I'd boot up a linux live cd, use dd to make an exact image of the whole drive on a fresh disk, then use fdisk and/or testdisk to try and fix the file system.

If that's gibberish to you, try and locate a local nerd.

This will only work if the disk is still online and blocks can be read from it. Not the most likely situation I'd say based on what Dario reports.

You may want to install EASEUS Partition Master (http://www.partition-tool.com/) and see of the disk shows up at all and if any partition is recognized. This could give some hints about its actual status: failed hardware vs. data corruption.

[innerspace]

When it says needs format data is normally semi recoverable, assuming you do not write anything to the disk.

Avoid doing anything unnecessary especially firmware updates.

Run the right scans and bulk of data recovered, just need to copy it all to another drive after.

After done or failed, learn from the inevitable and balance raid with secondary backups for all important data going forward.

[KhunBENQ]

I searched through misc sources on this error.

Lots of nonsense.

One that looks serious is this one:

http://html5.litten.com/updated-how-to-fix-external-disk-drive-suddenly-became-raw/

It's quite hard stuff to digest but seems worth.

It contains the obvious hints towards the Disk Management and checking whether the disk is shown as RAW or without filesystem.

Unfortunately this is very likely.

In this case: again check the cables, use different USB port etc. Do you have access to another PC to test?

If that does not help, the disk indeed seems to have a fatal error in the MBR (master boot record) or the partition table.

Also asking the obvious: you have used this disk with this PC during the last two years?

How long ago is it that it last worked?

A tool that is recommended in the article is referenced in many other sites:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

For now: switch off and disconnect and hope for a better morning

Edited March 27, 2016 by KhunBENQ

[Dario]

Chances are that the filesystem or system files are corrupted and your data is still there.

Something you could try - Shadow Explorer

It is a great tool for finding and recovering files from a hard disk. You can copy them to a good disk.

Saved my bacon more than once. Maybe it will work for you.

Thank you. Shadow Explorer doesn't show my external HD, it shows the internal ones, but only shows data from drive C.

[SoiBiker]

If the disk is still functional and there's a partition still there, testdisk will find it, and even let you copy files out of it in many cases. I'd still prefer to make an image of the stricken drive first before attempting any repairs to the filesystem, though, just in case you make things worse.

[Dario]

If the disk is still functional and there's a partition still there, testdisk will find it, and even let you copy files out of it in many cases. I'd still prefer to make an image of the stricken drive first before attempting any repairs to the filesystem, though, just in case you make things worse.

It doesn't look good imho: no partition detected:

[SoiBiker]

If the disk is still functional and there's a partition still there, testdisk will find it, and even let you copy files out of it in many cases. I'd still prefer to make an image of the stricken drive first before attempting any repairs to the filesystem, though, just in case you make things worse.

It doesn't look good imho: no partition detected:

testdisk result 270316 2252.JPG

It hasn't looked for one yet. That just means it hasn't found a partition table. I'd select whichever kind of partition it should have - I'm guessing probably Intel in your case.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Edited March 27, 2016 by SoiBiker

[elgordo38]

Hi

I had a passport to fully loaded with movies and I could not access it and I got the reformat message as well. I got peed off and threw it in a drawer and forgot about it for 3 months. I stumbled across it sitting in the drawer one day and plugged it in and it opened up and allowed me to access it. It functioned as normal. Also want to mention even though the computer would not open it in the beginning I was able to plug it into the USB port on my Samsung TV and access and watch the movies. WD warranties go for 3 or 5 years but they will only replace the drive all your info is lost.

[Dario]

If the disk is still functional and there's a partition still there, testdisk will find it, and even let you copy files out of it in many cases. I'd still prefer to make an image of the stricken drive first before attempting any repairs to the filesystem, though, just in case you make things worse.

It doesn't look good imho: no partition detected:

testdisk result 270316 2252.JPG

It hasn't looked for one yet. That just means it hasn't found a partition table. I'd select whichever kind of partition it should have - I'm guessing probably Intel in your case.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Thanks for your input. Busy checking now, but it'll take an eternity. It's only at 8% now, after about half an hour. I have probbly about 1.4TB used on that disk.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Dario

[Dario]

Hi

I had a passport to fully loaded with movies and I could not access it and I got the reformat message as well. I got peed off and threw it in a drawer and forgot about it for 3 months. I stumbled across it sitting in the drawer one day and plugged it in and it opened up and allowed me to access it. It functioned as normal. Also want to mention even though the computer would not open it in the beginning I was able to plug it into the USB port on my Samsung TV and access and watch the movies. WD warranties go for 3 or 5 years but they will only replace the drive all your info is lost.

Well, that's very encouraging. Thank you for mentioning this here. It might be hope for me. Maybe tomorrow put it in the fridge for about 12 hours, who knows if that might help.

I have stopped the disk scan, wrapped it in a plastic and placed it in the fridge in the fruit & vegetable section.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Dario

[55Jay]

My WD Desktop size Ext Hard Drive I bought outside Thailand, died a fairly quick death the first year I used it here. I chalked it up to frequent, momentary power outages, no UPS.

Don't know if it's relevant to your issue, but my Toshiba External is temperamental. Red X info box pops up saying USB device did not install properly. The LED light on the HD case is blueish in color. If I adjust the USB plug, pushing it to the left or right while plugged into the port, the computer will pick it up "Da Dump!", light turns white, good to go. Probably the cable, or the USB slot, dunno, thought I would mention it.

Edit: Flight Sim! Thought I was the only one!

Edited March 27, 2016 by 55Jay

[vanillalatte]

You asked about alternatives to backup data?

SSD EVO850 Samsung cost today 150US$/500G this is falling fast.

Some people keep original memory cards as back-up instead of sticking them back into cameras.

Edited March 27, 2016 by vanillalatte

[SoiBiker]

Why would you want to use an expensive SSD as a backup drive?

[vanillalatte]

Why would you want to use an expensive SSD as a backup drive?

because it is not expensive anymore(150$ today it was 250$ last year)

SSD do not have moving parts,it is electronic chip,nothing mechanic.

[SoiBiker]

Why would you want to use an expensive SSD as a backup drive?

because it is not expensive anymore(150$ today it was 250$ last year)

SSD do not have moving parts,it is electronic chip,nothing mechanic.

I know what an SSD is. I also they cost 10 times the price of an equivalent HDD, offer no advantage when it comes to use as a backup drive, and are no more reliable either.

Plus a failing HDD is often recoverable. SSDs tend to just die completely taking all your data with them.

Suggesting one as a backup solution is terrible advice.

Edited March 27, 2016 by SoiBiker

[rhythmworx]

Dude you were quick to throw it in the fridge.

did you try this solution for the same problem?

Hi ,

I faced this issue and tried a lot.......Find out one solution.......I hope it ll work for you.....Do give me a reply if it works.

Just follow the followoing steps :

1. Go to start button on windows.

2. Type "cmd" and right click on "cmd" and click "Run as Administrator"

3. C:\Windows\system32>

4. Now type : chkdsk <Your hard disk letter>: /f

For e.g If my hard disk is named "f" then just type ---------- chkdsk f: /f

Try it out...I guess it will work.

542 people found this helpful

-----------------------

Or any other of the solutions in this 9 page thread?

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-update/you-need-to-format-the-disk-in-drive-j-before-you/4e153784-3217-4425-9c39-48030af82a13?page=9

Edited March 27, 2016 by rhythmworx

[johnatong]

Dude you were quick to throw it in the fridge.

did you try this solution for the same problem?

Hi ,

I faced this issue and tried a lot.......Find out one solution.......I hope it ll work for you.....Do give me a reply if it works.

Just follow the followoing steps :

1. Go to start button on windows.

2. Type "cmd" and right click on "cmd" and click "Run as Administrator"

3. C:\Windows\system32>

4. Now type : chkdsk <Your hard disk letter>: /f

For e.g If my hard disk is named "f" then just type ---------- chkdsk f: /f

Try it out...I guess it will work.

542 people found this helpful

-----------------------

Or any other of the solutions in this 9 page thread?

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-update/you-need-to-format-the-disk-in-drive-j-before-you/4e153784-3217-4425-9c39-48030af82a13?page=9

Your suggestion might help BUT ONLY IF THE HARD DISK IS RECOGNISED BY THE OPERATING SYSTEM !

[vanillalatte]

Why would you want to use an expensive SSD as a backup drive?

because it is not expensive anymore(150$ today it was 250$ last year)

SSD do not have moving parts,it is electronic chip,nothing mechanic.

I know what an SSD is. I also they cost 10 times the price of an equivalent HDD, offer no advantage when it comes to use as a backup drive, and are no more reliable either.

Plus a failing HDD is often recoverable. SSDs tend to just die completely taking all your data with them.

Suggesting one as a backup solution is terrible advice.

I'd bought may be 100 memory cards,only 1 had failed but.. recovered.So far I bought 2 SSD,let's pray....

Samsung had put 14T ssd on the market recently.in the same time they closed one factory near Korat

firing 1500workers,my friend including,that factory made only one product;electric motor for HDD.

We may guess,that Samsung will not need them anymore,we too.