WD external hard drive recognized as a disk drive in UDF
99pb
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Sannin_WD Posted messages 4316 Status Membre -
Sannin_WD Posted messages 4316 Status Membre -
Hello everyone,
I have a problem with my 1TB WD My Passport external hard drive.
Everything was working fine and suddenly, my PC no longer recognizes it as an external hard drive but as a CD/DVD drive.
I feel like this started when I switched to Windows 10.
I have searched for a solution on various forums and tried several methods, without success so far.
So now it's my turn to ask for your help.
I went into the Windows Disk Management and my hard drive does have an allocated partition. I tried changing the drive letter, tested different USB ports, updated the drivers, and I also contacted WD's technical support who only sees formatting as a solution.
While continuing my research, I noticed that some people mentioned formatting the file system. My disk is currently in UDF and I can't figure out if that's good or bad news.
In some discussions, it is recommended to convert UDF to NTFS through the Windows command prompt.
Well, I'm not a tech expert and I struggle to understand the difference between UDF and NTFS.
Can you tell me if this solution seems appropriate to you? Will I lose my data if I switch to NTFS? (opinions vary on this point)
Thank you for your help and sorry if this post lacks specifics, it's the first time I create a topic.
I have a problem with my 1TB WD My Passport external hard drive.
Everything was working fine and suddenly, my PC no longer recognizes it as an external hard drive but as a CD/DVD drive.
I feel like this started when I switched to Windows 10.
I have searched for a solution on various forums and tried several methods, without success so far.
So now it's my turn to ask for your help.
I went into the Windows Disk Management and my hard drive does have an allocated partition. I tried changing the drive letter, tested different USB ports, updated the drivers, and I also contacted WD's technical support who only sees formatting as a solution.
While continuing my research, I noticed that some people mentioned formatting the file system. My disk is currently in UDF and I can't figure out if that's good or bad news.
In some discussions, it is recommended to convert UDF to NTFS through the Windows command prompt.
Well, I'm not a tech expert and I struggle to understand the difference between UDF and NTFS.
Can you tell me if this solution seems appropriate to you? Will I lose my data if I switch to NTFS? (opinions vary on this point)
Thank you for your help and sorry if this post lacks specifics, it's the first time I create a topic.
1 réponse
Welcome to the forum, 99pb :)
It is highly likely that formatting is the solution to apply... However, it seems to me that running some tests would be advisable. You let me know that the issue first appeared following the migration to Windows 10. Would it be possible for you to test the hard drive on another PC, another version of Windows, just to see what behavior is manifested?
As for the hard drive in UDF, apparently it refers to the virtual CD (VCD) (the partition containing the Western Digital virtual CD-ROM, which is stored on the hard drive). It should appear as a device in UDF format. In my opinion, it's not the hard drive itself.
If you decide to come back here, please post a screenshot of Disk Management :) I would love to take a look at it. @99pb, what is the capacity of this UDF drive? Do you see it occupying the total capacity of the hard drive (1 TB)?
For the record, both UDF and NTFS are file systems (formats) assigned to different drives.
Do you not see, in Disk Management, a drive appearing as unallocated space?
Before doing anything, please share this information here?
I presume that the hard drive contains data you would like to recover... If so, try accessing it via a Linux Live CD. For Linux Live CD, the link here https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/live_usb will be very helpful. In short, it outlines the procedure to create a bootable USB stick with Linux on it and boot the PC from there. The USB stick to create must have a FAT32 partition, at least 3 GB of free space minimum, and a CD image in ISO or IMG format.
Alternative data recovery software, such as the suggestions here https://forums.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich-37640569-recuperer-des-donnees-sur-disque-dur-et-cle-usb, may also be considered.
Once the data is recovered, we can reformat the hard drive and put it back into use.
Looking forward to hearing from you, 99pb!
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If you found the answer to your question, feel free to click on Resolved to help other members with the same issue ;)
It is highly likely that formatting is the solution to apply... However, it seems to me that running some tests would be advisable. You let me know that the issue first appeared following the migration to Windows 10. Would it be possible for you to test the hard drive on another PC, another version of Windows, just to see what behavior is manifested?
As for the hard drive in UDF, apparently it refers to the virtual CD (VCD) (the partition containing the Western Digital virtual CD-ROM, which is stored on the hard drive). It should appear as a device in UDF format. In my opinion, it's not the hard drive itself.
If you decide to come back here, please post a screenshot of Disk Management :) I would love to take a look at it. @99pb, what is the capacity of this UDF drive? Do you see it occupying the total capacity of the hard drive (1 TB)?
For the record, both UDF and NTFS are file systems (formats) assigned to different drives.
Do you not see, in Disk Management, a drive appearing as unallocated space?
Before doing anything, please share this information here?
I presume that the hard drive contains data you would like to recover... If so, try accessing it via a Linux Live CD. For Linux Live CD, the link here https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/live_usb will be very helpful. In short, it outlines the procedure to create a bootable USB stick with Linux on it and boot the PC from there. The USB stick to create must have a FAT32 partition, at least 3 GB of free space minimum, and a CD image in ISO or IMG format.
Alternative data recovery software, such as the suggestions here https://forums.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich-37640569-recuperer-des-donnees-sur-disque-dur-et-cle-usb, may also be considered.
Once the data is recovered, we can reformat the hard drive and put it back into use.
Looking forward to hearing from you, 99pb!
--
-----
If you found the answer to your question, feel free to click on Resolved to help other members with the same issue ;)
So, I tested the drive on another PC with another version of Windows and indeed I have the same problem.
I took 3 screenshots of the disk manager to give you as much information as possible.
The first one is what appears as soon as I plug in the drive.
I click OK and then it says "Access denied" and I end up at screenshot n°2.
I must admit I had never noticed that before...
Anyway, then I click on my drive and I get to screenshot n°3.
Screenshot n°1 https://www.cjoint.com/c/FKqjc2liLOY
Screenshot n°2 https://www.cjoint.com/c/FKqjdrGX5AY
Screenshot n°3 https://www.cjoint.com/c/FKqjdGIHeIY
As for the UDF reader's capacity, well I have two answers...
If I base it on the information I have in screenshot 2, the drive has a capacity of 931.48 GB (logical).
If I base it on what appears when I click on my drive, screenshot 3, it drops to 7 MB capacity.
So if I understand correctly, it would indeed be due to the fact that my drive has no allocated partition (sorry if I just wrote something stupid).
So if I right-click on my drive as it appears in screenshot 2, I have the option to initialize the drive.
Could the solution be that simple?
https://www.cjoint.com/c/FKqjuLdZGPY
There's something else I forgot to mention. I have exactly the same problem with another external hard drive of 1TB, a Storex.
It also shows up as a disk drive.
I hope I was clear enough and that you’re not too confused with all these screenshots...
Thank you very much for your help, by the way! :-)
Indeed, if this HDD retains data you would like to recover, I don’t think initializing would be a good idea (screenshot 4).
What screenshot 3 shows, which is CD-ROM1 called WD Unlocker, drive F:, is not your external hard drive. It’s the virtual CD that the external hard drive contains (this virtual CD includes software, drivers, etc., that one might choose to use with this external hard drive). Your WD My Passport is Drive 1 (screenshot 2).
99pb, upon rereading the messages: both HDDs (WD and Storex) seem quite reluctant when connected to the PC running Windows 10. Have you tested them on another computer running a different version of Windows? I think it's worth testing.
In any case, the most important thing would be to know if you want to recover contents that these two HDDs hold or not. Depending on that, we’ll decide which course of action to take. See you later.
I tested the drives on another PC with an earlier version of Windows and I have the same problem.
It's still strange that suddenly, both of these hard drives have issues, isn't it?
I've had them for a while and they worked perfectly on both PCs...
And yes, if possible, I would like to be able to keep the data that is on them.
I hope you haven't initialized those two hard drives… Can you confirm this for me, please? :)
Have you tried other USB cables (you never know)… Since the situation persists on different configurations and different versions of the OS, I think the issue isn’t with the drivers… Still, it doesn't hurt to access the Device Manager: Generic USB Hub = > right-click = > Update driver software = > Browse my computer for driver software = > click on “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”
= > Repeat the same operation for all Generic USB Hubs
= > Then: right-click on Universal Serial Bus controllers = > Scan for hardware changes.
We could also think about updating the driver software: in the Device Manager > Disk drives > find the HDD > right-click on it > uninstall > disconnect the HDD > turn off the PC > turn the PC back on (not just a restart) > once Windows is loaded, connect the HDD and see what happens. If it reacts the same way and if you haven’t initialized any of the hard drives, we could consider some alternative solutions that would allow access to the content of the HDDs and recover it. If you decide to do this, first try only one of the two HDDs connected to the PC. We could either try a Linux Live CD or a solution among the suggestions from this article: https://forums.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich-37640569-recuperer-des-donnees-sur-disque-dur-et-cle-usb
Regarding the Linux Live CD, it’s a Linux distribution whose .ISO file is placed on a USB stick made bootable, for example, and that is launched on the PC directly from the USB stick, without being installed on the PC. Here’s an article explaining the procedure: https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/live_usb .
99pb, if you're not comfortable with this type of manipulation, we could consider entrusting the task to someone who knows what they’re doing.
Keep me updated, please :)
don't worry, I haven't touched anything, I haven’t initialized the disks.
So, I updated the USB drivers and uninstalled the HDD as you suggested, but unfortunately nothing has changed...
For data recovery, I always used software like Recuva since I'm not very experienced.
But if you think it's better to go through a Linux Live CD, I trust you.
Thank you.