Unable to access external hard drive

Hello,

How old is this drive..? Has it undergone any shocks..? What model of WD is it..? What version of Windows is on the PC..? How long has it not been working..? Has it been used on anything else..? Another PC or MAC or TV for example.

"Saving this drive" may be partially possible, it must have compromising defects.

1° It must be recognized in the BIOS (the BIOS is not Windows), it provides its brand and model; please provide it here.

2° If it is well recognized in the BIOS, under Windows, run a manual command line

diskmgmt.msc

you will see the presentation of your disks from the PC ... Take a screenshot of this area by widening the window to see everything clearly.. it should be readable. and you paste it here

The message may also mean that Windows cannot read it... especially if it was not written under Windows... that doesn't mean it is empty or that there is nothing on it.
Do not modify anything with your programs, you might worsen the situation.

Hello Jeannets and thank you for responding.

The hard drive is a Western Digital My Passport 1TB. It must be about 7 years old. I only use it for my disk images/folders to backup PCs. It has not suffered any shocks, as I take care of it!!!!
On the PC, I have Windows 10. Yesterday morning I used it, and in the afternoon it no longer worked!!!???
If I have to lose what is on it, it's not a big deal! I will redo backups.

I was thinking of possibly using USB flash drives instead of the hard drive. What do you think? Which is better, the external hard drive or the USB flash drive?

We don't know if your disk is recognized in the BIOS..??

-- Here, your screenshot on Windows does not show your external USB disk. Disk 1 (F:) is "Removable," I suppose it's the CD/DVD drive... the missing disk was probably disk E:

-- Personally, I prefer HDDs or possibly SSDs which are silent and work with little power, a big advantage on a USB port... and they are not really sensitive to shocks.
https://www.amazon.fr/WD-Passport-Disque-portable-Finition/dp/B07MVWJZVS/ref=sr_1_27?c=ts&keywords=SSD%2Bexternes&qid=1649168104&s=computers&sr=1-27&ts_id=430415031&th=1

-- USB sticks, only for emergencies or data transfer... they are slow and unreliable for storing data over long periods... I've seen a lot of people lose all their photos or two years of studies at university... One beautiful morning, nothing left... and generally, nothing can be recovered.. (SSDs too)

-- I advise you to test your disk that is not responding, using this process, to see if it wants to work... try using another USB cable... and on another USB port... or even on another PC..

+++ HD_tune test disk

So download HD_tune here http://www.hdtune.com/files/hdtune_255.exe and install it on your PC... Run the tests "Benchmark... Health... Error Scan" one after the other, take a screenshot of each window... the disk icon is there for that... and post these images on the site "cjoint.com" remembering to paste the link of each here..
Be careful, the last one can be very long (the whole night) depending on the disk's capacity.

Hello everyone!
Jeannets, I am currently running tests with HDTUNE.

How can we tell if the external drive is recognized in the BIOS?
In the screenshot, the external drive is indeed Disk 1 (F:) "Removable".
I don't have another USB cable to test. However, I tested the external drive on another USB port and on another PC. It's the same!

Partition D (Documents) is accessible. That's where I keep all my files ......

For Quentin2121
If I run the diskpart commands, then list disk, I have Disk 0 which is the hard drive, Disk 1 which should be the DVD drive, and Disk 2 which is the external drive.

OK, the access to the BIOS and the BIOS menus vary depending on the model and brand of the PC, as well as the firmware author of the BIOS and its age... for a few years now, it has become graphic and you can use the mouse...
Generally, there is a place where all the drives are listed... And also a "Boot Devices" that serves to designate the first disk that boots the PC... And there, you have the list of everything that is recognized...
Let's say that if you attached a readable photo of a screen, we would recognize things, like the manufacturer of the BIOS.

Be careful with "Diskpart" commands, due to uncertainties about the numbering, you could very well format a disk that is not the right one... It's up to you.

One certainty for now: It's the Zero disk (around 1.5 TB) that boots the PC and is partitioned into four.
Your disk 1 could be a USB stick or your external drive..??
The disk 2 and the DVD do not appear in your screenshot, because you haven't scrolled down enough in your window..

I don't see the links to your screenshots of HD_tune..?? I can't guess the result.

If I see correctly, it's also you who is asking about a PC running XP..?

Jeannets, I've done the various HDTune scans. The link to download them is https://cjoint.com/c/LDgqb2NM1Fh
Since there are 5 files, I've put them all in a RAR file.
I'll do Quentin2121's procedure tomorrow, gently!

Jeannets, I indeed hadn't pulled down the computer management window low enough.
So, here's what it looks like:

OK, your 1TB disk 2 is "unallocated," it just needs to be formatted and it will appear in your Windows Explorer.

Right-click on it and choose "Create a Volume," then click OK, and do the same by choosing "Format."
Disk 2 should not be an "active" partition.

In your HD_tune test, you only tested one disk and it is good... there should be at least one or two more... Look at the top, there is a window with the disk references, you should have three... so change the reference to test the next one.

So keep testing.

for quentin2121. I tried to run your commands under diskpart in admin mode. When I try the format command, I get the serious hardware error message .................


jeannets. In the disk manager, disk2 is marked with a red dot (?). If I right-click it, the commands are grayed out. If I right-click where the red dot is, then initialize the disk, I get a serious hardware error ...................


I'm afraid there's nothing more to be done !!!!!

jeannets. If I run HD TUNE selecting the external drive, the result is immediate and all in red !!!!

Yes, this disk has problems... It's not new... How old is it...? What was it doing before...? Tell me more...?

I advise you to download and install this minitool partition wizard
https://www.clubic.com/telecharger-fiche324322-minitool-partition-recovery.html
and use this tool to initialize and format your disk 2, which seems to be recognized well...
Success is not guaranteed, but give it a try anyway.

In your POST 2, you could have initialized your disk 2 by clicking on OK in the pop-up window; that would at least have initialized your disk... (maybe)...
-- Right-click on "My Computer" > "Manage"==>............==> Right-click on the disk==> initialize the disk (disk 2)
Choose MBR == OK

On my post 2, if I click on ok, it tells me there is a hardware error.
The line "initialize disk" in disk management is grayed out. I don’t have access to it.


Using Wizard, I can't do anything. It says my disk is failing. The right click on it does not respond.

This record has problems... It's not new... How old is it...? What was it doing before...? Tell me more...?

quentin2121 : With the command chkdsk G: /F /R => unable to open the volume for direct access. Anyway, the volume is not named, or is no longer named.

Jeannets : I provided these answers in my second post.

OK sorry, I didn't memorize.

You can try "Recoverit" to attempt to recover your data https://recoverit.wondershare.fr/data-recovery.html

You will see from the response of this tool..

and also this one https://www.ontrack.com/fr-fr/recuperation-donnees/logiciel

I believe the zero track is broken with the partition table and it can no longer find its way..

If you need to recover something... You need to have another empty disk nearby to receive the recovered files...
You don't save files on a disk with defects..

Hello Jeannets.

I don't particularly care about retrieving the data. It's just backups, and I'll redo them once I've bought a new external hard drive.
Speaking of which, I'm hesitating between a Seagate, a WD, a Toshiba, or this one: https://www.amazon.fr/Disque-Externe-USB3-1-Ordinateur-Bureaup/dp/B09WZSCMTB/ref=sr_1_12_sspa?__mk_fr_FR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=disque%2Bdur%2Bexterne%2B2to&qid=1649351203&s=computers&sr=1-12-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzVk1JS0IxTDVTM0dKJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjIzMTcyVzY0WUJDNkNaR0wxJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA3NzQ1NDJCM0pRQjQxTFpNQ0gmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1

If you are not trying to retrieve data from this disk, there's no point in going any further. This disk is dead due to internal technical failures...

Your Amazon link shows an interesting disk, too bad there are no technical specifications about the disk... One thing: it is USB-3.1... You need to be cautious... USB 3.1 supports significantly higher currents than USB2, which is still very common... If your disk requires USB3 to operate, due to the currents, it will not work on USB2... Certainly, the interface remains compatible for data, but not for the power supply... An external power supply is needed.

For other brands, Seagate and WD are good... Nothing more.