Windows 7: [HELP] WD Elements 1023 chkdsk issue

Hi, I have a 500 GB WD Elements 1023. And whenever I try plugging it in, the scan and fix option pops up, after googling a bit, people recommended to use chkdsk instead of running the scan and fix option.

So I did, here's what I got with the chkdsk command:






After it showed some problems, I ran it again with the /f or fix attrib. and here's what I got:



And btw, these scans took me a little while (around 1-3 mins) before it was done. Maybe it has something to do with the available space on my drive, I have 66GB free out of 500GB. Now I can't copy, paste, or even delete any file on my external hard drive.

There are some very important files on my external hard drive, and I cant afford to lose all my work. I really need help on this one guys. Can you give me any suggestions what options do I have to save this drive? Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you very much kind sirs and madams.

I don't see bad sectors in the first check. But you can try tool called WD diagnostics. For really check if harddrive has bad sectors and how bad.
Keep us noticed after the WD diagnosis.

How about the second check? It says that there isnt enough space to replace bad clusters. What does that mean? and what can I do to fix that?


EDIT:

How can I free up some space on my drive if I cant delete anything?

These are the files available for download for my drive: WD Support / Downloads / WD Elements / WD Elements SE Portable

Currently doing the WD Data LifeGuard Diagnostics - Extended Test. Though, the SMART Status says it passed. But still, i'm doing the test. Be posting the results soon.

First, "Scan & Fix" is CheckDisk.

Second, do you know why your external drive is formatted exFAT? Do you have some kind of security or encryption software on that drive?

Third, if it were me I would immediately work on recovering and backing up that data to another drive before doing any further repair work. There is always a risk in fixing file system errors in losing data. You could start with a program like RECUVA to see if it can read and copy from the drive.

If you can recover and backup your data then you can try many fixes without pressure. If all else fails you could just wipe the drive clean and format it NTFS, then copy all the data back.

Yes, I am aware of this, but for some reason, when I tried doing the "Scan & Fix", it wasn't making any progress at all. Then I tried the manual method, it gave me those outputs.


No, not really. When I got the drive it was formatted this way. And I've been wanting to reformat it to NTFS, I just didn't have the time to back everything up.

When I first posted this I wasn't able to copy or read from the drive. But when I tried it a little earlier, and chose the "Continue without scanning" option on the pop-up, I was able to read and copy though I wasn't able to delete anything. And yes, I will be backing up the contents but I can't now since I don't have any spare drives yet. I may be able to back it up in a few days. Would there be a problem if I continue using this drive for pulling up files until I get a spare drive? Or should I just leave it alone 'till I'm able to back-up everything?

Yes, looks like this is gonna be my best option.




The WD Diagnostics stopped and gave me this error:



Is this a bad thing?


Thank you so much for responding. Highly appreciate it.

Yes, that WD Diagnostic result is a bad thing.

If it were me I would not use the drive until I could start backing up the data. You just can't tell right now if this is a simple file system corruption or a failing hard drive. Further testing could determine this, but you run the risk of the scans and/or corrections causing the loss of data. If the drive is failing then using it runs the risk of moving closer to total failure.

This is simply a matter of how important the data really is to you.
If it is critically important then I would drop everything, run to the store, pay more money than necessary, and buy a new external drive to do the backups.
If the data is not that important then I might order an external drive online for less money, wait to get the drive, wait for the weekend, and then do the transfer.

It's your data. It's your decision.

There is 1 more good tool that show the harddrive physics.
MHDD its bootable CD that's work from dos. If you see many sectors that the answer time is long or some red sectors. Try backup and get Rid from the harddrive asap.

I see. Thank you so much for the help. sevenforums never fails. I'll be backing everything up today. Thanks again.

Gah, been a busy week for me. Anyway, I was able to backup and re-format my external HDD. It's now formatted in NTFS, and I already copied some of my old files to it, but another problem rises. It now takes a while before my laptop can detect it and when it does, it slows down my laptop tremendously. I ran chkdsk again and it found no errors, but when I ran the WD Diagnostic Tool again, it gave me the same error as it did before. "Too many bad sectors detected" Any suggestions would be highly appreciated mates. Thanks again.