External Hard Drive will not let me reformat it any way I try

F5ing: This is going to be difficult - post# 1 indicates lots of pain trying to run much, including Disk Mgmnt, with the device attached. Not that a Disk Mgmnt screen wouldn't help

I've had some issues with WD ext HDs that I haven't seemed to be able to resolve. I don't think it's just WD though, Windows seems to have issues with large ext HD in general.

WDC Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows
Don't worry about the HD referenced in the link, Lifeguard Diags are generic for WD drives. There should be an option to restore to factory settings. Just make sure you select the correct drive because the util knows about all drives, not just WD.

Run the quick test (might not be so quick on your drive =:> and post results
or
if you're already committed to formating,
Select write zeros / quick.

Disconnect the drive and boot your machine.
Connect the drive and..........

Good move and good trouble shooting (trying another PC and particularly using a 3.0 USB port)

You might consider copying the files to a new folder instead of the desktop. The new folder could be on your desktop or in your documents folder or anywhere else. the ""file not transferrable" could be due to the special nature of Desktop.

But yeah, copy as much viable data as you can. I'm not real confident that you can recover data after a format, sometimes you can, sometimes you can't.

Bill

displayname2 said:

.....
Yes I do know that the data will be erased. I was also hoping maybe I could recover the files with another software after formatting it.

However, I recently inserted this external HDD into a USB 3.0 port on a different computer and I got excited after the files showed up. I immediately copied over everything to the desktop but kept getting errors such as "file not transferrable" every now an then which I'd have to skip that file.

My plan now is to get as much data off the external HDD using that USB 3.0 port and then reformat it trying the select volume option.

Hmmm, well the first thing I see that I don't like to see is BD-rom. I don't know if this is causing the error, but this is the 2nd or 3rd time DAEMON tools shows up when someone asks for assistance on an ext HD not being recognized.


Please uninstall DAEMON tools. this alone probably won't solve the issue, but it moves one possible cause out of the way. 7-zip provides the same function plus more and it doesn't mess around with simulating hardware.


Then try the WD utility, the DOS version might work better if the Windows version won't load or loads slow because of the issue you're trying to solve.

Have your checked your system for malware?

Malwarebytes and ESET Online Scanner are both excellent tools. They are scanners however and neither provide real-time protection.

What AV product do you use?

And.....just to be sure there isn't an update waiting that might be part of the problem run Windows Update
- Control Panel -> Windows update.
Hide (rt click the update, select hide) any hardware updates for the moment - Accept everything else for Windows.

Some folks rely on the automatic updates, and sometimes recommended updates don't get applied. Best to check using the full blown Windows Update in Control Panel.

I'm suggesting a lot of things, take your time. Don't try to do everything at once.

Do one action and post your results, then do the next. Keep folks on this side informed because we can't see what you see.

Thanks,

Bill
.

You can try to set the disk inactive, offline the disk, srub the mount data, disconnect the drive, & reboot.
In an elevated command prompt, type the following commands (don't type my comments in parentheses)

Usually your internal hard drive is Disk 0. But things might change when hardware acts up.

Be certain that you select the ext HD from the list provided in "List Disk".

diskpart

list disk
select disk # (make sure it's the correct disk)
list disk (selected disk identified with *)

list part
select part # (make sure it's the correct partition)
list part (selected partition identified with *)

list vol
select vol # (make sure it's the correct volume)

list disk (selected disk identified with *)
list part (selected partition identified with *)
list vol (selected volume identified with *)

inactive (set current disk inactive)


automount scrub (clean up mount information for the disk)
remove all
remove dismount

list disk (selected disk identified with *)
list part (selected partition identified with *)
list vol (selected volume identified with *)

detail disk (you might have to select or specify a disk # from the list - detail all disks that are listed and post the information)

exit (exit diskpart)
exit (exit cmd prompt)

shut down your machine
physically disconnect the ext HDD
restart your machine

What drives do you see - a disk mgmnt screenshot would be great here.
Connect the ext HD - what happens? Slow down?
another dsk mgmnt screen if you can - with the drive attached

Do be careful using diskpart - VERY careful - ask if you have any questions first.