External Hard disk Iomega 2 Tb recognized by pc but can't be formatted

well no it's not displayed as bad disk.
it looks like everything is going fine and dandy however the process bar doesn't move.
it's stuck to 0%

Another thing i think is important to mention is that as soon as i connect this hdd to any pc, or a sp3 for that matter, its files gets displayed and can be browsed as well.
However as soon as any kind of peration gets done( like opening a folder, or trying to format it , any kind of operation) then it goes dead.
gets unallocated and the error message : REALLOCATED SECTORS COUNT
appears avoiding windows or any system to recognize it anymore( and its led stops blinking as well)

Again OMG!:) In your post no.4 in response to my query to connect it to another PC and report you had said "i tried connecting it to another pc but the results are the same."

Now you are throwing me completely out of track. I am surprised and confused.:)

Please connect it to another PC and post the Disk Management screenshot.

And you mean PS3?(sp3) What happens when you try to play or save a few files to the PS3?

Can you please put out a screenshot of the error message on the PC?

I am retiring for the day. Wait to see if others here have any idea as to what is happening and continue.( May be I have completely misunderstood your narration. Let me read it again tomorrow from the beginning after finishing my medical checkup.)

with PS3 I MEANT PLAYSTATION3
anyway the partition wizaed process was going fine but after several hours it was atill at 2%

since i didn't feel like waiting 1 month and half i stopped and the hdd status turned into bad(see screenshot).

then i turned it off and on again and it's displayed as active just like everything is good(see screenshot).

Same thing as i explained before.
As soon as i connect it to any pc it's displayed fine and i can access to its file (afor a couple of secs).
But then it's not recognized anymore and the various programs i used display it as bad( and its led stops blinking).

i tried to format its partition instead, but as soon as the partition wizard program access it , the same results happen.
it doesn't get formatted and it turns into bad state, can't be accessed anymore and its led stops blinking.

then i turn it off and on and its displayed as good again(look at my last pic)

Yes. Your ext. HDD looks fine in the second screenshot with FAT32 and 100% full.

Somehow it is alternating between good and bad state. And this happens in every PC as you aver. jumanji is stumped!

Coming to PS3, you had mentioned it as sp3 and that is why I asked whether it is PS3.:)

What happens when you connect it to the PS3? Are you able to play the files? Try copying a few files to the PS3 and tell us what exactly happens.

Another investigative question. How did you FAT32 format the 2TB external drive? Which program?

Now let me run away for my medical checkup leaving this thread open to other experts. At the moment, I have no clue on what exactly is happening.:)

same thing if connected to a ps3 its files gets displayed and can be browsed as well.
However as soon as any kind of peration gets done( like opening a folder, or trying to cancel it , any kind of operation) then it goes dead.

i tried to format to fat 32 with partition wizard

but the process even though appears successfull actually isn't

it just takes like 1 sec to format it, but it's like it just closes the program instead.
after that the hdd is displayed as bad and i need to turn it off and then on in order to have it displayed again and has its led blinking

There are only two reasons ( as far as I know :)) why a HDD can appear RAW. a) the MBR is corrupt and b) the partition table is corrupt. But in either case the HDD will appear RAW in Windows all the time.

Now this is a strange condition where it appears fine to start with but turns RAW the moment you work on the data. The worst part is you are unable to do a low level format or regular format by any means. Those do not seem to have done anything and all the files are still visible.

OK, Now install and run Seatools for Windows (my post #10). Test it first with the drive inside the enclosure. Let us see what it brings.

(I am not asking what programs you have tried using to format the drive in its current state but how it was originally formatted to FAT32. Did you format it by using any programs that can FAT32 format drives larger than 32GB or it was in FAT32 format itself when you got it and you did nothing.)

hey again mate

well i had originally formatted it using EaseUS Partition.
This happened about 2 months ago since when i put my hands on this hdd for the first time it was on ntfs.
Ok now i'll try using that program you mentioned on your last post.
you know at the moment i'm using Partition Wizard but i'm not doing a full partition scan, but only a partial of 1000000000 at a time.
that way it takes about one day to reach 100%.
Then i 'll proceed from 1000000000 to 2000000000 and see if things improve over time.
does it make sense to you?
cheers

thanks but i don't really think it's likely the case of a faulty usb enclosure, since this hdd keeps having the same exact behaviour each single time.
As long as it stays connected to a pc but not a single operation gets done , it looks like it's working just fine.
However as soon as its files are somehow accessed, then this whole issue happens.

bobafetthotmail said:

I would suspect the USB enclosure at this point.
Can you take it off the enclosure and connect it to a PC as if it was an internal drive (as it is an internal drive in an external enclosure) and see if there are any issues or weird things?

Yes, you are absolutely right. And that is what I had suggested in my post #10.

"In rare cases, it may a fault in the interface electronics of the enclosure. Since you had already taken out the Seagate drive ( which I normally do not recommend before trying out all possible means in the enclosure), you can hook it up as a second internal drive in a desktop and run Seagate Sea Tools for Windows. It will be the ultimate test for the integrity of the hard drive.

SeaTools | Seagate# Also read the guide by clicking on the link at right.

Run the Quick Test and if it fails, run the long test. If it can, it will repair your drive."

Since it is already in the enclosure, I want the OP to try Sea Tools for Windows as it is and see what results it gives.

Then finally out of the enclosure, attached as a secondary drive and run SeaTools. What results do we get?

Then this experience will serve as a template for helping others in future when similar problems are encountered.

gabriel70 said:

thanks but i don't really think it's likely the case of a faulty usb enclosure, since this hdd keeps having the same exact behaviour each single time.
As long as it stays connected to a pc but not a single operation gets done , it looks like it's working just fine.
However as soon as its files are somehow accessed, then this whole issue happens.

In electronics, you can never say what happens and when. Sometimes the least suspected may turn out to be the cause. ( I also gave it least priority and hence the last to try. I had already stated that in rare cases it can be the cause and it may be that rare case here.)

I do not see any point in doing a partial scan. That is not going to help in anyway. We already know that all data is there. So abort it and go ahead with SeaTools first with the drive in its enclosure and then with the drive out and as a secondary drive in a desktop.

Request that you give us the feedback as elaborate as you can in both these tests so that it may be useful to help others.

We are almost clinching the issue, hopefully. Thanks to bobafethotmail for emphasizing what could be the ultimate cause.