WD Passport HD - Failed to recognize, Disk Not Initilized error

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  1. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #21

    StarCaptain said:
    ........And my external drive contains all my years of photography related work, I don't want to loose them........
    Nowhere before had you stated that you have important data on your external drive and you want to recover it.

    In that case the whole strategy should have been different with no attempt to initialise it or format it.

    You should have straight away gotten on to Data Recovery mode.

    You have, following mjf's instructions, run diskpart Clean command and that has really cleaned the first sector zeroing it. So now there is no MBR code/partition information in it. Fortunate you were unable to create a partition that would have destroyed all data or could have made it more difficult to recover.

    Not to worry. I am now formulating a strategy to rewrite the MBR - you have already said that Partition Wizard does not even show your external drive.

    For rewriting the MBR, we shall try using Bootice. Download Bootice v 1.1.5 rar file ( x86 or x64 as appropriate to your system) and extract the rar file into a folder to get the .exe file.

    Booooooooting • View topic - [ BOOTICE: A poweful boot-related utility ] - v1.1.5

    Plugin only the problem external drive (remove all other drives/pen drives), right click on the .exe file and run as administrator.

    Select your external drive and then click on Process MBR.

    WD Passport HD - Failed to recognize, Disk Not Initilized error-29-09-2013-19-46-11.jpg

    In the ensuing dialog box, select Windows NT 5.x / 6.x MBR and click on Install / Config tab.

    WD Passport HD - Failed to recognize, Disk Not Initilized error-29-09-2013-20-10-41.jpg

    Once the MBR is written, close Bootice and shut down your computer. Unplug the external drive.

    Reboot and then plug-in your external drive.

    Now run Partition Wizard.

    If the drive shows up, run Partition Recovery Wizard and try to recover the partition.

    Recover a flash drive turned RAW – Partition Wizard and TestDisk. (Go to the topic Recovery with Partition Wizard: SanDisk Cruzer Blade 16GB. In your case it will be your external drive)

    Note: In this procedure we are only trying to rewrite the MBR in the first sector. It in no way affects the data which remains in the other sectors. If Bootice is unable to see the Western Digital External drive, then we may have to resort to some other data recovery procedure. I am keeping my fingers crossed.:)
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  2. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #22

    You should have stated that you had valuable data on the HDD at the beginning. This software can be useful for extracting photos from a RAW disc. It doesn't rely on a file system
    Photorec.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #23

    Exactly.

    First let the OP start with the easy method.

    If Bootice can see the external drive, write the MBR and subsequently PW can find and write the partition table too, then his whole drive will be restored to the previous condition without any need of another external drive to copy the files.

    If not successful then PhotoRec. The OP has to start with connect another external drive too to copy the recovered files. The original folder structure will be lost.

    Guide to using PhotoRec recovery software.

    Copying files listed by PhotoRec: My external hard drive suddenly became unllocated:
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 13
    Windows 7 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #24

    jumanji said:
    Nowhere before had you stated that you have important data on your external drive and you want to recover it.

    In that case the whole strategy should have been different with no attempt to initialise it or format it.

    You should have straight away gotten on to Data Recovery mode.

    You have, following mjf's instructions, run diskpart Clean command and that has really cleaned the first sector zeroing it. So now there is no MBR code/partition information in it. Fortunate you were unable to create a partition that would have destroyed all data or could have made it more difficult to recover.

    Not to worry. I am now formulating a strategy to rewrite the MBR - you have already said that Partition Wizard does not even show your external drive.

    For rewriting the MBR, we shall try using Bootice. Download Bootice v 1.1.5 rar file ( x86 or x64 as appropriate to your system) and extract the rar file into a folder to get the .exe file.

    Booooooooting • View topic - [ BOOTICE: A poweful boot-related utility ] - v1.1.5

    Plugin only the problem external drive (remove all other drives/pen drives), right click on the .exe file and run as administrator.

    Select your external drive and then click on Process MBR.

    WD Passport HD - Failed to recognize, Disk Not Initilized error-29-09-2013-19-46-11.jpg

    In the ensuing dialog box, select Windows NT 5.x / 6.x MBR and click on Install / Config tab.

    WD Passport HD - Failed to recognize, Disk Not Initilized error-29-09-2013-20-10-41.jpg

    Once the MBR is written, close Bootice and shut down your computer. Unplug the external drive.

    Reboot and then plug-in your external drive.

    Now run Partition Wizard.

    If the drive shows up, run Partition Recovery Wizard and try to recover the partition.

    Recover a flash drive turned RAW – Partition Wizard and TestDisk. (Go to the topic Recovery with Partition Wizard: SanDisk Cruzer Blade 16GB. In your case it will be your external drive)

    Note: In this procedure we are only trying to rewrite the MBR in the first sector. It in no way affects the data which remains in the other sectors. If Bootice is unable to see the Western Digital External drive, then we may have to resort to some other data recovery procedure. I am keeping my fingers crossed.:)
    Wow..
    Thank you so much for your valuable time for such detail info. You guys doing great job.
    Ok, I will try out above steps during my evening, and will come back to you.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 13
    Windows 7 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #25

    mjf said:
    You should have stated that you had valuable data on the HDD at the beginning. This software can be useful for extracting photos from a RAW disc. It doesn't rely on a file system
    Photorec.
    Thank you again, though I have jpegs that are on G+ but i haven't stored pictures between 2005-2009. I may scared loosing them. I will come back to you on this tool usage.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 13
    Windows 7 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #26

    Interesting, I have downloaded Bootice and tried your steps. Process MBR doesnt shows up, looks like bootice unable to find required information.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails WD Passport HD - Failed to recognize, Disk Not Initilized error-bootice.png  
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  7. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #27

    OK, all the tabs are greyed out. Implies that all is not well with the drive. Looks like the drive is not reading at all. Hmmm... it can be a faulty interface card in the enclosure or the drive itself is dead.

    Now what? Go ahead with PhotoRec. Check whether it does some magic.

    If not, you may have to run Datalifeguard Diagnostics for Windows and run the Quick test. If it does not pass then the extended test. ( Do not run Write Zeroes) WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD VelociRaptor
      My Computer


  8. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #28

    Another thing to try of course is to try the HDD on another PC and again try a different USB cable if you haven't already. If both of these fail then it could be a faulty HDD controller card
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 13
    Windows 7 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #29

    Hello guys,

    back after a busy hectic week. I thinking to approach nearest Western Digital service center. Hope they would shed some light for this.

    Appreciate your time for taking to reply for me. You guys are really very help ful and doing great job.
      My Computer


  10. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #30

    Thanks for the compliments but you don't appear to have followed most of the suggestions given. Good luck at the service centre.
      My Computer


 
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