Unable to initialize external HDD in Disk Management due to I/O error

Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast

  1. Posts : 64
    Windows 7 Pro x86; Pro x64; Home Prem x64; and others....
       #11

    diskpart
    list disk
    select disk 3 (without the parentheses)
    chkdisk /f
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 15
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #12

    A quick update:

    It seems that the behavior I'm experiencing on Windows 7 x64, I'm also experiencing on Windows XP.

    Therefore, it seems that I need to:

    1. Try and restore any data I can from the drive
    2. Format it and make it usable again.

    How can I do that if the drive is not visible in "My Computer"?

    Thank you again for all your help
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #13

    Try to access the hard drive with Linux. Mount your external drive and copy the files to the internal drive (if space is available) or to another external drive.

    Lucid Puppy way to recover files from a non-bootable computer
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 15
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #14

    jumanji said:
    Try to access the hard drive with Linux. Mount your external drive and copy the files to the internal drive (if space is available) or to another external drive.

    Lucid Puppy way to recover files from a non-bootable computer
    Thanks Jumanji! I'll give it a try.

    Edit: I see that I need to boot from the USB device that has lucid puppy, but my bios doesn't support boot from USB. Will booting from CD-rom work instead?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 26,863
    Windows 11 Pro
       #15

    Does the drive show in disk management? Right click computer, select manage, and select disk management from the left column. If it shows there, right click the drive, select change drive letter and path, then select add. Select a drive letter from the dropdown menu. It should show up in explorer then.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 15
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #16

    essenbe said:
    Does the drive show in disk management? Right click computer, select manage, and select disk management from the left column.
    When I do that, I immediately get a dialog box saying that "You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it" and it shows me the disk. However, when I try to initalize the disk, it fails with the message "The system cannot find the file specified."

    If it shows there, right click the drive, select change drive letter and path, then select add. Select a drive letter from the dropdown menu. It should show up in explorer then.
    The disk is shown as "Disk 2 Unknown" and as not initialized. It doesn't appear in the list of volumes so I cannot change the drive letter.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 26,863
    Windows 11 Pro
       #17

    tommythecat said:
    jumanji said:
    Try to access the hard drive with Linux. Mount your external drive and copy the files to the internal drive (if space is available) or to another external drive.

    Lucid Puppy way to recover files from a non-bootable computer
    Thanks Jumanji! I'll give it a try.

    Edit: I see that I need to boot from the USB device that has lucid puppy, but my bios doesn't support boot from USB. Will booting from CD-rom work instead?
    Yes, booting from CD will work as well. Once you copy your files off, let us know and we will try to help you reformat the drive with Partition Wizard. Look at option 2.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 742
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
       #18

    If the drive is visible from Command prompt, you can copy the files from command prompt.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #19

    tommythecat said:
    jumanji said:
    Try to access the hard drive with Linux. Mount your external drive and copy the files to the internal drive (if space is available) or to another external drive.

    Lucid Puppy way to recover files from a non-bootable computer
    Thanks Jumanji! I'll give it a try.

    Edit: I see that I need to boot from the USB device that has lucid puppy, but my bios doesn't support boot from USB. Will booting from CD-rom work instead?
    Yes, you can straightaway burn the ISO to a CD and boot Lucid Puppy from it.( I chose to to do it on a pendrive, since it will be useful to those who do not have an optical drive on their machine )
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 15
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #20

    joodoo said:
    diskpart
    list disk
    select disk 3 (without the parentheses)
    That indeed work.

    chkdisk /f

    This didn't work as there's no chkdisk command in Windows 7's diskpart (I typed "help" and it chkdisk didn't appear in the list of supported commands).
      My Computer


 
Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 23:34.
Find Us