External Hard Drive not safely removable

GrayGhost2 said:

Hi "Computer0304" :)
Have you looked at -OR- posted a thread on the WD forum ??

As has been suggested if your drive is faulty, you are putting yourself through a lot of stress for nothing.
Lady Fitzgerald can help you recover your data.

I totally agree with Lady Fitzgerald
Her suggested new drive is a good one, she is well qualified to help you.

When you are logged in -- if you look at Lady Fitzgerald posts, in the left side panel -- her credentials are impeccable.

Those Gold Member, Supporter, Seven Guru bars are not awarded lightly. She is extremely well qualified.

If you keep rejecting suggestions on any forum, helpers with drop out and you will be left with the problem and ignored.

If you only trust Microsoft, phone them and pay (about $80/$100 per hour, last I heard) to solve your problem.
... there is no guarantee that they will be prepared to help you either

On this forum you can have help for nothing $0.

One of the many lessons in life is learning to juggle "trust" and "discernment"

Lady Fitzgerald is giving you good advice. Trust her.

Ok thank you for the advice. I will trust Lady Fitzgerald and follow her instructions. I think that I sometimes get too obsessed about my computer. But I'm not sure if I'm ever goingto solve this.

Good on you.
I remember how terrified I was of doing something wrong when I got my first PC.
There were no forums no internet ... I am a dinosaur ... you are in safe hands here.

Keep us posted as to how you get on.
I will stay subscribed to your thread

Next step .. get that new hard-drive.

You will resolve it ... one step at a time (I understand how over whelming it can look at first)

Regards
Russell :)

Computer0304 said:

essenbe said:

SFC will not cause any problems at all, using the computer or not. It simply scans and attempts to repair system files. It is possible that it may be better if you don't use the computer while running it, but I've never heard that. I do not see any way bad sectors could spread while the hard drive is off. However, you said it runs on USB power. If it is plugged in, it is on. Why not, plug it in and run check disk. Disk Check It will take quite a while to run it, so just let it run until completed.

Could something go wrong durning chkdsk and corrupt files? Also to fix problems, what argument do I have to use? I'm scared to lose anything on the drive when it's fixing bad sectors. And by spreading bad sectors, I mean hard bad sectors. Are hard bad sectors even fixable?

No.

Hi "Computer0304"

I just read "AddRam's" post.
Good info but...
First things first, get your new HDD and get back to this thread.

And if your are not sleeping at night ... some reading about SFC /scannow it comes with Windows Vista/7

. . . personally I like to let the PC do its system stuff, others will not agree with me (so I have a cup of coffee or tease the cat while my PCs grind away)

Remember one step at a time. :)

I downloaded "Sync" (... for "Computer0304" ... published by Microsoft Corporation)
When I ran the extracted "sync.exe" a command window opened but I had to agree to terms and conditions first. As soon as I agreed, the cmd window was gone. Since then not a murmur of life from "sync.exe"
Neither Search nor Run recognise Sync.exe.
Authors site offers no "how to use" nor guidance.

I searched "SysInternals sync usage"
and got this

edit: unfortunately SysInternals stuff always posts the "nag screen" if you want to call it that, on first run. It's confusing the first time you encounter it.

Just run sync from an Administrative command prompt. If you don't know how to open such, search the tutorials section. There's a step by step.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

To avoid confusing the OP, why don't we hold off on the suggestions until he can get another HDD and get his data backed up first. He shouldn't be doing anything with the problem drive until then.

Ok then, I will try sfc scannow first. Then I will try chkdsk to check if the hard drive is okay. Then I will try the third party software. But I will not use it if my antivirus blocks it. But I'll remember to copy the files on my computer hdd before doing this in case the hard drive is really faulty. Last, if all else fails, I will get a new hard drive.
I have tried running WD Disk Utilities on it and the SMART test and the self test passed. Maybe I should try chkdsk on the external hard drive.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Computer0304 said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

To avoid confusing the OP, why don't we hold off on the suggestions until he can get another HDD and get his data backed up first. He shouldn't be doing anything with the problem drive until then.

Ok then, I will try sfc scannow first. Then I will try chkdsk to check if the hard drive is okay. Then I will try the third party software. But I will not use it if my antivirus blocks it. But I'll remember to copy the files on my computer hdd before doing this in case the hard drive is really faulty. Last, if all else fails, I will get a new hard drive.
I have tried running WD Disk Utilities on it and the SMART test and the self test passed. Maybe I should try chkdsk on the external hard drive.

I give up!

Ok but thank you for the help.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Computer0304 said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

To avoid confusing the OP, why don't we hold off on the suggestions until he can get another HDD and get his data backed up first. He shouldn't be doing anything with the problem drive until then.

Ok then, I will try sfc scannow first. Then I will try chkdsk to check if the hard drive is okay. Then I will try the third party software. But I will not use it if my antivirus blocks it. But I'll remember to copy the files on my computer hdd before doing this in case the hard drive is really faulty. Last, if all else fails, I will get a new hard drive.
I have tried running WD Disk Utilities on it and the SMART test and the self test passed. Maybe I should try chkdsk on the external hard drive.

I give up!

Wait does that mean you will never help me??? :O