1TWD external hard disk unknown,not initialized,unallocated,i/o error

Use Mushkin SSDs. They stand behind their products and replace defective SSDs even after a couple of years.

I think reliability of HDDs internal and external is the luck of the draw. I have quite a number of external WD HDDs (portable and powered) and they have all served me well with no reallocated sectors. I go for the base models (Elements and My Book Essentials). I'd never install any WD backup type software on the drives.

I use CrystalDiskInfo to monitor the state of both HDDs and SSDs. It picks up some interesting settings on your SSDs (eg. APM, DevSleep). I use the portable versions which avoid OpenCandy Ads. The latest i chose was "Shizuku Edition [Simple&Update]". In the SMART data the reallocated sector count is an important measure to keep an eye on for HDDs. If it starts to climb unexpectedly you probably have a failing disk. If the controller fails you probably have no warning and I understand SSDs fail in the same manner.

jumanji said:

Hard disks these days have extensive error-correcting capabilities; when you start seeing I/O errors, that means that the built-in error correction is no longer able to correct for the errors. That normally means the disk is very close to outright failing, if it hasn't already failed.

Manufacturer's Diagnostic/repair uiility : Western Digital Data Life Guard Diagnostic for Windows. WD Support / Downloads / My Cloud Apps + Other Products / Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows

Go ahead and check your hard disk with this utility. If the Short Test fails, then Long Test. If the Long Test also fails, then RMA.

Hi Jumanji, I've similar problem like gcrazy, but I managed to run the WD test and pass the test. What shall I do next ? I got a lot of my precious data in there.. really sickening almost 4 days try to recover it.

If, as you say, your drive passes the WD test, then there is nothing you can do with WD, as they will not replace the drive if it passes the test.

Best thing to do at this point is migrate stuff off the drive to another drive as soon as you can.

I've had drives go from unreliable to totally failed in a couple of days. The more you delay migrating stuff off, the greater the likelihood that when you go to do it, the drive will be dead and you won't be able to recover anything.

The last WD drive that failed me was only a few months old.

Please post a screenshot of Windows Disk Management with only your problem HDD plugged in.

Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

Please make sure to hide the Console Tree and Action Pane by hitting the icons in the top Menu Bar so that we get a full view.

Also post a screenshot of Partition Wizard with that HDD.

Also tell us whether other external HDDs and pen drives are OK with your PC.

Did you try the problem HDD on another PC and check whether it could be read??

( I am out to Dental Care and can see it only after 12 hours.).

EDIT: You seem to have run Datalifeguard Diagnostics on your system drive and not the WD external drive.:) The external drive is listed . Did you really run the Short Test and Long Test? If not run it again. How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows

If we are talking about disk1, you have to initialize it. Right click on the smaller box where it says Disk1.