WD external hard drive not initialized.

PBancroft · 07 May 2014

Hi, thanks for trying to help me with this.

I recently moved and had my external hard drive disconnected and in storage for several months. It is a Western Digital model# WD500H1U-00. It has a separate power supply. There is a blue light on the front that is illuminated all the time, except when I connect the HD, then it will flash. When I got unpacked I hooked it up to my desk top and the computer would not access it. I then tried to install it on my laptop with no success. Since then I purchased a USB cord, with no luck.

This hard drive has a LOT of irreplaceable information on it. Formatting it is not an option.

Kevin at SpywareHammer.com was helping me with some other stuff and suggested I:

Regarding the ext HD, try this please:

1) Control panel===>administrative tools===>computer management===>Disk management

2) You'll Should see a list of Disks, Is Disk 1 listed with no partition letter assigned? if so continue

3) Right mouse click into the disk field, select Change drive letter and paths ===> choose a letter from the drop down, select OK. the HD should now be available.

No luck here either. When I right click on the disk field nothing happens. When I right click on the title block(?) I get: Initialize Disk (faded), Offline, Properties and, Help.

Kevin suggested I have you guys take a look at it.

Here are a couple of screen shots.

Attachment 316989

Attachment 316990

PBancroft · 07 May 2014

I also downloaded "MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition". That program did not recognize the HD.

jumanji · 07 May 2014

Hi PBancroft,

Welcome to SevenForums.

The links appear broken. Please upload again.

PBancroft · 07 May 2014

Sorry, not sure what happened there, but I got them to work. Any ideas?

WD external hard drive not initialized.-capture.jpg

WD external hard drive not initialized.-capture2.jpg

PBancroft · 10 May 2014

Bump. Any ideas? I have seen threads about removing the hard drive from the case and running it through an adapter. Is that what I am going to have to do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

jumanji · 10 May 2014

Unknown.... not initialised ..... no indication of capacity. The prognosis is bad indeed.

Your drive could have been physically damaged during the transit. That is my first thought. In such a case no software can retrieve your data and you may have to seek a professional data Recovery Service.

Anyway, first check your WD with Western Digital Datalifeguard Diagnostic for Windows WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD VelociRaptor

( Do check the WD Support page for your particular WD model and confirm the same version applies to it.)

Run the short test and if it fails, the Long Test with repair option and see whether there is any hope of reviving it "as it is".

Please report the test results.

You may also run MiniTools Partition Wizard Home Edition v 8.1.1. Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online

If Partition Wizard shows your drive as a BAD Disk , then you may have no other option but to take the HDD out and see whether it works when hooked as a second internal drive in a desktop.

That is all the best you can do, IMO

EDIT: Before doing any of these, just click on the "Populate " tab on the WD Properties Window (your second screenshot) and see whether it does some magic.

PBancroft · 11 May 2014

Hi jumanji, thanks for helping with this. I agree it does not look good, but I thought it was worth a shot.

Populate failed in the WD properties field.

Here is the result of the Velociraptor test.

Test Option: QUICK TEST Model Number: WD Unit Serial Number:
Firmware Number: 1.65 Capacity: 0.00 GB SMART Status: Not Available Test Result: PASS Test Time: 09:38:17, May 11, 2014
Test Option: EXTENDED TEST Model Number: WD Unit Serial Number:
Firmware Number: 1.65 Capacity: 0.00 GB SMART Status: Not Available Test Result: FAIL Test Error Code: 08-Unable to repair bad sectors. Test Time: 10:08:07, May 11, 2014

The partition wizard did not even recognize the external hard drive.

WD external hard drive not initialized.-minitool.jpg

So it looks like its toast.
Do you have any recommendations on where to proceed? Directions how to remove the hard drive and get it hooked up so I can recover the info?

I really appreciate your help.

Thanks, Pete.

jumanji · 11 May 2014

If it is unrepairable bad sectors which the diagnostics found, there is simply no point in taking out the drive and hooking it up as a second drive. You will get the same result. Instead you can talk to Tech support of WD/ the vendor and explore getting a replacement if the drive is still under warranty/extended vendor guarantee.( Or even otherwise to find what WD Tech support says.)

(OK, even in the first post you said PW did not find the drive. That had escaped my mind.)

If there had been a deluge of bad sectors spread all over the platters, even if you try to recover data by any means, what all you will get - if at all you get something - will be corrupted and useless files.

Wait to see if other experts here suggest that you should still go ahead and try data recovery based on their perceptions and personal experience.

Here is a similar thread just hours back: Exteranl HDD - Unknown, Not Initialized and no disc size in Disk Manag

PBancroft · 11 May 2014

Thanks jumanji. I really appreciate your help. I doubt it, but hopefully someone else will see this and have a miracle solution.

Frozwire · 12 May 2014

If the disk can be detected in BIOS and in Disk Management then you can try to use this Partition Find and Mount tool.