WD HDD unable to access.. win 7

thepioneer747 · 15 Nov 2015

Hi

I have a 2 TB hdd of WD.

Whenever I try connecting to system all this happens -

1. my computer hangs
2. disk management never loads
3. System does not shutdown, it keeps waiting on the screen- shutting down.
4. I have 4 partitions on HDD, mostly 2 of them I cannot access, the rest I can access.

Troubleshoot steps I did -

1 tried running wd utilities, the hdd doesn't gets detected.
2. Cant format it as I have important data.
3. Tried accessing hdd from command prompt only working partitions can be accessed.

Please help.

ICIT2LOL · 18 Nov 2015

Hello pioneer747 mate if it is just data you need for the time being try this
BOOTABLE UBUNTU
Make a bootable Ubuntu disk Get Ubuntu | Download | Ubuntu
Set the BIOS to boot from the optical when the machine boots it will show you a screen with TRY or INSTALL > select TRY not INSTALL
When it is finished - it takes very little time you will get a screen like in the pic .
Open the drive you want > User and dig down until you get to the data / settings you may be able to copy / paste the material you want to an external source or other installed drive doing this.
I am not sure if it will but I have recovered tons of data etc using this method both on "dead" or just plain drives that you cannot get data from using Windows.

You could also run these as well before you try the Ubuntu
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker
Disk Check < if necessary include the /f and /r in the command line as per Option2

CKWD · 19 Nov 2015

Hello thepioneer747!

I'm sorry for your issue with the WD drive! :/

I suppose this is an external drive, which model is it, a My Passport, My Book etc.? How old is the drive and is there valuable data you need from the drive? What happened prior to the issue occurring?

I understand when you connect the drive, you can only access two out of four partitions, but at the same time the system and Disk Management hang and lag?

I would suggest changing the USB cable you are using. Do also try ICIT2LOL's suggestion with the bootable flash drive. You could also try and see if the dedicated WD software can see the drive. Download the WD Data Lifeguard Software and check the SMART status of the drive and do a Quick test.

Post back with results!

CK_WD

thepioneer747 · 20 Nov 2015

Hi everybody..

I tried using the same HDD on a MAC, surprisingly it worked there. So I have copied my data. Mac cannot write NFTS files, so had to format another hdd to fat32.

CKWD - What you mentioned, thats exactly what is happening. I would now take complete backup through MAC then I will reformat it.

CKWD · 20 Nov 2015

Try reformatting through Windows and through Mac, if necessary try diskpart in Windows, too:

1. Open the Start Menu, type diskpart, press Enter
2. Type list disk, press Enter
3. Type select disk X (where X is the number the certain drive), press Enter
4. Type clean, press Enter
5. Type create partition primary, press Enter
6. Type format quick fs=ntfs, press Enter
7. Type assign letter=X, press Enter
8. Type exit, press Enter

If they don't work, try writing full zeros first then formatting, you could use the WD DLG for this.

Good luck! :)

CK_WD