disk not initialized in Disk Management. Device Not Ready.

I have a internal 3.5" HDD WD Black 2 TB and try to hook it up in the PC but it doesnt not appear anymore in My Computer. It was working few weeks ago. When opening Disk Management it says the disk is not initialized and it didnt state how many GB available on the hard disk (unallocated). Disk Management tried to initialized the hard disk and it pops out the following errors:
1. Virtual Disk Manager: Incorrect Function
and
2. Virtual Disk Manager: The device is not ready.

I have also tried using a powered USB cable and also connected in directly to the MoBo via SATA but the problem still persist.

I also ran disk part and it shows Disk 3 and Disk 4 as both online but both having size of 0 B

Below is the screen shot of Disk Management. When i right click on the HDD, there are four functions: Initialize Disk, Offline, Properties and Help however the the Initialize Disk function is greyed out.



I have Partition Wizard 9.1 and the attached picture below is the screenshot of the main GUI. It shows bad disk on the particular hard disk
Click image for larger version.



I tried running Partition Recovery Wizard on the mentioned HDD and it shows a partition of only 512 Bytes but none of my files are visible (no preview)



I just need to retrieve the files in the Hard disk as it contains important files and pictures that havent been backed up. Any help and suggestions are welcomed! Thanks

I submitted this post in tenforums and sevenforums on an old thread. Its better to start a new one. THis is the reply from jumanji from the sevenforums thread. I will continue posting replies on this thread instead
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...t-initialized-unallocated-14.html#post3245414

jumanji said:

I am still trying to understand your system.

Please furnish the following Information.

1. You have a Windows 10 System. Is it a custom-built one? Built by you?

2.In the Windows Disk Management I see three drives.Disk 0, Disk 1 and Disk 2. All three Internal?

3. You are now trying to plug-in /connect two drives. But both of these cannot be accessed. Right?

Now the crucial question. 4. Where were these drives before? Please give the history of both drives. Both drives data drives? What happened to the system from which they came?

I may not be able to deal with the drives connected to Windows 10 - for I don't know how it will treat alien drives. As I see it both drives are bad ( In Windows 10).

I do understand that you have a SATA to USB adapter. Can you just take one drive - mark it as No 1 --, connect it to a Windows 7 system and post the screenshots of Windows Disk Management and PW screenshot? Always post full screenshots with all information seen and not truncated/cut screenshots.

Mark the other drive as Drive 2, unplug drive No.1 , plug in drive No2 and again repeat the screenshots. We shall not mix drive 1 and drive 2 together. It will lead to confusion. We shall deal with only one at a time.

I would rather prefer to work within a known environment.

Click to expand...

1. Yes it is a windows 10 system. Custom built by me

2. In Disk management there are three healthy drives. All drives are internal
Disk 1: SSD (where windows is insalled)
Disk 0: WD Black 2TB (one partition)
Disk 3: WD Green 2TB (one partition)

3. I am trying to plug in 1 drive (internal HDD WD 2TB Black) It is not the same as Disk 0. I dont know why it shows two drives in disk management when i plugged in it on the motherboard via Sata. If i were to use an external USB cable it shows 1 drive.

4. This HDD WD 2TB was the primary HDD but few weeks back there was a power shortage/blackout and after that the WD Black 2TB had shown some problems. Sometimes it will not show on My Computer which somehow is a sign that this HDD is going to die. Therefore i bought a new HDD, same brand, model and capacity (which is now Disk 0) and copied some 60% of the files from the old one. Now i wanted to copied 40% of the files and tried plugging it in and this problem occurs. I should've made a clone instead, but due to busy schedule i just managed to copied some files. Lesson learnt!

Im able to connect it to a windows 7 system but can only do that via the SATA to USB cable because i am running Windows 7 on my laptop. No way to connect it directly on Motherboard via SATA cable. I will upload in the next post (need to shutdown pc and remove HDD)

Here is the screenshot in disk management when HDD is attached to Windows7 via USB SATA.
The HDD does not show in PW though.

OK, your WD 2TB drive was in fact a secondary drive in your Windows 10 system which you have now replaced with another WD 2TB drive.( We normally call the boot drive as the Primary HDD. Any other internally connected HDD is a secondary drive and a data drive.)

Now coming to your present setup, Windows 7 laptop, the WD 2TB drive plugged in with SATA to USB adapter. PW does not recognise it.

Download, install and run Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows. Run as administrator. Software and Firmware Downloads | WD Support

Perform a Quick Test - Only the Quick Test - and post the results. How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows | WD Support

If the diagnostic software does not recognise the presence of the WD drive - No DIY data recovery is possible. Most probably the electronics PCB in the HDD has failed. WD Data Recovery Partners may have the exact replacement board and be able to recover the data. You may not get the exact replacement PCB.

If the diagnostic software recognises the WD drive and is able to run the test, irrespective of the PASS/Fail status, we may try to run some data recovery software and check whether something clicks. But its only trying your luck. If any such data recovery software fails to recognise the drive, no luck.

That is where we stand now.

when i mentioned primary HD it is just because the disk was renamed to the name primary HD. It is actually a a secondary HDD where i store my programs files

Ive ran the quick test. Test results shows pass but with 0.0GB capacity ive attached the screenshot in this post

WD Data Recovery Partners may have the exact replacement board and be able to recover the data. You may not get the exact replacement PCB.

Click to expand...

Where can i get such board?

It is a false positive. It reads 0 GB - does not read even one single sector - and gives a PASS. If the drive is recognised correctly it should indicate the Model Number, Unit Serial Number, Firmware Number, and Capacity as in the screenshot below.



It is definitely the failure of the PCB in the drive. Look at the PCB very carefully. There should be some sort of part identification number in it. ( It could be in the invisible backside also).You should get exactly the same part number board if you want to replace it. As I said it may well be impossible to get the same part Number board especially if it is a many years old drive. Manufacturers change the chips and/or firmware in the board often. So the board in the same model current drive may or may not work. Lots of uncertainities. The data recovery job is best left to WD Data Recovery Partners, who as I said may have the board in their jig, or even rejig one with the same components, flash the same firmware and recover the data. I do not know exactly what they do but they can do it. If you want to get your data , cost no matter that is the only way to go. You can contact the data recovery partners in your zone and discuss. Telephonic consultation is free. They may also give you a quote.

Data Recovery | WD Support

It is definitely beyond my hands/brains - if I have any left .

Please read my previous post.

Then google "Changing the PCB in an internal HDD for data recovery" Read and see whether that makes it easy for you to swap the PCB.

Also have a look at this supplier. How to Fix a Hard Drive PCB Board - HDDzone.com . You may find other suppliers too.

thanks anyways for your help. I know from the beginning it is a gone case. oh well my mistake for not making frequent backups. I will look into swapping the PCB Board and thanks for the info.