Cannot initialize external hard drive (cyclic redundancy check)

[nicolaii]

My external hard drive is no longer detected by my computer. I can see it under the Disk Management, but it is Unallocated and Unknown. It also says "Not Initialized". I've read some of the suggestions in other threads and I have tried the MiniTool Partition Wizard, but it does not seem to work for me. The drive is identified as a "Bad Disk".

I lost hope of retrieving my files, so I decided to initialize the external hard drive even though I knew there was big chance I would no longer be able to retrieve my files. I just wanted to be able to use the external drive again at the very least. However, when I tried to initialize the disk, a Data Error appeared - cyclic redundancy check.

Now, I don't know what to do.. I am totally clueless at this point. I have little knowledge about these things, but people here explain things very well. Appreciate all the help I can get. I just want to be able to use the external drive again.

Thank you in advance!!!

 

[countzero]

the drive is dead.

you might be able to recover most of your data.
"recover my files" is one of many software options to do this.

 

[nicolaii]

Thanks, I'll try this one out.

Is there a way to fix the dead drive, or is it a lost cause?

 

[whs]

Dead is dead. Not worth fixing. The cost would be a few times the value of the drive.

 

[CKWD]

Hello nicolaii!

I'm sorry you've experienced this issue! :/

The Cyclic Redundancy Check error basically means that there's corrupt data on the disk and change to the raw data. This damages the drive and sometimes it can't be reinitialized or reused, and personal data is often hard to retrieve.

There is no fix for this, but for retrieving the data you could try various data recovery softwares, booting to a Live Linux-based CD or depending on the importance of the data – use professional data recovery services.

I would also suggest looking into RMA-ing the drive if possible, but in any case it won't be able to be reused. :/

Best of luck!

CK_WD

 

[nicolaii]

Seems there is really no hope for my drive, which is still hard to accept. But thank you all for enlightening me. Much appreciated!