Solved External disk not accessible (possibly related blue screens)

[Clairvaux]

Hi all,

I have a fairly new external drive which can't be accessed anymore. It's one of my backups in a USB enclosure, where I store my Macrium Reflect images. Bulk disk + enclosure were bought separately.

Under Windows Explorer, I have an error message which says : F:\is not accessible, the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

The custom label I had saved for it is replaced by "Local Disk".

Under Windows Disk Management, the disk shows up as Basic, Online, RAW (instead of NTFS, which it was, originally), Healthy (Primary partition).

Under Hard Disk Sentinel, the disk shows with a health status of 100 %, "Problematic or weak sectors were not found, and there are no spin up or data transfer errors. No actions needed."

However, Hard Disk Sentinel cannot read the amount of used / free space. The so-called Short Self-Test (1 mn) was successful, the Extended Self-Test (166 mn) got "aborted by host" after 1 h +.

Possibly related : I have been experiencing some unusual blue screens those past months. Especially, Macrium Reflect full images seem to abort often to blue screens (incrementals don't).

I bought a printer recently which worked for a while, then often brought blue screens. Uninstalling the driver and software slowed down the occurence of blue screens. However, I cannot install the driver anymore.

I tested separately my system drive a while ago with Hard Disk Sentinel, and there seems to be a persistent weak / bad sector at the beginning of the disk which aborts the software's tests in an unusual way. I haven't been able to diagnose or repair that issue, and I'm also wondering whether the present corruption of the external disk might be related.

The files on that disk are not vital. It's my backup n°2 and I have a spare. But I'd like to try and repair the disk, understand the issue and prevent it from re-happening. Thank you !

 

[jumanji]

Run check disk from command prompt.

Open Command prompt. Start > All programs > Accessories > Command Prompt

Type
CHKDSK K: /f /v /r /x Press enter. Note: Replace K: with the actual drive letter of the external drive

Allow check disk to complete. ( Do not interrupt checkdisk for any reason even if it takes hours. Do not use your PC for any other task. No multitasking. Leave it alone.)

 

[Clairvaux]

Thank you, Jumanji. I will do that tonight, and report back.


I suppose the command must be given with administrative rights ?

 

[jumanji]

Better to run it as admin. But do note that there is a space before every / in the command switch/option which I forgot to mention.

 

[Clairvaux]

I ran CHKDSK as instructed, and the drive is back. I successfully browsed some Macrium images, so everything seems to be fine. Anything to be learned from logs ? Do you think the corruption might have been related to my blue screen problems ?

 

[jumanji]

"The most common cause of external hard drives suddenly becoming RAW drives is if they are disconnected from a computer without using the “Safely Remove Hardware” option. This can happen in many ways such as a power failure, unplugging the drive from the USB port or from its AC adapter, a problem with the computer that causes it to temporarily disconnect the USB hubs and many more circumstances can lead to this occurring.
Always use “Safely remove hardware” to disconnect the drive. Left click the icon on the taskbar, select the device from the menu, and wait for the confirmation message."

UPDATED How To Fix: External Disk Drive Suddenly Became RAW Unknown Kadath

Since the drive is only a backup drive safely remove and keep it away when not in use. If BSODs occur raise a query in the BSOD Support and Help sub-forum for expert assistance. ( Read the sticky there on Posting Instructions now and keep it mind)

Check your drive with the manufacturer's Diagnostic/ Repair utility. You may also run Crystal Disk Info to check the health of your drive CrystalDiskInfo Crystal Dew World

 

[Clairvaux]

Thank you, Jumanji. It's nice to have an expert on corrupted disks so helpful and available.


Edit : I did not know Unknown Kadath's blog. It is a great resource. Posts are rare, unfortunately...