External hard drive corrupted, CHKDSK stalls at 76% complete

[mmpfs]

I am trying to fix a new Toshiba Canvio 3.0 1.5TB drive that has errors. Each time I plug it in, I'm directed to run CHKDSK, but CHKDSK fails to complete with the /f parameter. The process stalls at 76%. If I run CHKDSK without the /f parameter, I get the following result:



Again, if I run CHKDSK /f, the process stalls at 76% and hangs forever. I've left the process to run overnight with no progress.

I've looked for solutions on Toshiba's website, but haven't found a solution. Any help or ideas are appreciated.

By the way, I'm not super tech-savvy, so if you have a technical solution, please give me as many detail as possible. Thank you!

 

[madcratebuilder]

I had a drive with a bad sector that would stall with CHKDSK /f. It was at the very end of the drive. I repaired the drive by formatting with Gparted or Partition Magic, one of the two, don't remember. When complete SMART reported 2 reallocated sectors and 99% health, been running fine ever since.

 

[jumanji]

Hi mmpfs,

Format it with HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool 2.2.3 HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Free Download

It is a nice tool to have in one's kitty and as easy as A B C to use.

(Right click on the small exe file and run it as administrator. Remove all other USB drives so that you don't make a mistake of choosing the wrong drive - applies to any partitioning/formatting tool. Check that the correct drive is chosen.)

 

[mmpfs]

madcratebuilder

Were you able to run this program without losing data? I ask because I have about 400GB of data backed up to the external drive. I'll have to copy it onto my computer and some other device because I don't have enough space left on my laptop.

Thanks for your advice and help.

 

[mmpfs]

jumanji;

Sort of a stupid question, but I assume that when I run the reformat, I'll lose all of my existing data? I'll start copying the 400GB of data from the drive to other devices just in case.

Appreciate your help and directions!

 

[jumanji]

Yes, if you have data to be recovered, then do not format.

I would rather like to see how your problem drive looks in Windows Disk Management. Post a screenshot.

 

[madcratebuilder]

madcratebuilder

Were you able to run this program without losing data? I ask because I have about 400GB of data backed up to the external drive. I'll have to copy it onto my computer and some other device because I don't have enough space left on my laptop.

Thanks for your advice and help.

It well destroy any data you have on the disk. Back up as needed then you can do a repair that writes to each sector. This well force it to reallocate any bad sectors it finds. After you repair this hhd run SMART and you well see how many sectors were bad and reallocated. 2 or 3 sectors reallocated is not unusual, any more than that is a intication the hhd is dieing and should not be used for mission critical data.

 

[mmpfs]

Jumanji; Here is a screen shot of Windows Disk Manager:



Disk 1 shows "Healthy". Any other thoughts before I start to save my data to other devices? Thanks.

 

[carwiz]

The drive is marked as Active which means Windows thinks there's boot files on the drive. Windows will place handles to the drive to suppress certain activities. You might try running CHKDSK with the /x parameter instead of /f. This performs the same function but breaks any handles to the drive first.

 

[jumanji]

Yep, try what carwiz says.

Try setting that particular partition in the external drive inactive.

Though it can be done with Diskpart, you may find it easy to do with Partition Wizard Home Edition 8 Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online

Install and run Partition Wizard. Right click on the selected external drive partition > Modify > Set Inactive and then APPLY ( top menu)

If you want to do it with diskpart, read How do i make a disk inactive? - Microsoft Community Not very difficult but be careful to select the right disk and right partition. ( If you get unnerved, do it with Partition Wizard. Easy GUI, which I always prefer. And it is a good partitioning/formatting tool too.)

 

[mmpfs]

I downloaded Partition Wizard (neat little tool) and set the drive as inactive:




Then I ran chkdsk /x. Same results; freeze up at 76%. I ended up running chkdsk via both the command prompt (with the /x) and through Properties>Tools on my E drive. I noticed that each time I run chkdsk, the number of index entries processed gets a little higher. The history is: 415298 index entries processed, 415338, 415347, 415352, 415392. Does this mean anything?

 

[carwiz]

Looks like it was still running. Did you stop it? It will take quite a while on 1TB drive.

 

[mmpfs]

carwiz, how do I "stop" the drive? If I take it offline, I can't access the drive to run CHKDSK. So I leave the disk Online, but make it Inactive with MiniTool Partition Wizard. Then I run CHKDSK, and the process hangs. The light on the HD goes off, and nothing happens after the process reaches 76% complete.

If I'm missing something obvious, please let me know. Again, I'm not an expert. Thanks!

 

[carwiz]

What I mean is; did you stop chkdsk? I would expect it to run for a couple of hours on a 1.5TB drive.

After you marked drive E: Inactive, did you mark C: as Active and reboot? Repost an image of your Disk Manager as it stands right now. Then don't touch anything else.