Solved External HDD RAW. How to format it?

[mofopimp]

Hello, I tried all day to recover the drive with different software with no luck. So now Im trying to format it, and again no luck. I guess it has to go to the bin?

What else I can try? In Disk Management it says: Healthy! Mad.

 

[Brink]

Hello,

You might see if using the "Clean" (not "clean all") may be able to wipe the HDD to allow you to format it afterwards.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html

If not, then you might scan the drive with a drive testing tool (ex: SeaTools) from the HDD's manufacturer to see if it passes or fails. If it fails, then the HDD is dead or failing.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[mofopimp]

Already done that with seatools. Short test - pass. Long test - fail.

"clean" gives the same error as on the screenshot.

 

[Brink]

It's a dead drive then. R.I.P.

 

[mofopimp]

It's a dead drive then. R.I.P.

hehe, what if I rip it and connect to sata cable? Will that make any difference?

 

[Brink]

Nope. If it fails the drive test tool, it's a dead duck.

 

[mofopimp]

It's a dead drive then. R.I.P.

How to disassemble a Seagate FreeAgent Pro - Blog of Travis Hydzik

some people here say that after connecting internally it worked? Ill try to rip it.

 

[Brink]

It won't hurt anything to try, but I'd run another test on it after it's connected internally to be sure. I don't think it'll help though.

 

[jumanji]

There are only two things that can fail in an external HDD. 1. The interface electronics inside ( SATA to USB bridge) and 2. the physical HDD inside.

In cases where the interface electronics fails, you can still retrieve the HDD by ripping open the enclosure, pulling out the HDD and connecting it as an internal drive.

In your case, the short test passed which indicates the interface electronics is OK. The long test failed which indicates the HDD is bad.

If both Short Test and Long Test had failed then it is indeterminate in that we don't know whether it is the interface electronics or the HDD itself that failed and it is worth taking a chance to try the HDD as an internal drive.

However, if your drive is not under warranty to get a replacement, nothing prevents you to rip it open and try it and experiment.

 

[mofopimp]

okay, update for future googlers:

I ripped the case to pieces as its glued and I dont need it nor I want to spend hours to deattach it with some crazy tiny screws. Took the hard drive out of it, connected internally to pc. After that Windows 7 would not boot, just stuck at windows logo screen.

So what I did, I tried hdd regenerate boot cd - didnt help, tried partition wizard boot cd - that would not start at all throwing errors, total rubbish.

After that I tried seagate's seatools boot cd. The reason I didnt try it first is because when hard drive was connected via usb in its original case - seatools couldnt see it.

Started testing the disk, long test showed > 100 errors. Apparently it fixed them and I thought oh yeah now I will boot fine. Nope, same stuck windows boot logo screen. And at last, via seagate's boot cd again I FULL ERASE the disk. It took 3,5 hours to complete. And voilà! I have a the disk now:

 

[Brink]

I'd be a bit concerned about the drive failing on you again soon, and would recommend to keep anything on it backed up to another location to be safe.

After you format the drive, I'd recommend to do another long test with SeaTools to see if it still passes.

 

[Layback Bear]

Anything one puts on a hard drive to some degree is something that person wants or they wouldn't of put it on the hard drive.
If the problem is off and on and is a electrical problem it could also cause damage to the rest of the system. Short to power or short to ground.

My rule of the thumb is with hard drives.

If in doubt throw it out.

 

[jumanji]

I agree with the aforesaid views.

Your experiment and the results obtained are valuable but only if you continue to test the drive periodically with the diagnostic tool on a schedule - say once a week - and post your findings atleast for the next three months with extensive use of the HDD to store some irrelevant data .( Don't store anything that you may not want to lose.).

Let us not be taken away by the mere fact that it appears good now. How long will it be that way, is what matters.

 

[mofopimp]

sure thing I wont put anything important on it I have my other drive that failed working 2nd year straight.

Yes, I done a long test , takes 3 hours! It marked all bad sectors, after that it passed it. Lost 3 gigs space after that.