External HDD "Needs to be formatted", not responding

[urza4315]

Hi,

 

I have a WD Elements 1 TB hard drive and just now it has failed to be recognized by two computers. I've tried plugging it in through different USB ports to no avail.

The strange thing is, no matter what I try - bring up Disk Manager, bring up the properties, whatever - it will not respond, until I unplug it, then everything works normally (except for my hard drive, of course).

 

Using Windows 7 Home Premium.

[KenB]

Hi and welcome to ExTS

 

no matter what I try - bring up Disk Manager, bring up the properties, whatever - it will not respond, until I unplug it, then everything works normally

 

Are you saying that when you plug in this drive Windows freezes ?

 

it has failed to be recognized by two computers.

Do you get the same lack of response on both systems when the drive is plugged in ?

 

It looks like a problem with the enclosure ( if it is an enclosure and not an adapter ).

 

Can you take the drive out and try it in a different enclosure / adapter.

It could be a problem with the connections and not the actual drive.

[urza4315]

Hi and welcome to ExTS

 

Are you saying that when you plug in this drive Windows freezes ?

 

Not quite - it might cause Explorer.exe to freeze if I try to access it from My Computer. But otherwise any command or thing I tell my computer to do involving the drive will not get done until I unplug the drive.

Several examples - If I try to bring up the drive's properties, it won't show up until I unplug it (at which point it's just an empty properties page anyway). If it by chance DOES show up in the computer (even then I can't access it), it will tell me that it's not working and 'needs to be formatted' AFTER I unplug it.

If I try to shut down my computer with it plugged in, it won't shut down until AFTER I unplug it. (the drive, I mean)

I tried booting with an Ubuntu Live CD. Tried force mounting it, tried ntfsfix, even tried to format it - it'll sort of start the process, but then it'll just stop and not do anything until I unplug it.

 

Do you get the same lack of response on both systems when the drive is plugged in ?

 

It looks like a problem with the enclosure ( if it is an enclosure and not an adapter ).

 

Can you take the drive out and try it in a different enclosure / adapter.

It could be a problem with the connections and not the actual drive.

 

As of last night (after several plug-in and un-plugging attempts) the drive has just flat out refused to show up in My Computer, so you might be right that it could be an enclosure problem resulting in me vigorously jiggling the USB port.

 

Now how would I go about getting a new enclosure? From an electronics store, I presume?

[KenB]

Hi

 

Now how would I go about getting a new enclosure?

Before you do that identify which drive you have.

Most external drives are 2.5 inch ( same as a laptop ) but if the enclosure is bigger it could be 3.5 inch.

Also drives are mostly SATA these days but there are still some IDE ones about.

 

Take your drive out and decide what you have - then buy an appropriate enclosure for it.

 

This may help

http://kenspchelp.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=76

 

Take a look here for examples of enclosures

click here