WD Elements 4TB External HHD help?

James_134 · Dec 4, 2015

So I've been using my 4TB WD external Harddrive for awhile now but found the speeds a bit slow. So, I pulled the hard drive out of it's case and installed it into my PC. Now it asks me to format it, when I do it says Capacity: 465 GB. Not it's 4TBs.

Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks.

Boogieman_WD · Dec 4, 2015

Hi James and welcome to the community.

Sorry to hear about the issues you're having with your external HDD.

Basically taking a drive out of its original enclosure is never recommended, but since there's no turning back now, the least we could do, is to try and figure things out starting from where we are right now.
Did you experience any other issues with the HDD? Any unusual sounds coming from it, disconnecting randomly, "freezing" your system, etc? Do you need to recover data from it, or you want to try and make it work as an internal HDD?
If you don't need any data out of that drive, then reformatting the HDD might restore its original capacity. Also I'd recommend that you download DLG (Data Lifeguard Diagnostics) and run both tests (Quick and Extended), to see if anything unusual pops-up. Here's how to do that: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows.
On the other hand, if you need to recover data, you could try that by using data recovery software: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html and http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm. Another option would be to try and access the drive via Ubuntu Live USB/DVD, to see if it's properly recognized and if you can get to your files. However, for the most reliable data recovery option, you'd have to go for a professional solution, such as a data recovery company: WD Data Recovery Partners.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

James_134 · Dec 4, 2015

Boogieman_WD :

I would like to use it an Internal HDD.

I can still use it as a External, just means screwing things back in... I hope xD.

I would like to TRY and keep everything on there but if formatting WILL restore to it's 4TBish size then I will. I don't want to format because if I do and it turns into a 400gb HHD I can't fix it at all. I think.

EDIT: Sounds are fine, never had problems with it making sounds, and it's just slow connected by USB 3.0. I use it to record to and playing back videos is really slow and buffer a lot.

Boogieman_WD · Dec 4, 2015

Well, unfortunately I can't guarantee that it would work, but you can try to Write Zeros (a.k.a. low level format) with DLG. This basically writes a zero on each individual sector (so don't be surprised if it takes 10 or more hours for a 4TB drive). Here's how to do it: How to low level format or write zeros (full erase) to a WD hard drive or Solid State drive. After the process is completed, there will be nothing left and you should initialize (How to initialize or write a signature to a secondary hard drive or Solid State drive in Windows) the drive as if it was a brand new internal HDD, then partition and format it as you see fit (How to partition and format a WD drive on Windows and Mac OSX). I suggest this in hopes that it would restore the HDD to its proper storage capacity, but as I've mentioned, I can't give you 100% guarantee. That's why I'd recommend that you put the drive back in its enclosure and connect it to your computer to backup most of the important data you have on it. After that test the drive for errors with DLG (as I've mentioned in my previous post) and let me know how it goes.
You could also post a screenshot of what you see about the HDD in Disk Management, while connected to your computer as an internal drive.

Y0GI · Dec 4, 2015

Instead of waiting 10 hrs to write all zeros, you may want to give DBAN (Link) a try. In the DBAN FAQs (Link) they say "With default options, a typical runtime on a typical disk is three or four hours, but performance varies greatly between drive and controller combinations."

I haven't personally used this software but many on THG have and they recommend it for this purpose.

Yogi

James_134 · Dec 4, 2015

Boogieman_WD :

Boogieman_WD · Dec 4, 2015

Well it looks like all of the storage capacity is right there, but for some reason there are 2 partitions with unallocated space. This means that you should be able to format them and use that storage capacity. All you need to do is click with the right mouse button on them and select "New simple volume" then follow the wizard in order to complete the process.
The visible part (the 465.75GB one) is actually a RAW partition which means that it has no file system and you shouldn't be able to access it and get data out if it right now.
The bottom line is this - if you have important data which you'd like to backup, do it as I've suggested in my previous post. After that test the drives for errors and if nothing out of the ordinary shows up, you should have no trouble using the HDD as an internal drive. If this turns out to be the case, run Write Zeros from DLG, but select "QUICK ERASE" instead of "full" and the process will be completed really fast. After that follow the tutorial on how to initialize a hard drive from my previous post. When prompted to select MBR or GPT, make sure that you select GPT in order to be able to use the full capacity of the drive. After that follow the tutorial on how to partition and format the drive and that should be it.

It really doesn't matter how you'll perform the low level format if you decide to go for it, so you could take a look at @Y0GI's suggestion as well. It's up to you.

Please keep me posted.

James_134 · Dec 4, 2015

Boogieman_WD :

Hello Boogieman,

Thanks for all your help but I'm going to have to ask one more thing.
Could you put everything you've told me in a list (1. 2. 3. so on) as what I need to do. From 1. being the first and yeah. Just so I don't mess anything up. I just formated it and it only gasve me 1.5TBs :\

Thanks! I also ran a quick test and it all came out clean.

James_134 · Dec 5, 2015

Boogieman_WD :

Boogieman_WD · Dec 7, 2015

Sure thing. Sorry for the late reply, but I've been away for a couple of days.
Having in mind you've already formatted the drive, I assume you've decided against keeping your data or that you've backed it up already, so I wanted to let you know that my advice will have data destructive processes.

1. Low level formatting the HDD -> Go ahead and follow this guide on how to Write Zeros on your HDD (by choosing the first tutorial - "Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows"): How to low level format or write zeros (full erase) to a WD hard drive or Solid State drive. If you don't want to wait for too long, when you get to step 9. from the tutorial select QUICK ERASE and continue.
Once you've completed the tutorial you should see your drive in disk management with a small red arrow and it should say not initialized. That's OK.
2. Initializing the drive -> open Disk Management and click with the right-mouse button on the drive with the red arrow that says "not initialized" and select "Initialize Disk". A window will pop-up and you should select GPT (DUID Partition Table) and click OK. The drive should now be initialized and all you're left with, is to partition and format it.
3. Partitioning and formatting the drive -> follow this tutorial on how to partition and format the HDD: http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=3865. If everything was fine you should end up with a 4TB drive ready to be used.

Please let me know how it goes.

James_134 · Dec 7, 2015

Thanks for the help!

Boogieman_WD · Dec 8, 2015

Sure thing mate. I'm glad I was able to help.

Cheers!

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