One of the disk partition in my external hard drive is not accessible!

Rajan_4 · May 15, 2016

Hello Geeks,
I bought this external hard drive 3 years back. It was working fine for 2 years. After that, the cable got weak and hard disk will not work if it was disturbed physically from one position. Because of this loose contact problem, I was using it very carefully. Couple of months later, situation is like pc will fail to recognize the drive so I will tilt hdd to some other position upon which it will work fine.

Actually, I did made 2 disk partitions in my 500GB ex-hdd in which only 470GB(approx.) is usable.
One partition size was 425GB and the rest for other partition.

Gradually, this second disk partition got corrupted, whenever I plug the hdd to my pc, "Checkdisk" error will popup, I ignored and started using it. One day, this partition became inaccessible and unable to format too. I bought a new cable(USB 2.0 to USB 2.0 5 Position) from a local store and plugged it. Now, my pc detects the drive easily but this partition is remains inaccessible.

Now whenever I plug in my hard drive, explorer is lagging and hanging frequently. Also windows fails to restart/shutdown. I've to force shutdown by pressing the Power button.

External Hard Disk Drive details:
Make : iOmega
Model : SPHDU2
Size : 500GB

Need help. Thanks.

SuperSoph_WD · May 16, 2016

Welcome to Tom's Hardware, Rajan!

Unfortunately, it sounds like your external hard drive has most probably failed!

I'd advise you to backup as much of your data as you can and attempt to access the healthy partition from another computer. If the data is very important to you, you should definitely consider contacting a professional data recovery company for assistance.

I'd strongly advise you to test the external HDD first, though. You can do that by using the drive manufacturer's brand-specific diagnostic tool or a third-party alternative that will allow you to determine the health and SMART status.

If the drive is within the warranty period, contact the manufacturer's customer support.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting, though. Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

Rajan_4 · May 17, 2016

SuperSoph_WD :

Thanks for your response.
I've backed up all the required data from hard disk already. Now all that I need is just is to bring back my hard disk to healthy condition. And as you did mentioned, whenever, I try to test/format the hard drive, that particular dialog box/window is getting crashed.

Say, I tried to do a low level format using this "HDD Low Level Format 4.40". When I open the application, it lists my defective hard drive along with my laptop's internal hard drive and other mass storage devices connected but when I select the format button, it gets crashed and "Not responding" error appears at the top of the window.

All the time when I plug in my hard disk, the following problem arises:
- Windows fails to restart/shut down. When I press restart or shut down button, all the running process will be terminated, but the windows will say restarting for long time but while never restart, I've even waited for 2 to 3 hours.
- If I plug out and again plug in the Hard disk, windows will not detect my hard disk or any other USB devices connected thereafter.
- Here comes the worst part and strange thing too, internet connection will be disconnected. I'll be no longer connected to the internet.

So, the thing is, I need a solution to retrieve my hard disk alone and the data in the same is not so mandatory.
Kindly suggest a feasible way.
Thank you.

SuperSoph_WD · May 18, 2016

Hello there again, Rajan!

This seems pretty unfortunate, indeed. I'm afraid that your external HDD has failed and you won't be able to fix it, either.

The best thing you can do is contact the manufacturer's/reseller's customer support and check the warranty on the product. If it's still covered, you might be able to RMA it and get a replacement.
In any other case, you should probably consider replacing it with a new one. The external has failed and you shouldn't trust any data whatsoever with it. You've done a great job with the backup, though, so you won't be facing any data-loss headaches.

How does your system perform when that particular drive is not connected to it?

SuperSoph_WD

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One of the disk partition in my external hard drive is not accessible!

Rajan_4

Commendable

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious

Rajan_4

Commendable

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious

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