External HDD (Transcend 1TB Storejet) is NOT showing up anywhere but in Devices and Printers (Windows 10)

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Horitonkal

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Oct 6, 2016
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Hey guys,
My HDD is not showing up anywhere and i need to restore it completely and EVERYTHING i try and research doesnt seem to work. Can someone guide me to try to fix it? Im willing to try everything ive tried again!

Thanks alot! Id really appreciate all comments, would be a massive help!
 
Solution
Boogieman_WD
So from what I understand the WD drive is working fine and passed the Quick test? If "yes" I'd recommend that you run the Extended test as well, just to be sure that everything's fine.

As for the other external HDD you couldn't perform a Full Erase by running DLG? This could mean that the drive has bad sectors, or other issues. So I'd recommend that you test it as well with a diagnostic tool, to see what's the situation with it, but it does sound like it could be at fault. If this turns out to be the case, you should be able to RMA it by contacting the vendor you got it from, or its manufacturer's customer support, of course if the drive is still under warranty.

Please keep me updated.
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Jul 31, 2014
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Hey there, Horitonkal.

By restore it completely, do you mean to recover data, or just try to make it work? What happened prior to this issue? Have you checked if the drive is recognized by Disk Management and Device Manager?

For know what I'd recommend is to give it a try with a different cable and a different computer, to see if the same thing happens. You could also download an HDD diagnostic tool just to check the drive's SMART data, but please don't run any tests just yet.
The rest of the troubleshooting depends on the answers of my questions, so I'll be waiting for your reply.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how it goes.
Boogieman_WD
 
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Horitonkal

Commendable
Oct 6, 2016
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I dont need any data to be restored, just need it to start working again. It is recognizable in both Disk Management and Device Manager. Also tried updating drivers in device manager. Up to date.. But in Disk Management it says the harddrive is RAW... Any solutions?

Also i then couldnt stop my curious mind so i right clicked on this disk to delete the partition then it was left as no longer RAW but unallocated, so then when i tried to make a new NTFS partition, it said it couldnt be done properly in a pop up and reverted to being RAW.
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Jul 31, 2014
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You not needing to recover data makes things a lot easier. However, a RAW partition means that the files system of that partition has become corrupted somehow. This could be due to numerous reasons ranging from HDD issues to virus attacks. So, now that I know that you don't need any of the files, I'd recommend that when you download the HDD diagnostic tool (you can pick a 3rd party one from this article, if you can't find the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic tool: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/tophddiag.htm) and run the tests to see if there's anything wrong with the drive itself.

If everything seems fine, just open Disk Management again, right click on the partition and select "format" in order to reformat it. After that it would be advisable to make a full scan of your drives with an antivirus program just to make sure that there are no threats.
 
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Horitonkal

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Oct 6, 2016
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Im trying to reformat it now but ive unchecked the QUICK button. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, i have a WD harddrive which was all working fine until yesterday until i couldnt eject it as the button was greyed out, so then i tried using the eject command in CMD and also didnt work. I decided just to yank it out after it got too frustrating, Now its no longer showing up. Any ideas?
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Full format could take a couple of hours to complete.

As for the WD drive, sorry to hear that you're having trouble with it. Was the HDD in use while you were trying to eject it? Even if you weren't using it for file transferring or you weren't playing any media files from it at the moment, do you think that there might have been a program, which could've been using it at that time?

And the same questions as the ones for the other external drive will apply here. Do you need the data that's on the drive? Does it show up in Device Manager and/or Disk Management and if "yes", what does it say about the HDD and/or its partitions?
Give it a try with a different computer and a different USB cables to see if the same thing happens.
 
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Horitonkal

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Oct 6, 2016
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Ok will try to wait out the format.

Ok ive just tried another cable and it showed up instantly on my computer but for some strange reason, i cant seem to eject it again. Any fixes?
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Jul 31, 2014
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That's some good news. Backup your important data as soon as possible. After that go ahead and download DLG (Data Lifeguard) and run the Quick and Extended test on the drive: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows.

If nothing alarming pops-up, I'd recommend that you try reinstalling the driver for that HDD (open Device Manager, right click on the drive and select uninstall, then connect it again so that Windows can install the driver again), to see if the issues continue after that. Also, make sure that the USB controller's driver is up to date.
 
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Horitonkal

Commendable
Oct 6, 2016
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Ok well i ran the quick test and it seems to be working fine now haha idk what the hell is going on. Unistalled the driver and installed it again. Still no eject button but i can gladly eject it from the bottom right corner remove button. Now for the RAW harddrive, still cant reformat it. It says Healthy RAW.. What do i do :/

Ive started to ZERO out my RAW harddrive using Lifeguard, do you think that could work? but its 1TB and i did a full erase so all sectors not just the 1st and last million. Currently says more than 350 hours :////

UPDATE: I aborted the long one and did a quick erase of the first and last million sectors. will see what happens

UPDATE 2: Failed... might just give it to a harddrive techinician tomorrow who turns out to be my friend haha
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Jul 31, 2014
6,050
2
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So from what I understand the WD drive is working fine and passed the Quick test? If "yes" I'd recommend that you run the Extended test as well, just to be sure that everything's fine.

As for the other external HDD you couldn't perform a Full Erase by running DLG? This could mean that the drive has bad sectors, or other issues. So I'd recommend that you test it as well with a diagnostic tool, to see what's the situation with it, but it does sound like it could be at fault. If this turns out to be the case, you should be able to RMA it by contacting the vendor you got it from, or its manufacturer's customer support, of course if the drive is still under warranty.

Please keep me updated.
 
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