WD external drive no longer reading

[iknowforrealz]

Hello everyone, I am hoping you can help me. I have a 2TB WD external drive that has about 1.5TB data on it. A few weeks back, it began giving me some problems but nothing disruptive. Well, last night I had to unplug my computer and drives to move things around. When I tried plugging it all back, it doesn't read the data on the drive. It keeps asking me to format the drive.

Having read a few other posts on this site, I tried using chkdsk/r and got the following result

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\>chkdsk/r e:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is MOVIES.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
8448 file records processed.
File verification completed.
16 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
0 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 449.
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 449.
Sorting index $I30 in file 449.
10 percent complete. (8614 of 10700 index entries processed)
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 999.
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 999.
Sorting index $I30 in file 999.
10 percent complete. (8756 of 10700 index entries processed)
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 1473.
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 1473.
Sorting index $I30 in file 1473.
10 percent complete. (8887 of 10700 index entries processed)
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 2431.
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 2431.
Sorting index $I30 in file 2431.
10700 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is scanning unindexed files for reconnect to their original directory.
Recovering orphaned file 1HENRY~1.AVI (450) into directory file 449.
Recovering orphaned file 1. Henry's Crime [2011-01-14].avi (450) into directory
file 449.
Recovering orphaned file T1HENR~1.MP4 (451) into directory file 449.
Recovering orphaned file T1. Henry's Crime.mp4 (451) into directory file 449.
Recovering orphaned file 1BEAST~1.AVI (1000) into directory file 999.
Recovering orphaned file 1. Beastly [2011-03-04].avi (1000) into directory file
999.
Recovering orphaned file T1BEAS~1.MP4 (1001) into directory file 999.
Recovering orphaned file T1. Beastly.mp4 (1001) into directory file 999.
Recovering orphaned file T5FAST~1.MP4 (1474) into directory file 1473.
Recovering orphaned file T5. Fast Five.mp4 (1474) into directory file 1473.
Recovering orphaned file 5FASTF~1.AVI (1475) into directory file 1473.
Recovering orphaned file 5. Fast Five [2011-04-29].avi (1475) into directory fil
e 1473.
Recovering orphaned file 1PUBLI~1.AVI (2432) into directory file 2431.
Recovering orphaned file 1. Public Enemies [2009-07-01].AVI (2432) into director
y file 2431.
8 unindexed files scanned.
Recovering orphaned file T1PUBL~1.MP4 (2888) into directory file 2431.
Recovering orphaned file T1. Public Enemies.mp4 (2888) into directory file 2431.

0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
8448 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
1127 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
10 percent complete. (868352 of 1077512 USN bytes processed)
Unable to read the Usn Journal $J data stream.

Thank you all in advance for any help you can provide me.

 

[danny2000]

did it complete? I see the last status at 10%

 

[danny2000]

Personally, with that many errors on it, it sounds as if it is bad.
However, it may just be the enclosure's controller that is bad and scewing things up.

If you don't want to spend a $1000 (actually, I don't know what the cost would be, but it is a LOT) or more on getting the data recovered (if even possible), you could open up the enclosure and remove the hard drive and hook it up to your pc and try and recover data.

 

[iknowforrealz]

Nope, it stopped at the bottom 'unable to read...' line and put me back at the c: prompt

 

[iknowforrealz]

If it helps any, the check disk recognizes that there are files and the label is 'movies' but when I go to it in windows explorer, it doesn't show any label nor any space on the drive.

 

[danny2000]

If you plan on sending it away to get the data recovered and paying a fortune, then don't turn it on at all anymore.

If not, then open up the enclosure by unscrewing the screws and take the drive. Hook it up to a SATA port on the inside of your computer. It will need to be connected with a sata data cable that connects to the motherboard and also a sata power connector that connects to your power supply in the computer.

 

[danny2000]

If it helps any, the check disk recognizes that there are files and the label is 'movies' but when I go to it in windows explorer, it doesn't show any label nor any space on the drive.

yeah, that means it is corrupted, but it doesn't tell us the reason it is corrupted.

 

[danny2000]

you could try running chkdsk e: /r another time to see if gets past that 10% without ending.

 

[fzabkar]

It appears that there may be bad sectors that are preventing the OS from reading the USN Journal metadata:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USN_Journal

In such cases you may be able to see your files by booting from a Ubuntu Live CD.

 

[iknowforrealz]

Well, I am redoing the chkdsk like danny suggested and it is taking forever... It seems to have gotten past the USN Journal error but here is the beginning part of what it has given me now.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\vtaylor>chkdsk/r e:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is MOVIES.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
8448 file records processed.
File verification completed.
17 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
0 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
10700 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
8448 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
1127 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
1077512 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
10 percent complete. (82 of 8432 files processed)
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 100
of name \FAMILY\YOGIBE~1\1YOGIB~1.AVI.
10 percent complete. (244 of 8432 files processed)
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 263

Then it does the 'Windows replacing bad clusters...' for about every 10th file. Which with over 8k files is taking forever. I still have it running and can let it take the days it needs to finish but wanted to provide this update.

 

[fzabkar]

Data recovery professionals advise against running CHKDSK in repair mode against a drive with numerous bad sectors. It often makes the problem a LOT worse. Instead, the preferred approach is to clone your drive sector-by-sector using a tool that knows how to work around bad sectors, and then use data recovery software on the clone.

Ddrescue is a freeware tool that can perform multipass cloning. It clones the easy sectors on the first pass, and attempts the more difficult ones on subsequent passes. It can also clone your drive in reverse, thereby disabling lookahead caching. It keeps a log, allowing it to resume after an interruption.

Ubuntu Rescue Remix:
http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/

 

[iknowforrealz]

Data recovery professionals advise against running CHKDSK in repair mode against a drive with numerous bad sectors. It often makes the problem a LOT worse. Instead, the preferred approach is to clone your drive sector-by-sector using a tool that knows how to work around bad sectors, and then use data recovery software on the clone.

Ddrescue is a freeware tool that can perform multipass cloning. It clones the easy sectors on the first pass, and attempts the more difficult ones on subsequent passes. It can also clone your drive in reverse, thereby disabling lookahead caching. It keeps a log, allowing it to resume after an interruption.

Ubuntu Rescue Remix:
http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/

Thank you. I will give that a try when I get home. The chkdsk kept locking up after a few hours so I am hoping this gives a better result.

 

[dan theman01]

I hope this helps your c drive read you external drive .
Type the following command into Start
or Run open the send to folder
and then drag and drop
from the left hand side folders,
a shortcut for the folders
that you wish to add
ie Drives
or User Folder.
They have to be main folders.
You need to add them to this list
to be able to use them as a send to folder.

( This Helps With Cannot Send To Source Folder Or Disk )

Send To Command which is typed into start or run is:-

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo