Cannot seem to find a solution - External Hard Drive Issues

[S_Atkinson]

My issue is, primarily, being unable to format my external. No matter how I try to format, it always results in "Windows was unable to complete the format". Using EaseUS Partition Master similarly results in "There were some errors that occurred while writing sector on disk". I'm at a loss, after much confusion and many dead ends, I turn here. Help!

 

[phil22]

Test the drive with SeaTools for Windows from here: http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

If the test reports any errors, it may be that the small PCB inside the enclosure (where the usb plug fits) has failed, but the drive itself may be perfectly okay. In that case, remove the drive from the enclosure, remove the small PCB that's attached to one end of it, then fit the drive into a third-party hard drive enclosure which you can buy at most large PC shops or online.

 

[helpstar]

To which file system are you formatting? Default should be NTFS and not FAT32 or FAT.

Little tutorial:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/termsd/p/disk-management.htm

 

[S_Atkinson]

@helpstar - I've tried both, neither work.

@phil22, every test I tried to perform failed.

 

[S_Atkinson]

Does anyone have any idea as to what could cause these issues? Besides my hard drive being dead, I suppose..

 

[ronintexas]

There are two items that can fail - the enclosure (usb-sata adapter) and the hard drive. If you remove the hard drive, and install it directly in a computer, it will give you the answer as to which one it is. It will be a coin toss to either the adapter or the drive being bad.