Question Can't format external hard drive

[M00nM00n]

I have a WD 2TB external hard drive that I tried to format, close to end of process there was an error(I don't remember what error). Now windows can't access it, cant format it , cant check it(CMD), and i can't do any of those in ubuntu as well.

https://imgur.com/vvKxsAu

View: https://imgur.com/vvKxsAu

https://imgur.com/EmZ9nhL

View: https://imgur.com/EmZ9nhL

https://imgur.com/EiiRqO7

View: https://imgur.com/EiiRqO7



I just want to format it, I don't care about the data.






Thank you

 

[Lutfij]

Make and model of your external HDD? If it's outside the warranty period, you can extract the drive from within the chassis and use it as an internal 2.5" drive since the drive within is often times a 2.5" laptop drive with SATA power and data connectors. If it's not found on your donor system(when connected internally) then the drive is the victim. If you're under warranty period, don't troubleshoot or open the chassis, send straight for RMA processing.

FYI, WD drives for me at least have failed horribly with the dreadful clicking when you try access the drive, regardless of internal or external.

 

[mitchd123]

Looks like during the format your system touched some bad sectors or had some sort of communication problem. (CRC-errors) I'd suggest you do a full power off (unplug) to reset not only the drive but the USB controller as well. Check the hard drive firmware and see if there are updates available for the drive. I'd re-attempt it in Ubuntu using gdisk Delete the existing partition, (losing all data), correctly eject the drive in the operating system...eject /dev/sd? Reinsert the USB cable. Create a new partition, and reformat it. Doing it from the command line using gdisk, set the partition type to I think 07 / NTFS. L will provide a list. After the partition is back in place, then do a mkfs.ntfs /dev/your-drive/your-partition By default this will format the entire disk, and take a while. Keep an eye on the drive temperature while formatting. Lots of drive activity can overheat drives. I'll place a fan on a drive while it's reformatting. While you're waiting check out https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-for-2018/ Go back to the year your drive was manufactured....it could be dying. Also don't overlook the cable. Swap it if you can, to prove it's not bad. If the drive throws a bunch of errors, get it warranty replaced if possible. WD also has some format utilities https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10850