[SOLVED] Disk cannot be initialized because of unknown I/O error

[chrisrajive]

Hello
I took out my internal laptop hardisk as the laptop itself wasnt working anymore and inserted it into a 2.5 inch caddy to use as an external. When i connected it in i saw several different partitions appear.
(D) local disk 258mb free of 299mb.
(E) local disk 9.55gb free of 31.9gb,
(F) HP_recovery 2.27gb free of 14,9gb and
(G) HP_tools 1.97gb free of 1.98gb.

i ran disk management and found the main storage drive. It was "unallocated" i.e appeared blacked out and had 245gb free. So i followed the steps to try to allocate it by right click and "new simple volume" clicking next and assigning it a drive letter. However when i got to the final step it says "operation is not supported by this object".

So i just reformatted the whole disk removing all the partitions. But now, when i connect it to my computor it dosent recognize it at all. So i ran disk management and found it and it said the disk needed to be initialized first. So i tried to do that but i came up with the error "Disk cannot be initialized because of unknown I/O error".
Ive tried to initialize it on another computor and had the same problem. I did a google search and suggestions were to download some data recovery program and i downloaded EaseUs and fonepaw but they both depend on detecting the external drive which they can't (just as my computer cant except diskmanagement)

I also tried intializing the disk using a third party disk management software EaseUS partition master but as mentioned, the external isnt even showing up, but its still showing up on windows disk management.

Can anyone suggest what the problem might be and how to fix it? do you think the HDD is faulty itself? Thats my main concern .


Grateful for any replies

 

[Lutfij]

When you've tried to initialize the drive was it connected to the external drive caddy? Have you tried connecting the drive to an internal SATA data port?

 

[chrisrajive]

When you've tried to initialize the drive was it connected to the external drive caddy? Have you tried connecting the drive to an internal SATA data port?

Hi Lutfij.
Yes when i first connected it to my computor it was via extenrla caddy and i could see all the drives listed above. I just couldnt assign the unallocated space a letter.

Unfortunatly i cant connect it to an internal port because i rescued it from an old laptop that died due to motherboard issues.

 

[chrisrajive]

Update: I ran Hard Disk Sentinel and got the following error:


"The configuration does not provide further disk status information. However, "Disk" menu "Surface Test" function can examine the disk functionality, reveal and fix possible problems.

Please use the "Report" menu "Send test report to developer" option to help us determining if it is possible to detect and display more information.
Please visit the "Hardware" and "Support -> FAQ" sections on www.hdsentinel.com for details."

However, when i select surface test as advised, the HDD is not listed, hence i cant even run a test on it

I sent the report. But as its a trial version i dont know if they will help.

Im still stuck, any solutions would be great?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Can you show screenshot from Disk Management?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[icare]

"because i rescued it from an old laptop that died due to motherboard issues. "

your DD is probably dying.
try cristaldiskinfo it will give you an idea of the damage or not

 

[chrisrajive]

Can you show screenshot from Disk Management?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Hi skynet. Here are the images from harddisk sentinel showing "sabrent" which si the name fo the caddy but no external HDD showing, and windows disk management showing "disk 1" which is the external HDD but no data (or ability to initialise"

https://imgur.com/tnhmtrs

View: https://imgur.com/tnhmtrs

https://imgur.com/B5dfijY

View: https://imgur.com/B5dfijY

 

[SkyNetRising]

Connect it to a desktop pc with sata cables.

 

[chrisrajive]

Connect it to a desktop pc with sata cables.

Unfortunatly i dont have access to a desktop pc at the moment. I dont really want to open my laptop and take out the current HDD and replace it wiht the one in my external. Will this give a definitive answer as to whether my HDD is dead or not?

 

[chrisrajive]

"because i rescued it from an old laptop that died due to motherboard issues. "

your DD is probably dying.
try cristaldiskinfo it will give you an idea of the damage or not

I downloaded and ran cristaldisk info and the external HDD didnt even show up. Same as all the other programs unfortunately?.

 

[icare]

I would like to see

https://imgur.com/tnhmtrs

View: https://imgur.com/tnhmtrs
but the SMART tab between temperature and information please..

 

[fzabkar]

It does appear that the HDD is faulty. As already stated, you need to connect it to a SATA port in a desktop PC to perform any further tests.

Can you tell us the HDD model number?