[SOLVED] External drive not initialized not unallocated

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FrenchyfromPA

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Apr 13, 2017
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Hi,

I have a WD 3TB Elements drive that is not working anymore and doesn't show up in "this PC" on my laptop. However it shows in Disk management as "Unknown 2794 GB not initialized -2794 GB unallocated". I'd like to be able to transfer all my data on this bad drive to another external drive.

Thanks for your help,

Serge
 
Solution
USAFRet
This long tale of woe was easily prevnted by a good backup routine.

Drive die. All of them, eventually.
Sometimes bad enough that you can't "fix it". Sometimes far enough that a $$$ data recovery company can't retrieve your data.
Sometimes, trying to "fix it" makes things worse.

A $50 external drive and free software, however...
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mdd1963

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As the drive is likely encrypted, even if there were a normal SATA drive inside, removing it from it's protective case and connecting it internally to another computer will likely be pointless...

If this drive contains critical data , for which it's recovery is worth $300, I'd consider the services of ...

www.300dollardatarecovery.com

$300 Data Recovery

$300 Data Recovery provides affordable Hard Drive, RAID, SSD, and Flash data recovery services in Los Angeles. BBB A+. 4,100+ Reviews. Mail-In & Drop Off.
www.300dollardatarecovery.com www.300dollardatarecovery.com

If it's not all that important data, perhaps Recuva, etc., can gather some data from it If it is still functioning enough to allow it to be reinitialized/quick formatted...

(In any event, right after a drive's failure is indeed often the time most folks start to ponder strongly desiring to move their important data to a second drive. :( (especially if said drive was a sole data source)
 
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Grobe

Grobe

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Jan 22, 2009
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This can happens because the user fails to use "safe removal of drive". I know because it happens for me more than one time when I forgot this. Fortunately for me, I'd always either had backup or the drive in question was the backup drive.
 
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FrenchyfromPA

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Apr 13, 2017
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Thanks for all your messages . I got this reply on another website :

"It's not necessary to transfer the data from an unallocated drive. All you need to do is access disk management and initialize and recover the data using EaseUS Data recovery wizard to fix the issue."

Will it work if I initialize the external drive with disk management and use EaseUS Data recovery wizard to recover the data? Initializing the drive won't erase all the data?
 
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N

NoobWhoKnowsNotButTech443

Jan 10, 2021
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FrenchyfromPA said:
Thanks for all your messages . I got this reply on another website :

"It's not necessary to transfer the data from an unallocated drive. All you need to do is access disk management and initialize and recover the data using EaseUS Data recovery wizard to fix the issue."

Will it work if I initialize the external drive with disk management and use EaseUS Data recovery wizard to recover the data? Initializing the drive won't erase all the data?
Click to expand...
(What I'm agreeing about is the "Recovery" procedure,Not the "Initializing")Yes,It will if the data is still accessible but I think the results may vary(Some file may be corrupted when recovered etc)

As For the recovery software you will use,I Recommend TestDisk(Completely free)
 
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FrenchyfromPA

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NoobWhoKnowsNotButTech443 said:
(What I'm agreeing about is the "Recovery" procedure,Not the "Initializing")Yes,It will if the data is still accessible but I think the results may vary(Some file may be corrupted when recovered etc)

As For the recovery software you will use,I Recommend TestDisk(Completely free)
Click to expand...
Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I downloaded TestDisk but I don't know how to use it. I unzipped the file and clicked on TestDisk _win application and the window popped up with information about the program and a selection to use arrows key to create a new log file, append information or don't record anything....
 
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FrenchyfromPA

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fzabkar said:
DO NOT initialise the drive. Doing so would be data destructive.

Can you show us the Partitions window in DMDE?

It should look something like my Elements:

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/DMDE/DMDE_Elements-8TB_Partitions.jpg

In some circumstances the free version DMDE may be able to recover your data with a few clicks.
Click to expand...

Hi,

When I tried to open the disk with that program I got the message LBA 0 (try 2) WinError 21. The device is not ready, retry, ignore, ignore all, abort (not highlighted), update, parameters, help.
 
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FrenchyfromPA

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Following some advices on another website I downloaded EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and started an advanced scan but it seems it's going to take forever... I will come back later once it's done with the results
 
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FrenchyfromPA

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fzabkar said:
It appears that the drive has internal problems.

Try to obtain a SMART report with CrystalDiskInfo. If you can't do that, then this would confirm an internal fault.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah! There are some big problems with this drive... I started with some freezing , stuttering and the drive was making some kind of grinding sound when I try do play some video files, however the health status in Crystaldisk was good... Now that drive shows connected in the taskbar but it doesn't appear in "this PC" nor in Crystaldisk. Do you know that program "Remo Recover"? My scan is at 13% now. I'd like to be able to recover at least some of the files and if I can't recover everything at least to be able to see the names of all the files so I can download them again somewhere else
 
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NoobWhoKnowsNotButTech443

Jan 10, 2021
42
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FrenchyfromPA said:
Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I downloaded TestDisk but I don't know how to use it. I unzipped the file and clicked on TestDisk _win application and the window popped up with information about the program and a selection to use arrows key to create a new log file, append information or don't record anything....
Click to expand...
It looks like you're Confused..
Here is a guide so you use Testdisk..
Here:https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Make Sure to Run TestDisk with Admin Rights

mod edited: look like the previous site just plagiarize cgsecurity.org site
 
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FrenchyfromPA

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Apr 13, 2017
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Last edited by a moderator:
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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This long tale of woe was easily prevnted by a good backup routine.

Drive die. All of them, eventually.
Sometimes bad enough that you can't "fix it". Sometimes far enough that a $$$ data recovery company can't retrieve your data.
Sometimes, trying to "fix it" makes things worse.

A $50 external drive and free software, however...
 
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Solution
F

FrenchyfromPA

Reputable
Apr 13, 2017
64
1
4,535
NoobWhoKnowsNotButTech443 said:
It looks like you're Confused..
Here is a guide so you use Testdisk..
Here:https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Make Sure to Run TestDisk with Admin Rights

mod edited: look like the previous site just plagiarize cgsecurity.org site
Click to expand...

Well, I want to finish the Remo recover scan this morning but my wife put all her stuff on my table and she disconnected the drive... Et voila!... I was planning to do TestDisk scan afterwards and thanks again for the information how to use it. However now I have to deal again with trying to get back the drive in Disk management and in the taskbar as I'm getting the error messages I had before with "device descriptor failed", back to square one!....
 
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FrenchyfromPA

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Apr 13, 2017
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USAFRet said:
This long tale of woe was easily prevnted by a good backup routine.

Drive die. All of them, eventually.
Sometimes bad enough that you can't "fix it". Sometimes far enough that a $$$ data recovery company can't retrieve your data.
Sometimes, trying to "fix it" makes things worse.

A $50 external drive and free software, however...
Click to expand...

I know... Some data recovery company are a rip off and they charge $1,500... I guess it also depends on the damage in the drive and the size, unfortunately his one is 3TB.... Actually it's not completely life there's still a little bit of life in it, the light is still on and it spins, it's a living dead drive...
 
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FrenchyfromPA

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Apr 13, 2017
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Well, I broke the connector on the external drive yesterday so now that drive is done... Well, I won't bother anymore with it but I will definitely follow your advices and have more back up drives from now on. I even think about buying some SSD instead of HDD but I'll wait next Black Friday as the prices are still quite high. Thanks again for your help and advices.

Serge
 
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