External HDD - 2TB WD Elements "Error in IOCTL_DISK_SET_DRIVE_LAYOUT

[Jokinchi]

Hello,
From the beginning:
I plugged in the Elements and noticed that nothing came up on Windows (8), just as I was told. I then went to disk management and saw that the PC did detect the Elements, it didn't say RAW, but I was unable to do anything.
I then got TestDisk and it said that there were no partitions on the HDD, it allows me to add partition, but talks about cylinder, head, sector and stuff - no idea what they mean.
Next, I decided to get Fat32Formatter, and once I try to initiate the hard drive, I get a message saying "Error in IOCTL_DISK_SET_DRIVE_LAYOUT" and don't know what to do.
Please help with this, the files are not important as the drive working, thank you!

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Test the drive with WD DL Diagnostics for Windows: http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=303&sid=3&lang=en

Your drive may not look like the one shown on the download page - - don't be concerned about that, you can use the same testing software on any elements model.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Jokinchi,

I am really sorry that you are having issues with your WD Elements. I would agree with Phillip Corcoran and say that it is a good idea to start with testing the device with the WD DLG Diagnostic tool.

As the device is detected in Disk Management but not responding, it is likely that it suffered file system corruption. As the data on the drive is not important( or you have back up of it), you can try to reformat the drive. You could also try to write zeros(if the reformatting does not help) and see if that will help out.

How to write zeros: http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1211/~/how-to-low-level-format-or-write-zeros-(full-erase)-to-a-wd-hard-drive-or-solid

Hope this will help,
D_Know_WD