Failing Toshiba 1TB Hard Drive ~ Stuck at Stage 4 of 5 during CHKDSK F: /r

[Nekoplexis]

Hello everyone. My name's Von.

I am a college IT student here in the Philippines.
I have this Toshiba 1TB Canvio Basics 2.5" external hard drive (with SuperSpeed Port 3.0) that I've had for over a year (Since 2015) already and counting.
[Volume Label: F "Lukewarm MegaBox"]

It was the only external hard drive I had, and it was very reliable.

Until a few months ago, I've had problems with it...
Problems like:
- Weird hidden directory files in it that I couldn't search in File Explorer. (Stuff like "2353464345234-246235213545135-0000000E" folders or directories of some sort)

- Corrupted the whole disk when removing the external hard drive without using the "Safely Remove" method. (Luckily to be solved using CHKDSK F: /f)

- Won't 'Safely Remove' the hard drive because it's in use by another program.
(This is really an issue for me. [I've tried using a third party storage device removal software {SafelyRemove.exe?} that doesn't work as well. It found weird programs {with weird text names like "$REX000$\NTFS0000" or something that had 'dollar signs' and unknown directories in it. Not sure.} that are inside my external hard drive that I couldn't find, but still active on my hard drive, and is stopping me from safely removing my external hard drive. Is it a virus or something?])

- Slow file reading/writing/transferring/deleting. [Fails to read a file or folder, unable to cut/copy certain files ("Can't read from source file or disk" error or something when doing so) or folders, and sometimes crashes my OS {Technically Windows Explorer (explorer.exe)} whenever I have to open/cut/copy/delete a file.}

----

Could any of these be the reason why my external hard drive is slow as ever?
Or could it also be that my external hard drive is probably damaged or failing?
(Hope that it's not gonna die.)

Right now (As of 3:52 PM PST, November 24, 2016), I'm currently running 'CHKDSK' command in Command Prompt [chkdsk F: /r] since last night to fix any bad partitions or 'clusters' inside this external hard drive of mine, but it's stuck at a file during Stage 4 of 5 "replacing bad clusters in file XXXX"

I've left this 12 hours ago and as of right now, it's currently stuck at:

---
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 2766. of name
F:\XXXXXXXXXXX\XXXXXXXXXX\THEWAL~2\THEWAL~3\Pack\WA163~1.TAA (A directory in my hard drive that I couldn't search for as well.)
Progress: 2776 of 49904 done; Stage: 5% Total: 4%; ETA: 197:41:40 (The ETA is stuck until now.)
---


I am deeply in need of all your assistance. I have important pictures of my beloved ones in here that I can't afford to lose....
I can faithfully accept any solutions that will (hopefully) rescue my hard drive.

PS: If you need my laptop's specs, I'll reply to your request for them if asked.

Thank you so much.
Von

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Nekoplexis,

That is really unpleasant.

You should have backed up the data stored on the drive the moment that these weird things started. Mechanical drives could sometimes just fail. You should always back up the data you can't afford to loose.

Is the chkdsk process still running? Is the drive recognized under My Computer and Disk Management?
If the drive is not recognized or inaccessible for some reason, you try some of these tools: https://www.lifewire.com/free-data-recovery-software-tools-2622893
You need to recover the files to another drive.

Once you've done that, you can see what is wrong with it: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/282651-32-best-diagnostic-testing-utility

If you have a spare USB cable, it would really not hurt to attach the drive with it to another USB port.

Keep in mind that if the data stored on it is extremely important, your safest bet would be to contact a data recovery company.

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

 

[Nekoplexis]

Hi there Nekoplexis,

That is really unpleasant.

You should have backed up the data stored on the drive the moment that these weird things started. Mechanical drives could sometimes just fail. You should always back up the data you can't afford to loose.

Is the chkdsk process still running? Is the drive recognized under My Computer and Disk Management?
If the drive is not recognized or inaccessible for some reason, you try some of these tools: https://www.lifewire.com/free-data-recovery-software-tools-2622893
You need to recover the files to another drive.

Once you've done that, you can see what is wrong with it: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/282651-32-best-diagnostic-testing-utility

If you have a spare USB cable, it would really not hurt to attach the drive with it to another USB port.

Keep in mind that if the data stored on it is extremely important, your safest bet would be to contact a data recovery company.

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

Hey there, friend...
As of 8:36 PM of November 24, 2016....

It's sad to say that the CHKDSK process is still stuck at the same file until now... And from what is worth, I don't think it's moving at all. So my last chance is to wait for it; if it's still stuck until tomorrow, then I dunno what to do.
And... No... It's not showing on "My Computer" nor "Disk Management" since the CHKDSK process is still running.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Well, you will need to interrupt the process at one point.
Once you do that, you need to run some data recovery tool on the drive. You will not go with the data recovery company option right?

Keep in mind that the chkdsk process could sometimes result in data loss.

D_Know_WD