Question How to get my old external HDD working again to recover sentimental files ?

[biancahatfield]

EDIT: THANKS GUYS, I WILL BE TAKING IT INTO THE STORE, BUT THANKS ALL FOR HELPING ME ELIMINATE SOLUTIONS FIRST. VERY HELPFUL BUNCH!

I bought an external hard drive in 2016, and it stopped working after incorrectly formatting my PC.
I would like to know what you think the issue is and any solutions I can try myself before taking it to the repair shop, as all quotes I got were crazy. Any help much appreciated! Thanks so much!

SPECS:
4GB Seagate External Portable Drive - Model No. SRD0NF1
PC in 1006: AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six Core Processor 3.50 GHz (64 bit operating system)
Current PC: Samsung S8U Desktop / Dell OptiPlex 5000 / Windows 11 Pro
(If any more info needed, happy to supply)..

Here's what happened in 2016:

• After uninstalling Windows 10 and installing Windows 7 (downgrading), two out of three of my USB ports stopped working. I troubleshooted, which ran some automatic updates, reinstalled the drivers and repaired all USB ports. Great! BUT, then not long after that I accidentally installed a virus and reformatted my PC again, but this time I not only had the USB ports issue again, but it wouldn't let me download the drivers for them, and my external hard drive, which was plugged into the PC, didn't work anymore (I just looked at my notes I made at the time, and they said that when I downloaded the AMD drivers onto my computer, the devices in control panel said they could not be found or downloaded - that doesn't make sense to me now, but it may to you).
• I got very confused and overwhelmed by all different things people suggested to try, and I gave up, but I have realised how important some of the sentimental files are on there, and don't want to give up! And so we come to the present day part of the story.

What's happening now:

• Does the connecting beep sound when I plug it into my PC (but no little green light)
• Made the beep a few times when moving the drive around and again when screen saver came on
• File Explorer - doesn't show up as device
• FYI, I got the same results on my old PC and my friend's laptop, as well as trying different ports in hub and direct PC port)
• Settings > Devices - shows up as device (when I right click on it to get to Properties, it says 'Windows Explorer Not Responding' - I can right click on any other device without this issue)
• Settings > Devices > General - it says it is a storage device, but all other info is 'unavailable'
• Settings > Devices > Hardware - it says 'this device is working properly'
• Properties > Events:

Device settings for USB\VID_0BC2&PID_2322\MSFT30NA84T9SR were not migrated from previous OS installation due to partial or ambiguous device match
Last Device Instance Id: USB\VID_0930&PID_1400\070851636290C771
Class Guid: {36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}
Location Path: PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1400)#USBROOT(0)#USB(17)
Migration Rank: 0xF000FFFFF8000023
Present: false
Status: 0xC0000719

• Disk Management - listed as Disk 1 | Unknown | Not Initialized
• Properties > Volumes - no info available | capacity and space is 0MB
• Properties > Drivers, Update Driver - says it is already up to date
• I tried a couple of free downloadable data recovery tools, but it didn't show up as a device to scan on either of them

 

[helpstar]

you can try:
https://www.easeus.com/resource/disk-unknown-not-initialized.html

If you really need this data, pay for it.

 

[Lutfij]

IMHO, if you have valuable data on the drive, you should be reaching out to a data recovery specialist located near you. Any form of tampering with the drive can and will take it to the point of no recovery.

 

[zinkles]

Disk Management - listed as Disk 1 | Unknown | Not Initialized

first off, I can see that the drive is not initialised. to initialize it,(MAY NOT BRING BACK DATA)

1. Go to Disk Management
2. Right click on the Disk 1
3. If disk is marked offline, right click and mark as online.
4. now after right clicking, click initialize to initialize the drive.

(*THIS WILL PROBABLY NOT BRING YOUR FILES BACK, SO DONT PROCEED IF YOU WANT YOUR FILES BACK.*)

the MBR records have probably been corrupted, this rebuilding this requires special tools which are mostly paid. this too doesn't guarantee the data recovery, but bringing the drive back to life.

seek professional help by visiting a physical store rather than resulting to online forums and sketchy methods if you really want your stuff back.

 

[stonecarver]

Disk Management - listed as Disk 1 | Unknown | Not Initialized

While in disk management does the hard drive have a drive letter.

If not right click anywhere in the box of the hard drive that's wonkers. Does windows give you the option to give it a drive letter ? If so pick " H" or something and see if the drive shows up. DON"T FORMAT just give it a drive letter if it lets you, See if it works.

 

[MWink64]

Can you hear the drive spinning? If so, is it making any repetitive clicking sounds? Have you tried a different USB cable?

The fact that Windows is reporting a capacity of 0MB makes me think the drive is not being recognized, just the USB bridge. If so, the most likely possibilities are that either the drive is failing or that it's not getting enough power to spin up. The connect/disconnect sound, when moving the drive around, could point to a flaky USB cable. I dislike bus powered USB drives because a weak USB cable and/or USB port can cause serious issues. Those USB Y cables (with two USB type A connectors) can help mitigate the issue.

Another suggestion is to run CrystalDiskInfo and see if it's able to pull SMART info from the drive. This should at least give some clue about whether the drive is functioning.

 

[DSzymborski]

Most of the PC stuff is immaterial since the external hard drive isn't being read on any PC, as far as I can tell.

Really, if these are valuable files to you, this drive should be sent off to a recovery lab. Proper backups would have been preferable, of course, but lessons are sometimes depressing or expensive.

 

[biancahatfield]

you can try:
https://www.easeus.com/resource/disk-unknown-not-initialized.html

If you really need this data, pay for it.

Thanks. I did try them, but as I said in my post, it doesn't show up in the data recovery program to scan for data to recover!

 

[biancahatfield]

Most of the PC stuff is immaterial since the external hard drive isn't being read on any PC, as far as I can tell.

Really, if these are valuable files to you, this drive should be sent off to a recovery lab. Proper backups would have been preferable, of course, but lessons are sometimes depressing or expensive.

You can say that again! Yes, I think that's what it might come to, but I have to at least try to solve it myself first.

 

[biancahatfield]

While in disk management does the hard drive have a drive letter.

If not right click anywhere in the box of the hard drive that's wonkers. Does windows give you the option to give it a drive letter ? If so pick " H" or something and see if the drive shows up. DON"T FORMAT just give it a drive letter if it lets you, See if it works.

Thanks - unfortunately that didn't work - won't let me assign a drive letter.

 

[biancahatfield]

first off, I can see that the drive is not initialised. to initialize it,(MAY NOT BRING BACK DATA)

1. Go to Disk Management
2. Right click on the Disk 1
3. If disk is marked offline, right click and mark as online.
4. now after right clicking, click initialize to initialize the drive.

(*THIS WILL PROBABLY NOT BRING YOUR FILES BACK, SO DONT PROCEED IF YOU WANT YOUR FILES BACK.*)

the MBR records have probably been corrupted, this rebuilding this requires special tools which are mostly paid. this too doesn't guarantee the data recovery, but bringing the drive back to life.

seek professional help by visiting a physical store rather than resulting to online forums and sketchy methods if you really want your stuff back.

Thanks, it sounds like if I try this method, I might lose my data completely?

 

[biancahatfield]

IMHO, if you have valuable data on the drive, you should be reaching out to a data recovery specialist located near you. Any form of tampering with the drive can and will take it to the point of no recovery.

Thank you! Yes, I think it's looking that way - just wanted to find out if if anyone could tell me what they think may be wrong with it to see if there was something I could try first.

 

[zinkles]

Thanks, it sounds like if I try this method, I might lose my data completely?

maybe, yes, if you want your data back, don't do this. you could recover your drive through this though.

just wanted to find out if if anyone could tell me what they think may be wrong

the MBR (master boot record) is corrupted or damaged, thereby making the drive unusable. rebuilding the MBR doesn't guarantee data recovery (atleast not all of it).

 

[stonecarver]

As a last ditch try have you taken the hard drive out of it's external case and hooked it to computer as a internal drive.

Sometime the external case hardware goes bad and I have had to do this many times. Could also be the USB wire. Is it the original to the device. Some USB cables out there only provide power and not data return.

If the drive is bad so be it but that would be my last personal push before sending it off to pros

 

[biancahatfield]

Can you hear the drive spinning? If so, is it making any repetitive clicking sounds? Have you tried a different USB cable?

The fact that Windows is reporting a capacity of 0MB makes me think the drive is not being recognized, just the USB bridge. If so, the most likely possibilities are that either the drive is failing or that it's not getting enough power to spin up. The connect/disconnect sound, when moving the drive around, could point to a flaky USB cable. I dislike bus powered USB drives because a weak USB cable and/or USB port can cause serious issues. Those USB Y cables (with two USB type A connectors) can help mitigate the issue.

Another suggestion is to run CrystalDiskInfo and see if it's able to pull SMART info from the drive. This should at least give some clue about whether the drive is functioning.

No, I don't think I can hear it spinning.

I don't have a spare cable - do you think it's worth buying one to try before taking it into the shop, or it's probably not likely enough to be the cable to bother?

The drive didn't show up on CrystalDiskInfo.

Thanks so much for your help! Really appreciate it.

 

[biancahatfield]

As a last ditch try have you taken the hard drive out of it's external case and hooked it to computer as a internal drive.

Sometime the external case hardware goes bad and I have had to do this many times. Could also be the USB wire. Is it the original to the device. Some USB cables out there only provide power and not data return.

If the drive is bad so be it but that would be my last personal push before sending it off to pros

Thanks. No, I haven't tried taking it apart if that's what you mean. I'm a bit confused. It is an external hard drive, not in a computer case.

 

[zinkles]

No, I don't think I can hear it spinning.

I don't have a spare cable - do you think it's worth buying one to try before taking it into the shop, or it's probably not likely enough to be the cable to bother?

The drive didn't show up on CrystalDiskInfo.

Thanks so much for your help! Really appreciate it.

how many u cables have you tried before? one? atleast in the past you must have used a different cable right? i doubt it's the cable as it shows in disk manager, but shows as 0MB, you better take it to an expert.

 

[biancahatfield]

I have never tried any other cables - just using the one it came with originally.

OK, yeah I think it sounds like I'm just going to have to pay to get it fixed.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[TerryLaze]

Thanks. No, I haven't tried taking it apart if that's what you mean. I'm a bit confused. It is an external hard drive, not in a computer case.

It has a normal desktop hdd in it, if you open up the case (there should be videos on youtube) you can then connect it internally to your current PC and see if the issue comes from the external case or not.

This part kinda points toward it possibly being an issue with drivers/chipset not making sense of the controller.

Device settings for USB\VID_0BC2&PID_2322\MSFT30NA84T9SR were not migrated from previous OS installation due to partial or ambiguous device match
Last Device Instance Id: USB\VID_0930&PID_1400\070851636290C771
Class Guid: {36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}
Location Path: PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1400)#USBROOT(0)#USB(17)
Migration Rank: 0xF000FFFFF8000023
Present: false
Status: 0xC0000719

Here is a list of possible solutions.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...whats-in/c748f838-535f-4496-955e-4ebce0563bf1

 

[MWink64]

No, I don't think I can hear it spinning.

I don't have a spare cable - do you think it's worth buying one to try before taking it into the shop, or it's probably not likely enough to be the cable to bother?

The drive didn't show up on CrystalDiskInfo.

Thanks so much for your help! Really appreciate it.

Yes, I would absolutely try another quality USB cable. It's a low cost, low risk option. I'm not saying I'm confident it will resolve your issue but this is a common cause of problems in such drives. Also, make sure you connect the drive directly to a motherboard USB port, not a front panel port or USB hub. Try it on at least two different systems.

From what you've described, I wouldn't presently bother with any suggested software solutions. If the drive's not spinning, there's a hardware problem. Also, never have Windows initialize a drive that you're hoping to recover data from. That will only make things worse.

Another option, if you're comfortable doing it, would be:

As a last ditch try have you taken the hard drive out of it's external case and hooked it to computer as a internal drive.

Sometime the external case hardware goes bad and I have had to do this many times. Could also be the USB wire. Is it the original to the device. Some USB cables out there only provide power and not data return.

If the drive is bad so be it but that would be my last personal push before sending it off to pros