Question Is My Hard Drive Dead??? Unknown Device, Not Initialized...

[My PC Hates Me]

Is there any way to "fix" one of my storage hard drives?

It was literally working fine till this morning.

It doesn't show up in file explorer at all.

It shows up in device manager under the Disk Drives tab as "unknown device" (although it does say, This device is working properly).

In the Disk Management utility in Windows, it says that the drive must be initialized. (It says, Disk 1 Unknown)

I downloaded the free version of Partition Wizard, but it doesn't show up at all in Partition Wizard.

Of course, it is not backed up 🙁

(Also, since this is a dual boot windows / linux machine, I did boot up in to Fedora and the drive did not show up).

Thanks in advance. My life would be a lot better if I could figure out what is wrong

The disk that is having problems is a Seagate Barracuda ST4000DM004

The date of manufacture is 15 Feb 2019

I tried running Seatools (I guess that is Seagates utility for their drives) and unfortunately it doesn't get listed.

Is it possibly a bad driver issue??? The driver is Microsoft 10.0.19041.1865 and the driver date is listed as 6/21/2006

Win 10 64-bit Home
15-13600K
Gigabyte Z690 UD DDR4
32GB Ram (teamforce zeuss)
850 Watt PSU: MSI MPG A850GF Gaming Power Supply - Full Modular - 80 PLUS Gold Certified 850Watts
RTX 2060 Super

 

[punkncat]

First thing, unplug and replug the SATA connector as well as the power connector.

After that, go into Disk Manager "Create and Format..." and right click on the disk and it should give you options for formatting and assigning a drive letter, and so forth.

If those don't work the disk may well be a goner. It happens.

 

[My PC Hates Me]

First thing, unplug and replug the SATA connector as well as the power connector.

After that, go into Disk Manager "Create and Format..." and right click on the disk and it should give you options for formatting and assigning a drive letter, and so forth.

If those don't work the disk may well be a goner. It happens.

Thank you for the reply.

If I click the Create and Format function in the disk Manager, won't that erase all the data on that drive???

 

[Ralston18]

@My PC Hates Me

Also update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full? How connected?

 

[punkncat]

Thank you for the reply.

If I click the Create and Format function in the disk Manager, won't that erase all the data on that drive???

It would.

It may give you another option to just initialize but it is fairly rare for a populated and formatted drive not to just come up. If this drive was in a very old Windows installation, or a Linux build it may not be of a format type the OS can work with.

 

[My PC Hates Me]

@My PC Hates Me

Also update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full? How connected?

This is a NEW build so the PSU, CPU, RAM, and motherboard are all less than 10-days old.

Win 10 64-bit Home
15-13600K
Gigabyte Z690 UD DDR4
32GB Ram (teamforce zeuss)
850 Watt PSU: MSI MPG A850GF Gaming Power Supply - Full Modular - 80 PLUS Gold Certified 850Watts
RTX 2060 Super

Will have to shut down the computer and haul out the hard drvie to get the make and model. I do know it is a 4TB drive and the re is about 1TB of free space on it.

 

[Ralston18]

You should not need to open the case. Try this first.

Open Powershell and run the following Cmdlet. You can copy and paste the cmdlet line.

Get-Disk | Format-Table -AutoSize

Below is the result from my computer. ( I redacted the username.)

PS C:\Users\[redacted]> Get-Disk | Format-Table -AutoSize

Number Friendly Name Serial Number HealthStatus OperationalStatus Total Size Partition Style
------ ------------- ------------- ------------ ----------------- ---------- ---------------
2 ATA Samsung SSD 870 36B Healthy Online 931.51 GB GPT
1 KBG30ZMS256G NVMe TOSHIBA 256GB 0008_0D04_0023_14F4. Healthy Online 238.47 GB GPT
0 Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB S59UNS0N502804E Healthy Online 465.76 GB GPT
3 ST1000DM 010-2EP102

 

[My PC Hates Me]

You should not need to open the case. Try this first.

Open Powershell and run the following Cmdlet. You can copy and paste the cmdlet line.

Get-Disk | Format-Table -AutoSize

Below is the result from my computer. ( I redacted the username.)

PS C:\Users\[redacted]> Get-Disk | Format-Table -AutoSize

Number Friendly Name Serial Number HealthStatus OperationalStatus Total Size Partition Style
------ ------------- ------------- ------------ ----------------- ---------- ---------------
2 ATA Samsung SSD 870 36B Healthy Online 931.51 GB GPT
1 KBG30ZMS256G NVMe TOSHIBA 256GB 0008_0D04_0023_14F4. Healthy Online 238.47 GB GPT
0 Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB S59UNS0N502804E Healthy Online 465.76 GB GPT
3 ST1000DM 010-2EP102

Thank you.

I tried that and it shows ONLY my boot drive, not the HDD storage drive.

 

[My PC Hates Me]

Just to keep everyone updated:

I have unplugged the OTHER two storage drives from my computer and plugged the problamatic storage drive in to the other SATA data and power cables, and that hasn't fixed it. Still shows up in Device Manager as unknown device, still shows up in disk management with the prompt to initialize the disk.

The drive that is having problems is a Seagate Barracuda ST4000DM004

The date of manufacture is 15 Feb 2019

I tried running Seatools (I guess that is Seagates utility for their drives) and unfortunately it doesn't get listed.

Is it possibly a bad driver issue??? The driver is Microsoft 10.0.19041.1865 and the driver date is listed as 6/21/2006

 

[letmepicyou]

Just to keep everyone updated:

I have unplugged the OTHER two storage drives from my computer and plugged the problamatic storage drive in to the other SATA data and power cables, and that hasn't fixed it. Still shows up in Device Manager as unknown device, still shows up in disk management with the prompt to initialize the disk.

The drive that is having problems is a Seagate Barracuda ST4000DM004

The date of manufacture is 15 Feb 2019

I tried running Seatools (I guess that is Seagates utility for their drives) and unfortunately it doesn't get listed.

Is it possibly a bad driver issue??? The driver is Microsoft 10.0.19041.1865 and the driver date is listed as 6/21/2006

No, there won't be any "driver issue" with a SATA drive, you're right about the place where I'd start expecting a mechanical hard drive to fail. It has a 2 year warranty. You've officially doubled that. Lesson #1 - never entrust data to a hard drive. Lesson #2 - see lesson 1.

 

[My PC Hates Me]

No, there won't be any "driver issue" with a SATA drive, you're right about the place where I'd start expecting a mechanical hard drive to fail. It has a 2 year warranty. You've officially doubled that. Lesson #1 - never entrust data to a hard drive. Lesson #2 - see lesson 1.

Thank you for the reply.

Just to confirm your line of thought, you suspect it is a hardware failure even though it does show up in Device manager (as an unknown device) and in Disk Management (it says it needs to be initialized)?

Not meaning to doubt you, I just want to make sure I fully understand.

In the meantime, I am going to try plugging back in to my OLD computer (an i7-6700 also running win 10 home) and see if I can get anything to show up.

 

[My PC Hates Me]

Another update...

I tried putting the hard drive back in my old computer (which I had been using up to about a week ago) and it didn't show up at all.

I don't think it matters, but when I put it back in my old computer, I was booting up in Linux.

Aaaarrrggghhhh...

 

[letmepicyou]

Another update...

I tried putting the hard drive back in my old computer (which I had been using up to about a week ago) and it didn't show up at all.

I don't think it matters, but when I put it back in my old computer, I was booting up in Linux.

Aaaarrrggghhhh...

Yep. Sounds dead to me.

If you want to use mechanical hard drives, my suggestion is to set yourself up a little NAS storage with at least RAID 5. Then if a drive dies you just replace it. Experienced folks will even keep a spare on hand for when it happens..and it DOES happen. A few WD Red drives and you'll be good to go. Otherwise, I recommend going all solid state.

It's important to keep in mind that hard drives have a 100% failure rate. It's only ever a question of when.

 

[Ralston18]

RAID can be quite problematic and overall is not a recommended choice for use beyond certain commericial environments where RAID is indeed a justified requirementl.

My thought is to take a closer look at the dual boot environment.

Not sure about your specific environment.

Still start here, take a look, and post accordingly.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...mmand-line-options-techref-di?view=windows-11

And/or search for similar links for more information and understanding.

Just do not immediately start downloading proclaimed "fixes" or doing Registry edits etc..

The immediate objective is to determine why the drive is not appearing.

Being "dead" is certainly a possible reason. 😕

 

[USAFRet]

Yep. Sounds dead to me.

If you want to use mechanical hard drives, my suggestion is to set yourself up a little NAS storage with at least RAID 5. Then if a drive dies you just replace it. Experienced folks will even keep a spare on hand for when it happens..and it DOES happen. A few WD Red drives and you'll be good to go. Otherwise, I recommend going all solid state.

It's important to keep in mind that hard drives have a 100% failure rate. It's only ever a question of when.

A RAID 5 does not replace an actual backup situation.

And solid state drives die as well. I had one do that, quite suddenly.

 

[letmepicyou]

RAID can be quite problematic and overall is not a recommended choice for use beyond certain commericial environments where RAID is indeed a justified requirementl.

"RAID can be quite problematic" ? So...all those server farms across the globe...they've just gotten it all wrong?

I can't fathom where "RAID can be problematic" even comes from. I've used RAID in various forms since the Socket A days, and I've not ONCE found it to be "problematic". In fact, I've found RAID arrays to be FAR more robust than single drive systems by a large margin, and this INCLUDES RAID 0, despite its lack of redundancy.

 

[USAFRet]

"RAID can be quite problematic" ? So...all those server farms across the globe...they've just gotten it all wrong?

I can't fathom where "RAID can be problematic" even comes from. I've used RAID in various forms since the Socket A days, and I've not ONCE found it to be "problematic". In fact, I've found RAID arrays to be FAR more robust than single drive systems by a large margin, and this INCLUDES RAID 0, despite its lack of redundancy.

If you depend on it as your only data protection system, yes.

Any company that runs a RAID array, of any type, also has an actual backup situation.

RAID is for continued uptime, in the face of a physically failed drive. Not data security.
A real backup is still needed.

And in the consumer world, if you can withstand an hour or so of downtime, the RAID is not really needed.
Slap in a new drive, and recover fromt he most recent backup.

 

[letmepicyou]

A RAID 5 does not replace an actual backup situation.

And solid state drives die as well. I had one do that, quite suddenly.

Of course you should always have backups. I'd not dream to advise otherwise. And yes, hard drives have a 100% failure rate. As I stated. A Solid state drive is just another hard drive, and they will all eventually fail, as all drives invariably do. I had one of my old 250gb SSD go south some years back.

Of course. But a NAS RAID provides a whole host of benefits, from media streaming to game storage, that come in quite handy for a home environment for some people. And when someone is hosting a large amount of data on single non-redundant drives inside their pc, a NAS can be just what they're looking for. Otherwise, they wouldn't sell so darn many of em.

 

[USAFRet]

Of course you should always have backups. I'd not dream to advise otherwise. And yes, hard drives have a 100% failure rate. As I stated. A Solid state drive is just another hard drive, and they will all eventually fail, as all drives invariably do. I had one of my old 250gb SSD go south some years back.

Of course. But a NAS RAID provides a whole host of benefits, from media streaming to game storage, that come in quite handy for a home environment for some people. And when someone is hosting a large amount of data on single non-redundant drives inside their pc, a NAS can be just what they're looking for. Otherwise, they wouldn't sell so darn many of em.

I have a NAS. Quite large, in fact. Currently ~85TB, counting the other connected drives.

In the main box, it used to run a RAID 5. I've since given that RAID up, for just individual drives.

But the "problematic" comment was due to FAR too many people considering a RAID as being a good path for 'data security' .
We see that here ALL the time.
It is not.

 

[My PC Hates Me]

RAID can be quite problematic and overall is not a recommended choice for use beyond certain commericial environments where RAID is indeed a justified requirementl.

My thought is to take a closer look at the dual boot environment.

Not sure about your specific environment.

Still start here, take a look, and post accordingly.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...mmand-line-options-techref-di?view=windows-11

And/or search for similar links for more information and understanding.

Just do not immediately start downloading proclaimed "fixes" or doing Registry edits etc..

The immediate objective is to determine why the drive is not appearing.

Being "dead" is certainly a possible reason. 😕

Thank you for the reply.

I have to admit that I am not sure if the article you linked to fits my situation. Maybe it does and I am just not realizing it???

My computer boots up fine. I can either boot in to Win 10 on my Samsung SSD, or boot in to Linux on my Kingston SSD.

And I can read the data off of my 6TB Western Digital Hard Drive (whether I boot in to Windows, or boot in to Linux).

Just my 4GB Seagate Barracuda HD that isn't showing up at all (neither in Windows, nor in Linux).

I did try removing all drives from my new PC, leaving JUST the C Drive and the problematic Seagate barracuda 4GB drive in the machine. I swapped different sata ports, different sata cables, and while the machine booted fine, couldn't get it to show up in file explorer.

I put my Linux boot SSD back in my OLD computer along with my problematic Seagate Barracua drive, and the machine booted up fine, just couldn't access the Seagate Barracuda drive.

Sorry if I am repeating myself. I am a bit distraught at the moment. Also trying to do taxes as well 🙁

 

[Ralston18]

The immediate objective is to determine if the drive is correctly connected, properly configured, and actually physically working/functonal.

Unfortunately with so many failed attempts to access the drive it becomes more likely the drive has failed in some manner.

The previous link is/was intended to provide other means to troubleshoot and otherwise delve into the configuration.

Another command that can be run from Powershell is

bcdedit /enum

Results from my system (NOTE my system is not dual boot so your results should be compared to another known working dual boot system.)

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> bcdedit /enum

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume7
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {1244041f-5a03-11e9-a4f3-ef2968415e5a}
displayorder {current}
{0f1a2b84-b5ee-11ec-9417-7440bbd52dbe}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 10

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 10
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {12440422-5a03-11e9-a4f3-ef2968415e5a}
displaymessageoverride Recovery
recoveryenabled Yes
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \WINDOWS
resumeobject {1244041f-5a03-11e9-a4f3-ef2968415e5a}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {0f1a2b84-b5ee-11ec-9417-7440bbd52dbe}
device ramdisk=[C:]\boot\macrium\WinREFiles\media\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.efi
description Macrium Reflect System Recovery
osdevice ramdisk=[C:]\boot\macrium\WinREFiles\media\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
systemroot \Windows
nx OptIn
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes

Reference:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16903460/bcdedit-bcdstore-and-powershell

You can easily find other similar links. However, many of those links are really just a push for some third party product that simply serves as a GUI for the same basic commands and options. And/or go off into the risky world of registry editing. Registry editing is not recommended and only should be used as a last resort. Will not fix a physically failed drive in any case.

It does appear, as has been stated, that the drive has physically failed.

May be worth another troubleshooting round of swapping the drive about, running Seagate (and other) diagnostics , etc. just to doublecheck.

Be methodical, make notes, and post accordingly.

 

[SkyNetRising]

though it does show up in Device manager (as an unknown device) and in Disk Management (it says it needs to be initialized)

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

 

[My PC Hates Me]

The immediate objective is to determine if the drive is correctly connected, properly configured, and actually physically working/functonal.

Unfortunately with so many failed attempts to access the drive it becomes more likely the drive has failed in some manner.

The previous link is/was intended to provide other means to troubleshoot and otherwise delve into the configuration.

Another command that can be run from Powershell is

bcdedit /enum

Results from my system (NOTE my system is not dual boot so your results should be compared to another known working dual boot system.)

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> bcdedit /enum

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume7
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {1244041f-5a03-11e9-a4f3-ef2968415e5a}
displayorder {current}
{0f1a2b84-b5ee-11ec-9417-7440bbd52dbe}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 10

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 10
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {12440422-5a03-11e9-a4f3-ef2968415e5a}
displaymessageoverride Recovery
recoveryenabled Yes
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \WINDOWS
resumeobject {1244041f-5a03-11e9-a4f3-ef2968415e5a}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {0f1a2b84-b5ee-11ec-9417-7440bbd52dbe}
device ramdisk=[C:]\boot\macrium\WinREFiles\media\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.efi
description Macrium Reflect System Recovery
osdevice ramdisk=[C:]\boot\macrium\WinREFiles\media\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
systemroot \Windows
nx OptIn
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes

Reference:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16903460/bcdedit-bcdstore-and-powershell

You can easily find other similar links. However, many of those links are really just a push for some third party product that simply serves as a GUI for the same basic commands and options. And/or go off into the risky world of registry editing. Registry editing is not recommended and only should be used as a last resort. Will not fix a physically failed drive in any case.

It does appear, as has been stated, that the drive has physically failed.

May be worth another troubleshooting round of swapping the drive about, running Seagate (and other) diagnostics , etc. just to doublecheck.

Be methodical, make notes, and post accordingly.

Thank you, I really appreciate your advice.

Will go through another round of diagnostics.

Unfortunately for me, I cheaped out on my case and so cable management and HD caddys are a pain 🙁

 

[My PC Hates Me]

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

Thank you for the suggestion:

https://imgur.com/a/lT5b9em

https://imgur.com/hEQilHZ

View: https://imgur.com/hEQilHZ

View: https://imgur.com/a/lT5b9em

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Thank you for the suggestion:

https://imgur.com/a/lT5b9em

https://imgur.com/hEQilHZ

View: https://imgur.com/hEQilHZ

View: https://imgur.com/a/lT5b9em

The second screen shot only tells you that the driver is reporting that it is functional. It cannot tell you anything about the hardware itself.