Question Need help. I Can't See My Eternal Hard Drive In File Explorer.

[TheCranberries89]

Hello. This is my first time joining this site and asking this question. I need serious help. My HDD has been working fine for about 2 years now. 2 days ago, my computer refuses to detect my hard drive. It's not that it doesn't work. When I plug it in to the computer, I'd hear a notification sound and it shows that it's connected. However, the disk doesn't show at all. I've checked Disk Management and while it's there (as Disc 1), it says "Unknown, Not Initialized", nothing else. If I try to Initialized it, it'll say "The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error". I've looked up various YouTube videos and none of them gave me what I was looking for. It didn't fix the problem. The model is a WD My Passport 2626 USB Device. It's so frustrating and I feel like I'm at my wits end. There was a lot of data in that passport and I don't want to lose it, let alone, buy another one. The fact that it's connected to my computer gave me some glimmer of hope that there is a chance to resolve the issue. Through recommendation, someone told me to check this site for help. This is my last resort at this point. If anyone have any solutions, please let me know. Thank you.

https://imgbox.com/2C8uTial

https://imgbox.com/ha6XavoN

 

[Alabalcho]

Have you tried plugging it in another computer?
As it gets power from USB, you could have a prblem with USB port(s) on your PC.

 

[TheCranberries89]

Have you tried plugging it in another computer?
As it gets power from USB, you could have a prblem with USB port(s) on your PC.

I did. I still couldn't see it on File Explorer. I've tried changing the cable too and it was the same result. At that point, I eventually knew it wasn't a cable or cord issue. As for the USB port on my PC, it works fine because my SSD works on it. So, it's definitely not the USB ports either.

 

[fzabkar]

Can you retrieve a SMART report with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo? If not, then the drive is most probably bad.

Your computer appears to be detecting the USB-SATA bridge IC, but not the HDD behind the bridge,

 

[SkyNetRising]

I've checked Disk Management and while it's there (as Disc 1), it says "Unknown, Not Initialized", nothing else. If I try to Initialized it, it'll say "The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error".
https://imgbox.com/ha6XavoN

It's dead.
Since the drive has integrated USB controller you can't connect it to pc with sata cables.
Seek help from professional data recovery services, if data on it is important and you can't recover it from backups.

 

[TheCranberries89]

It's dead.
Since the drive has integrated USB controller you can't connect it to pc with sata cables.
Seek help from professional data recovery services, if data on it is important and you can't recover it from backups.

Yeah, I didn't want to believe it, but, I might as well just say that I've done all I could do for it. Data recovery is typically expensive, so I'll probably just buy a new HDD. There were only games and open source 3D stuff anyways. I could just redownload them again.

Do you know what the usual cause for the drives going bad like mines did?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Do you know what the usual cause for the drives going bad like mines did?

For external drives - it's usually inappropriate handling of the device.
They're quite fragile.

 

[TheCranberries89]

For external drives - it's usually inappropriate handling of the device.
They're quite fragile.

I did drop mines quite a few times in result of bad placements. Maybe that was the cause... I didn't realize that they were so sensitive. I'll need to be careful next time. Thank you.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Mechanical hard drives rarely survive being dropped. You have to be extra careful with those.
If you had SSD for external drive instead, it would probably be fine.

 

[TheCranberries89]

Mechanical hard drives rarely survive being dropped. You have to be extra careful with those.
If you had SSD for external drive instead, it would probably be fine.

Yeah, I definitely do have an SSD. Granted though, it doesn't hold nearly as much data as my HDD (That one held 3TBs), but, it gets the job done if you aren't trying to get large games for it. Do you have any recommendations if I'd ever decide on buying a new one?