Please help with WD External HDD Data Recovery

[hiteshjain5]

Hi,

This is my first post on the forum.

I'm having a very difficult time accessing my WD 1 TB Mypassport external drive. PLEASE HELP WITH DATA RECOVERY

I connected the drive using USB. Windows assigns it a drive letter but does NOT display the volume name. Neither does it displays the "free space and space used" information. When I try to click the drive for browsing folders, Windows Explorer just hangs.

I tried opening DiskManagement but that too does NOT display anything. When I disconnect the external drive, it shows up the internal HDD.

Under Device Manager, I can see that the drive is recognized as WD My Passport 0748 USB Device. Checked the drivers and its up-to-date.

I also tried to run minitools Partition Magic Wizard to see if it scans and displays the data but after 50% completion, I cancelled and tried to browse/view for any file. NO LUCK.

Finally, I started CHKDSK /R /F /X command, which has been running for 27 hours now and showing 10% complete. CHKDSK seems to be correcting error in indexes on stage 2 but that has been going on for over 20 hours. I see the light on the drive blinking and hear some light spinning sound.

While CHKDSK is running, I check the Event Logs and see this message "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR4." almost 50,000 times.

Can someone please help me recover/salvage the data? I have been thinking about using few other tools but don't want to interrupt CHKDSK command which surely is testing my patience.

Here are the tools I have been looking at:

The Recover4all data recovery software.
https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

 

[Hellfire13]

use m3datarecovery...its gud and worked for me...u might need to get the full version though(if u know how to get it)...

 

[hiteshjain5]

Thanks for your reply! I have downloaded the free version and will give it a try.

Just don't want to stop CHKDSK now that I have waited for almost 30 hours. Will give it some more time before trying all these tools.

 

[Hellfire13]

gud luck with tht...

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, hiteshjain5!

I'm sorry to hear about your WD My Passport access issues! I'd strongly recommend you attempt to check how the HDD will get recognized on another computer and also try swapping the USB cable that is connecting it. I'd also suggest you run WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics tool to determine the health and SMART status of the external drive, instead of Chkdsk.
Please, keep in mind that any data retrieving attempts by yourself are potentially dangerous for the data you have on the WD My Passport, so I'd advise you to consider contacting a professional data recovery company for assistance.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[hiteshjain5]

I have cancelled CHKDSK command because of fear of losing too much data. I tried GetDataBack for few minutes but it wasn't showing any progress in retrieving data. Finally I tried Photorec and that was able to retrieve few files but the estimated time for completion was about 11,000 hours (almost 2 years).

I have a feeling that it could be some read/write header physical damage inside the disk. I don't want to complicate the situation any more by reading from the disk and losing more data. Strongly thinking of seeking professional data recovery help if it won't cost me a fortune.

I have ordered 2 more drives (maybe make an image and then try to recover)

Thanks for all your suggestion!

 

[hiteshjain5]

BTW, I have tried WD diagnostic tools and it does recognize the drive but won't let me select it to run any test. I'm guessing the disk has gone bad at this point.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there again, hiteshjain5!

It is pretty unfortunate that your WD My Passport has failed! In the future, I'd strongly recommend you to keep at least two copies of your file stored in different locations. This is the surest way to avoid similar data-loss headaches.
As for now, I'd again advise you to consider contacting a professional data recovery company as they are your best bet on getting your files back. Unfortunately, DIY data recovery attempts are very risky for your files, especially when the damage of the HDD is physical or not determined. Please, be careful if you decide to proceed with the third-party retrieving utilities by yourself.

Keep us updated with the results, though! Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[GWNYC100]

hiteshjain5,
I've had the same issue before . At first I tried photorec, but the hard drive kept locking up. No data recovery software could help.
This company told me that the USB interface can fool your system into thinking that your Hard Drive is detectable and working when it's actually failing.
In my case, my hard drive had way too many bad sectors and the Heads were failing, so the more I used it the more damage they caused.
That's why the software reports a crazy amount of time to recover the data because the Heads are cooked.

If you still have this Hard Drive I would suggest you find a reputable Data Recovery Company out there to help you recover your files.
I'm not sure if you're allow to mention any here, but since it was my own experience I give it a try.
Call this company EpicDataRecovery.com if you still need help.