RAW File system error formatting

[Jakesully552]

Hello there, awesome people.

I have an external WD My Passport here. It's 1TB. I'm actually not concerned at all about the data on it. The situation is the following: When I plug the disk in Windows tells me that I have to format it. When I try formatting it Windows gives me an error message stating that the disk cannot be formatted. I've tried both ticking on and off the Quick Format option. The same happens.

After that, I tried with the Disk Management menu that comes with Google. I looked up the Passport, it shows as healthy but as a RAW formatted disk. When I try anything on that disk an error comes up letting me know the device is not ready.

I'm currently trying a Low Level Format using a tool from HD Guru. It's currently at 7% and each entry shows a timeout error still saying that the device is not ready.

If anyone could provide me with a few hints or possible solutions that'd be highly appreciated.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Jakesully552,

Sorry that you are facing some issues with your WD drive.

My suggestion would be to attach the drive with a different cable to another system. That way, you will rule out a possible connection related issue.

In case the issue persists, then there is a high chance that there's something wrong with the enclosure or the drive itself. You can try to test the drive with WD's DLG tool(both short and extended tests): http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=DbCOuw
I believe you can even try to write zeros with it.

If this doesn't help and in case the drive is under warranty, you can just contact WD's Support or the place you got the drive from and RMA it: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=L48Pw7

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

 

[Jakesully552]

Hi there Jakesully552,

Sorry that you are facing some issues with your WD drive.

My suggestion would be to attach the drive with a different cable to another system. That way, you will rule out a possible connection related issue.

In case the issue persists, then there is a high chance that there's something wrong with the enclosure or the drive itself. You can try to test the drive with WD's DLG tool(both short and extended tests): http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=DbCOuw
I believe you can even try to write zeros with it.

If this doesn't help and in case the drive is under warranty, you can just contact WD's Support or the place you got the drive from and RMA it: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=L48Pw7

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

The new cable did not cut it, I'm afraid. Looks like I'll have to consider it dead.

 

[D_Know_WD]

It's good that there is no important data stored on the drive. You should always keep the data you can't afford to loose stored on at least two places. Mechanical drives could just fail, in many cases, without a warning.

It seems that you will need to replace that one. If it is under warranty, you should have no issues RMAing it.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[Jakesully552]

It's good that there is no important data stored on the drive. You should always keep the data you can't afford to loose stored on at least two places. Mechanical drives could just fail, in many cases, without a warning.

It seems that you will need to replace that one. If it is under warranty, you should have no issues RMAing it.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

It was actually given to me, I purchased a PS3 and the guy had the same problem with the drive, since he didn't want to RMA it, he gave it to me, if I could fix it, it was mine. Tough luck. I'll be getting a Caviar Black soon, so no biggie.
Thanks so much though.