Question SSD not initialized ?

RTechT

Reputable
Aug 27, 2020
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I have been using a SATA SSD via an external adapter for a month now, and it was working fine till about yesterday when it stopped showing up in My Computer and instead in Computer Management it simply shows that the SSD is not initialized. Upon trying to initiailize it, I get one of two errors: a fatal I/O error, or that the semaphore timeout period has expired. I have a lot of data backed up on there, and I really want to try and make this SSD work without having to ditch it. Help would be much appreciated!
 
As for the SMART report, I don't really know how to make that work, so if someone could guide me I'd be very thankful!
 
Here's the screenshot of CrystalDiskInfo:
View: https://imgur.com/a/UuUUDHl


It's really strange. According to the power on hours, this disk has been used for approximately 372 months, although I got it brand new. Can this be related to the SATA adapter? If the drive is at fault is there any chance I could recover it, or format it and make it usable at the very least? Thanks for guiding me on getting the SMART report, though SkyNetRising!
 
I tried that but I can't find the diagnostics tool. Is it Acronis? I'm still trying to figure that out ahaha. In the meantime, I opened up Linux Mint and there the it says the disk's health is OK. I used the internal SATA slot of another laptop for this, but it won't let me see the contents, showing them as "Unknown".
 
I tried that too. It doesn't seem to recognize my SSD. It just shows some SSD with 428GB, which I'm guessing is my main. I'm really stuck now, since my system either only lets you use the SATA slot or the SSD slot, not both at the same time, so I don't know how to check the SSD by putting it in the SATA slot because the one that has Windows on it won't be usable then
 
I tried that too. It doesn't seem to recognize my SSD. It just shows some SSD with 428GB, which I'm guessing is my main.
There are two versions of SATA SSD toolbox.
Did you try them both?
I'm really stuck now, since my system either only lets you use the SATA slot or the SSD slot
What? What is this "SSD slot" ?

Is your PNY CS900 SATA III SSD - M.2 variant or 2.5"variant ?
 
That's the thing. I don't have any way I can. Like I said, my laptop doesn't allow a SATA drive and an SSD (the one that has Windows on it) to be installed at the same time, so now I'm kinda stumped. The other laptop I mentioned earlier only has one SATA slot, and no additional slot for a hard drive or SSD
 
"SATAFIRM S11" is a factory alias. Instead of identifying itself as a PNY, the SSD is identifying itself with the ID of its Phison S11 flash controller. This means that the firmware has "panicked". I am not aware of any DIY data recovery solutions in such cases. If professional data recovery is not an option, the best you can hope for is to recover your SSD, but not your data.
 
That's the thing. I don't have any way I can. Like I said, my laptop doesn't allow a SATA drive and an SSD (the one that has Windows on it) to be installed at the same time, so now I'm kinda stumped. The other laptop I mentioned earlier only has one SATA slot, and no additional slot for a hard drive or SSD
Is the drive and/or the external adapter still under warranty?

Have you tried a different USB adapter?
Or plugging in the current drive and adapter into a different PC?
 
Have you tried a different USB adapter?
Or plugging in the current drive and adapter into a different PC?
I only have one, but I did plug in the drive into another PC and it showed up with the same issues.
the best you can hope for is to recover your SSD, but not your data.
Even that doesn't seem to work. I can't find any way to format or erase this drive or make it work. All I had was backups on it that I have on my PC, but it doesn't even format, just throws the semaphore timeout period expired error