WD Black 1TB slow and unresponsive, always at 100% with no background processes

[Brandon2016]

My ~8 month old hdd has been unresponsive since I reinstalled Win10 on my SSD. I did not format the hard drive before I reinstalled windows, as there are no system files on it, only game and media files. Whenever I try to move, copy or delete any of the files on the disk, the window becomes unresponsive and nothing actually happens. Even why I try to open a folder or view a file on the drive, the loading bar in the explorer will never reach 100% and then the window becomes unresponsive.
Task manager has been completely unhelpful, showing only that the drive is always running at 100% with no process or service to account for it.
Resource monitor will usually show a process running on the hard drive, with the response time of said process often over 100,000.
http://imgur.com/a/VnKuY
I ran WD Data Lifeguard, however the drive didn't show up under physical drives, only logical drives.
I have 400+GB worth of games and media, paired with a very slow internet connection, so formatting the drive isn't really an option as I also have no other drive that I could back up to.
Thanks

 

[elbert]

Try HDTune and scan the drive for errors. If it still doesn't show check in disk manager to see if it needs activated.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Log on as administrator or as a member of the Administrators group. Click Start -> Run -> type compmgmt.msc -> click OK. Alternatively, right-click on the My Computer icon and select 'Manage'. In the console tree, click Disk Management. The Disk Management window appears.

 

[dudio]

When you re-installed Windows on your SSD drive, you erased the Registry entries, etc that referred to what was installed on the HDD. Games and programs need to be re-installed, tho individual media files like photos, MP3's, videos, should be fine.

 

[Brandon2016]

When you re-installed Windows on your SSD drive, you erased the Registry entries, etc that referred to what was installed on the HDD. Games and programs need to be re-installed, tho individual media files like photos, MP3's, videos, should be fine.

I don't have a problem with any of the game files, to be honest I haven't even had the time yet to reinstall them through their respective programs (Steam, Origin, Uplay, etc.). Nevertheless, I haven't been able to use any of the files on the drive, regardless of type, so my problem still persists.

 

[Brandon2016]

Try HDTune and scan the drive for errors. If it still doesn't show check in disk manager to see if it needs activated.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Log on as administrator or as a member of the Administrators group. Click Start -> Run -> type compmgmt.msc -> click OK. Alternatively, right-click on the My Computer icon and select 'Manage'. In the console tree, click Disk Management. The Disk Management window appears.

I'm not looking to pay for any software, and the free version of this software only supports up to Windows 7. I'm also not even sure if it would work, as Windows' own drive checking software fails to even start when I try to check this drive.

 

[elbert]

It will not hurt to test the drive with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool again(short and extended test). The results will eventually show what is wrong with the drive.
If the test results show that the drive is healthy, the next thing you can do is to swap cables as well as ports. The fact that the HDD sometimes acts weird and sometimes works could point to some connection issue like I/O error means Input/Output and could be associated with connection issue. It will not hurt to test it in another system. This way you will be 100% sure whether the issue is HDD related or something in your system is causing it.
Also, it may be a good idea to remove an extra stick of RAM and see whether this will change anything.

If really nothing helps and the disk is under warranty, you can contact WD's Support either by phone or by e-mail and eventually RMA the drive.
http://support.wdc.com/contact.aspx?lang=

 

[Brandon2016]

It will not hurt to test the drive with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool again(short and extended test). The results will eventually show what is wrong with the drive.
If the test results show that the drive is healthy, the next thing you can do is to swap cables as well as ports. The fact that the HDD sometimes acts weird and sometimes works could point to some connection issue like I/O error means Input/Output and could be associated with connection issue. It will not hurt to test it in another system. This way you will be 100% sure whether the issue is HDD related or something in your system is causing it.
Also, it may be a good idea to remove an extra stick of RAM and see whether this will change anything.

If really nothing helps and the disk is under warranty, you can contact WD's Support either by phone or by e-mail and eventually RMA the drive.
http://support.wdc.com/contact.aspx?lang=

I believe the only suggestion that I'll be able to use is putting the drive in another system. The lifeguard diagnostic tool is still not recognizing any physical drives, only logical drives, so no actions can be performed through that software. I only have 1 stick of ram to begin with, and the cables and ports are 100% functioning properly.
http://imgur.com/a/bGhmm
I also fear I may have to RMA the drive if it is a physical problem, but I will have to wait and see.