Question WD_BLACK 8TB D10 Suddenly Asking to re-initialize

[UberOriginal]

Drive has been working fine for over a year, with no drops, bumps, or jostles. I do not leave it plugged in or connected to my computer for long periods. Upon reconnecting the drive to my PC, the light came on, and the drive spins up but did not show in explorer, so of course, I opened Control Panel and Disk Management, and it is asking me to Initialize the disk. I've been using this drive for over a year with no problems. WD said, "This looks like you have disconnected the drive from the computer improperly." This did not happen. It is still under warranty, and they emailed me a list of over a dozen places where I can pay (WD affiliates ) to recover the data out of my pocket. Then I can send WD the drive, then they will replace it. The drive is a little over 50% full. I don't have the money to pay a WD affiliate business to do this. I have not taken the step of initializing(re-initializing) because I believe that would corrupt all of the data on the drive. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I would like to reclaim most or even some of the data if possible; if it cannot be done or reconstructed with software or techniques that I am unaware of, I will just re-initialize it myself and send it straight to WD. The most important items on it that I want to recover are a few System Images that I have not had the chance to make a secondary backup on. I know 2 is 1 and 1 is none, and have gone as far as I can by RTFM Thank you!

 

[fzabkar]

Examine the SMART report with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo:

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

Can you show us the Partitions window in DMDE?

https://dmde.com/

If you cannot access the SMART data, then the drive most likely has internal problems.

 

[DSzymborski]

Do you have an external hard drive enclosure you could try with it? The idea is to get it read somewhere, somehow, by some software like Recuva.

Since you appear to realize that you don't have a backup, I don't need to urge that in the future. I would recommend you not leaving an HDD stored and unused. You're trying to maximize data security not necessarily hard drive lifespan and it's far better to have a hard drive in a computer with a slightly shorter lifespan, that can be constantly monitored for problems. Would certainly make automatic regular, monitored updates, the gold standard, possible.

 

[UberOriginal]

Thank you for the quick replies, I've been a tech myself for well over a decade, but I am and will always be an eternal noob. The drive spins fine, no chirping or chunking noises, so that's usually a plus unless you're hearing/feeling absolutely nothing. This is 1 of the 2 only external drives I own, I just happened to be migrating some things when this happened. I understand that when you use anything mechanical, there is wear; more use, more wear. I have a few multi-HDD docks on my desk, but they will not do me any good as this is an external WD_Black D10, and if I shuck it, I don't think WD would be likely to honor the warranty replacement I mentioned. I will have those reports momentarily!

 

[DSzymborski]

Thank you for the quick replies, I've been a tech myself for well over a decade, but I am and will always be an eternal noob. The drive spins fine, no chirping or chunking noises, so that's usually a plus unless you're hearing/feeling absolutely nothing. This is 1 of the 2 only external drives I own, I just happened to be migrating some things when this happened. I understand that when you use anything mechanical, there is wear; more use, more wear. I have a few multi-HDD docks on my desk, but they will not do me any good as this is an external WD_Black D10, and if I shuck it, I don't think WD would be likely to honor the warranty replacement I mentioned. I will have those reports momentarily!

Honestly, I missed that this was already an external.

 

[UberOriginal]

I am not familiar with this DMDE tool, it looks fine, it shows the physical disk and the proper name for it, but I'm worried if I do something that causes a scan, or it automatically re-initializes the drive that I may be SoL on my data.

 

[UberOriginal]

All good friend

 

[fzabkar]

DMDE is a data recovery tool. It will not write to your drive unless you explicitly tell it to do so, and then you have to override its initial objections.

Can you see your existing partitions in DMDE's Partitions window?

Something like this ...

http://users.on.net/~fzabkar/DMDE/DMDE_Elements-8TB_Partitions.jpg

Were you able to retrieve the SMART attribute data?

 

[UberOriginal]

When I go to the physical drive, and click ok it gives: The disk is not accessible (see Help), and it does not show available on CDI.

 

[DSzymborski]

Thank you for the quick replies, I've been a tech myself for well over a decade, but I am and will always be an eternal noob.

Consider that a good sign! People that know what they're doing also know that they don't know everything. I certainly don't.

 

[UberOriginal]

Seeing as how I cannot access the drive with CrystalDiskInfo or the partitions in the DMDE program, is my data unrecoverable? I most likely can acquire everything that was on that drive except some documents that could exist in other System Images that I may never need. Are there other resources I might look into that won't cost me money? I think my window for the warranty replacement will end in September, I am weary of relying on this drive anymore. I am not sure if they were going to send me a new drive or something that is refurbished, but before I send this one to them, should I reinitialize the drive and scrub it before I send it back to them?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

i would first run CHKDSK on the drive with scan and fix parameters in place.

many times it can just be corrupted data tables or something that Windows can easily fix itself and you'd find that everything is still intact.

I'm worried if I do something that causes a scan, or it automatically re-initializes the drive that I may be SoL on my data.

I cannot access the drive with CrystalDiskInfo or the partitions in the DMDE program, is my data unrecoverable?

it is also possible that all the data is corrupted and even when using a 3rd party data recovery software you may find that any recovered data is not complete / not usable.

this can just be a hard lesson learned; always backup important data.

 

[fzabkar]

Seeing as how I cannot access the drive with CrystalDiskInfo or the partitions in the DMDE program, is my data unrecoverable?

It does appear that the drive has internal problems, so a DIY data recovery would not be possible. :-(

 

[UberOriginal]

So, can I run CHKDSK on the drive even if the PC can see the drive but not the partitions? Which parameters should I use? It's been a long time since I've had to use that tool. I'm surprised that it is still recognized as "Game Drive" by Windows. Should I just reinitialize and hope for the best? Is there anything that would be more helpful if I connect it to my Linux box?

 

[fzabkar]

Maybe Windows is communicating with the USB-SATA bridge PCB inside the enclosure but not the HDD behind the bridge.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Being a WD external it's extremely likely that the drive is encrypted and will not be readable in anything other than another WD enclosure.

 

[UberOriginal]

Hmmm... fzabkar, I blew out my machine about a week ago for an unrelated issue, I don't happen to remember if the issue was before or after that. I saw this in my Optional Windows Updates section this morning: Western Digital Technologies - WDC_SAM - 11/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - 1.2.0.0. I installed it and restarted it, that didn't make a difference, but might I try uninstalling and reinstalling any of the USB items in Device manager? Ex_bubblehead, I just went through WD's site to confirm, the WD_BLACK page, specs, and data sheet say nothing about encryption. I know that the MyBooks have encryption, but my WD Easystore, and Elements do not.

 

[UberOriginal]

Or is there internal encryption to keep people from shucking them?

 

[fzabkar]

There is a Datahoarder group at reddit which does a lot of shucking. You might want to ask there.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/

 

[UberOriginal]

I apologize for not getting back sooner. I will check them out tonight. Since it is 8TB it would have to be GPT correct? Is there any chance if I re-initialize with GPT, is there a chance that any of my data could still be intact? Or does initializing again with GPT definitely screw the data?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

If you write to the drive in any way at all you reduce the likelihood of recovery, of anything usable, by many orders of magnitude.

 

[UberOriginal]

Well as the drive stands, currently 0% of the data is useable. The best I can think of is to Initialize it again, and if the data isn't right there, then try to use free recovery software immediately after. Please let me know if there is anything other than that to try.

 

[UberOriginal]

I thought I'd give an update: See attached...
Once I got up enough courage to initialize the drive, this immediately came up. Fail
I appreciate the guidance, Looks like I'm going to RMA to WD. I greatly appreciate all of your time and experience trying to help me with this!

UO

 

[rcald2000]

I'm so sorry that this happened to you. Unfortunately I have no solution to your problem, but I'd like to recommend that you consider using an online backup solution such as BackBlaze moving forward: https://www.backblaze.com/backup-pricing.html

A personal account is only $7 a month. Just something that you might consider. Please let us know how the WDC RMA works out.

 

[USAFRet]

I thought I'd give an update: See attached...
Once I got up enough courage to initialize the drive, this immediately came up. Fail
I appreciate the guidance, Looks like I'm going to RMA to WD. I greatly appreciate all of your time and experience trying to help me with this!

UO

For future reference:

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

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