[SOLVED] Windows 10 can't find second hard drive

[rasmusdoh]

Hi

All of a sudden yesterday my computer (Windows 10) couldn't find my second internal hard drive anymore. File explorer crashed when I tried to access a file on it and after rebooting (by powering off my machine) like 5 times I finally managed to get back into Windows with a working File Explorer.

And then my second hard drive wasn't working (I use it for all my random files since it's a 1TB Seagate Barracuda and my primary drive is a smaller 256GB SSD).

I can see the D drive in My Computer, but when I click it it says that it couldn't find the location.

I can find it in Disk Management where it says both used and free space plus capacity is 0 bytes (sorry that it's in Danish):
Disk Management

I found and tried using M3 Data Recovery tool and it actually manages to find my files. However the free version only supports recovering 1 GB files:
M3 Data Recovery

So since I don't feel like paying 70$ for a one time use I hope you guys can help me with a free solution.

This whole thing has "ruined" my trust in this HDD, so probably getting a new one - just need to recover the files first.

Hope you can help and thanks in advance!

 

[vincentneo]

The hard drive is corrupted. I have seen this issue before, where the filesystem suddenly got corrupted. I am saying this because Disk Management reports the filesystem as RAW.

I would use testdisk and photorec. https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

Its free stuff, but requires some knowledge to use it, as it is a command prompt-only application with no GUI. Used it a couple of times with success. The online documentation can also be found in the link I've shared above.

Hope this helps.

 

[rasmusdoh]

The hard drive is corrupted. I have seen this issue before, where the filesystem suddenly got corrupted. I am saying this because Disk Management reports the filesystem as RAW.

I would use testdisk and photorec. https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

Its free stuff, but requires some knowledge to use it, as it is a command prompt-only application with no GUI. Used it a couple of times with success. The online documentation can also be found in the link I've shared above.

Hope this helps.

Thank you - I'll give it a try.

Is there really no particular reason the filesystem suddenly got corrupted?

And does it mean the hard drive is done, i.e. would I risk it happening again even if i format it?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Corrupted file system doesn't necessary mean bad drive.
You can get corrupted file system as easily as rebooting your pc by pressing reset button (without proper shutdown first).

Check health of your drive with HDtune health. Post screenshot.

 

[rasmusdoh]

Corrupted file system doesn't necessary mean bad drive.
You can get corrupted file system as easily as rebooting your pc by pressing reset button (without proper shutdown first).

Check health of your drive with HDtune health. Post screenshot.

I'm not home right now, so can't test myself: can i use HDtune health on the HDD while it has this corrupted RAW file system? Or will I need to first recover my files then format it?

 

[SkyNetRising]

HDtune will just show SMART diagnostic info. It doesn't recover anything.

 

[rasmusdoh]

HDtune will just show SMART diagnostic info. It doesn't recover anything.

So I ran some tests in HDTune:

Info
Benchmark
Disk monitor
Extra tests
Health
Error scan quick

Only done with the quick error scan. The non-quick one is taking forever, but currently at 30% with only 2 damaged blocks (0.1%).

I don't know that much about it, but to me these results look good?
So what does this mean? Why did my hard drive screw me?

I managed to recover the files i wanted with Recuva (already had it open) to my main drive.
What do I do now - format the drive?

 

[SkyNetRising]

3096 relocated sectors. That is significant amount. Your drive is deteriorating.
If it's still under warranty, you can get it replaced.
If warranty is over, then don't store important data on this drive. Data on it may get corrupted.

 

[rasmusdoh]

3096 relocated sectors. That is significant amount. Your drive is deteriorating.
If it's still under warranty, you can get it replaced.
If warranty is over, then don't store important data on this drive. Data on it may get corrupted.

Ah okay! I'll get a new one then.

What hard drive would you recommend? This one is a Seagate Barracuda. Should I avoid that or was I just unlucky this time?

I want to buy both a new internal HDD to replace this one and a larger external drive that I can backup both internal drives too using Genie Timeline or similar.

 

[SkyNetRising]

What hard drive would you recommend? This one is a Seagate Barracuda.

WD red or purple - for backups.
WD black or HGST 7200rpm drive for high performance storage.

 

[seagate_surfer]

Hello rasmusdoh,

we are sorry to see, that your drive is having problems.

Can you test the drive with our diagnostic software SeaTools Bootable? If the drive fails the long generic test, it can be replaced by our Seagate-Support.

 

[rasmusdoh]

What hard drive would you recommend? This one is a Seagate Barracuda.

WD red or purple - for backups.
WD black or HGST 7200rpm drive for high performance storage.

Dunno if I'm overlooking something, but it seems like WD red/purple are only internal HDDs. I was actually thinking an external drive - because then it's separate from my computer.
Would an external drive connected via USB be too slow for backup? If not what drive would you suggest for that?

 

[SkyNetRising]

If you absolutely want it to be external, then you could get external HDD enclosure and put HDD in there.
Why does it have to be external btw?

 

[rasmusdoh]

If you absolutely want it to be external, then you could get external HDD enclosure and put HDD in there.
Why does it have to be external btw?

Partly because then I don't have to install a new SATA cable and partly because i figured it'd be clever to have it separate of the computer itself. Perhaps that doesn't make sense with a desktop computer.

But aren't WD Red and Purple HDDs kinda made for server stuff?
Red is some NAS stuff and Purple some "Surveillance Hard Drive".
Doesn't matter or what?

 

[SkyNetRising]

WD red is meant for 24x7 operation, optimized for reads. Ideal for NAS usage. Also good for desktop use.
WD purple is also meant for 24x7 operation, but optimized for writes. Ideal for surveillance systems, since they write all the time.

 

[rasmusdoh]

WD red is meant for 24x7 operation, optimized for reads. Ideal for NAS usage. Also good for desktop use.
WD purple is also meant for 24x7 operation, but optimized for writes. Ideal for surveillance systems, since they write all the time.

Ah okay!

But isn't continous backup (timeline stuff ala Mac Time Machine) mainly writing? So does that make Purple better even though you say Red is good for desktop use?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Both are good. Red is optimized for reads, you can restore backups faster.
Purple is optimized for writes, backup process will go faster.