How to format Seagate STDR5000200 external hard drive that is not recognised on Windows PCs
Hi,
We have been using a Seagate STDR5000200 external hard drive for backing up data from our local PCs and servers.
This drive was encrypted with Bitlocker.
While we were backing up data to this external hard drive, the PC, which this drive was plugged into, was turned off accidentally via a switch on the wall.
The next day, this drive was not recognised on the PC it was plugged into and after trying different Windows 10 and 7 PCs, I found that there could be a problem with this drive.
I used Seagates error checking tools and Seagate said from the result that this drive is not functioning properly.
Through the Disk Management on one of the Windows 10 PCs, I did "Rescan disks" and the corrupt drive was listed as "disk 6 unknown".
Right clicking on the disk 6 gave me the options; Initialize disk, Offline, Properties, help.
When I tried "initialising" the disk or clicking "properties", the Disk Management window freezes and eventually the disk 6 disappears from the PC.
Errors I received from this were : data error (cyclic redundancy check) and i/o device error.
Is there a way of formatting this drive?
Thanks,
Robbie
We have been using a Seagate STDR5000200 external hard drive for backing up data from our local PCs and servers.
This drive was encrypted with Bitlocker.
While we were backing up data to this external hard drive, the PC, which this drive was plugged into, was turned off accidentally via a switch on the wall.
The next day, this drive was not recognised on the PC it was plugged into and after trying different Windows 10 and 7 PCs, I found that there could be a problem with this drive.
I used Seagates error checking tools and Seagate said from the result that this drive is not functioning properly.
Through the Disk Management on one of the Windows 10 PCs, I did "Rescan disks" and the corrupt drive was listed as "disk 6 unknown".
Right clicking on the disk 6 gave me the options; Initialize disk, Offline, Properties, help.
When I tried "initialising" the disk or clicking "properties", the Disk Management window freezes and eventually the disk 6 disappears from the PC.
Errors I received from this were : data error (cyclic redundancy check) and i/o device error.
Is there a way of formatting this drive?
Thanks,
Robbie
John
Can you see it in Disk Management? Then delete partitions and try formatting it.
It's possible the drive or i/o card was damaged. Not likely though...
And from what you describe, either some hardware was actually damaged or Windows has just lost it's mind, regards this i/o card or disk.
First, reboot Windows + try to initialize (reformat the drive).
My guess is this will work.
If not, you'll have to diagnose what's broken.
So... plug another raw drive in your i/o dock to see if dock is working.
Then try formatting another disk in the dock.
If both the above tests work, then you disk actually has been damaged.
Sometimes... again, not likely + occasionally you can run a strong magnet over your disk drive to completely destroy everything on the drive.
Note: Be super careful about magnets around disks. I you accidentally get close to a good disk... you'll wipe out all the good disk's data too.
And from what you describe, either some hardware was actually damaged or Windows has just lost it's mind, regards this i/o card or disk.
First, reboot Windows + try to initialize (reformat the drive).
My guess is this will work.
If not, you'll have to diagnose what's broken.
So... plug another raw drive in your i/o dock to see if dock is working.
Then try formatting another disk in the dock.
If both the above tests work, then you disk actually has been damaged.
Sometimes... again, not likely + occasionally you can run a strong magnet over your disk drive to completely destroy everything on the drive.
Note: Be super careful about magnets around disks. I you accidentally get close to a good disk... you'll wipe out all the good disk's data too.
I have a similar Seagate drive in my home desktop computer and it just died. I don't think I can get the data (that I do not really need) from it.
Each sector on a storage device gets a checksum (AKA cyclic redundancy check) written after the end of the portion you use and every time you read a sector it's CRC is computed and verified against what is on the media. It's not supposed to happen; but, every once in a while, the write operation aborts in the middle of a sector so the CRC is from it's previous contents and that will always be wrong. About once per year I see this and using a low level utility which rewrites every sector on the drive fixes it. The easiest ones simply zero out the contents which leaves it with no partitions or recoverable data; but, it is then child's play to create a new partition, format it, and start using the drive again.
A drive that disappears from the system though has me worried that the drive was already failing in which case it is toast.
A drive that disappears from the system though has me worried that the drive was already failing in which case it is toast.
My drive had Lenovo test application errors before I got to it and it has died
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I got my drive out of the machine, let it sit for an hour, put it in a carrier and turned on the drive. It tried to spin twice and clicked twice and would not run. Disk Management said it needed to be initialized, but would not because of an I/O error.
Try the ideas above, but it is a reasonable suggestion that the drive is pooched.
Try the ideas above, but it is a reasonable suggestion that the drive is pooched.
try live Linux distros
ubuntu https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
OpenSUSE https://software.opensuse.org/distributions/leap
create a bootable USB using Rufus https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v3.4/rufus-3.4.exe
then check the drive from there, does it open? can you format it or initialize it? in many cases, the Linux file system can see and fix things that windows won't recognize.
ubuntu https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
OpenSUSE https://software.opensuse.org/distributions/leap
create a bootable USB using Rufus https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v3.4/rufus-3.4.exe
then check the drive from there, does it open? can you format it or initialize it? in many cases, the Linux file system can see and fix things that windows won't recognize.
try removing the disk from the case : https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Seagate+5TB+External+USB3+Teardown/64151
and hook it directly to a sata cable
and hook it directly to a sata cable