My HDD is having serious issue

[Rxd]

The short story is that I think my 2nd drive is screwed, which is WD Black 2TB. Absolutely nothing is wrong with my 1st and main drive!

Now the full story - yesterday I tried to install the new DLC of Borderlands 2 on the HDD, my PC was fine and everything was running normal until the drive "crashed". After that steam said, if I correctly remember, that the drive doesn't exist or something of that kind. I checked my files on the drive and half of them couldn't be accessed, even though I could see them being there, and it was giving an error saying that:" a device that does not exist was specified" when trying to open folders or files. After that I restarted my PC 2-3 times and windows "fixed"(I am not sure what the correct term is) the driver on that last run. After that I could access all the files on the drive and play all the games already install without any trouble at all. NOW here is the main problem, 1st - if I try to install any game from steam on that drive, I immediately receive this error - https://imgur.com/orarSGR , 2nd - I tried installing VLC player on the HDD and it worked. Then I tried playing a video(that I have just downloaded on the drive) with it and it worked just fine but when I chose any mp3/mp4 that was in the drive before the "crash" it didn't open and was giving me errors again - https://imgur.com/bnkFx38 . Basically the VLC and the new video had no problems but a decent part of what was previously on the drive did. 3rd - I tried moving in and out simple files - like pictures, songs, no issue. I wanna mention that after each "test" I was restarting the PC to make sure it's not something to do with Steam alone and I highly doubt it right now! The only thing I haven't tried is formating the drive, which I can since I already moved all the important files I had to my first drive when I was able to access them but I wanna hear what you guys would say about this! I think that is all and thanks for all the help in advance!

[Rxd]

If no one says anything within the first 48hs of posting this I will just format the disk and hope that it fixes it, if not I will send it for service since it still has an active warranty!

[demonix00]

If your system isn't flagging SMART errors on the drive at POST then check that the SATA data cable is correctly connected and if it is and the problem persists then changing that cable might fix things.

 

As a precaution it might also be good to run WDs own diagnostic software on it to see if that picks anything up as well as using something like crystal disk info to see if there are any issues with it and if you get issues with both, then take it further by installing HD Sentinel as that gives more information if the drive is not long for this world and since it's still under warranty you should be able to get a replacement.

[Rxd]

@demonix00 Only thing I have gotten at post was the driver being "fixed/repaired" by windows, no errors. The cable is correctly connected and it looks absolutely fine. I just started the WD extended run and will download and see what crystal disk info will say. I will post another comment when it's all done.

[seagate_surfer]

The extended run is fine! You can also run these 2 commands that help solve software problems related to Windows blocks:

1. CHKDSK

2. sfc /scannow

 

And you can also check to see if you have any firmware upgrade available.

[Rxd]

Ok then, I just finished the extended test and apparently there are bad sectors on the drive and WD LifeGuard couldn't fix them -> https://imgur.com/a/nLzosDv @demonix00 @seagate_surfer Once I clicked ok I was prompted to contact WD support, does this mean the drive is "dead" and I just have to replace it or there is something that could be done? I assume it's doomed but still, have to ask.

[seagate_surfer]

The device itself can be defective, yes! If the commands that your application executes or those that I put up did not help you solve this problem, then it is a good time to try to reformat. Unfortunately, if after reformatting or even trying a low level format (secure erase), the problem persists, then what you have is defective hardware. The software sectors can be recovered using all of these methods, but not the hardware sectors; do the RMA if it is still under warranty.

[Rxd]

@seagate_surfer Sorry for the delayed respond. I did try formatting the drive with both through the control panel and with command prompt and after like 10-20 secs it gives me an error saying that the formatting isn't possible to be completed?!? With all I've read and your comment, I guess that the issue is in the mechanical parts of the drive, anyway I am getting it back to where I bought it in the upcoming days and I will post again.

[Rxd]

1 (dumb) question, would they need the whole PC for something or the drive is more than enough? Since it's a big difference @seagate_surfer

[seagate_surfer]

Just take the disk with you, the SATA standard is so well implemented today that there is not one computer in the world (I am exaggerating ) that can not read / detect a SATA hard drive.