Can anyone help me diagnose and fix this external HDD problem?

[JamesdB]

I'm having issues with my WD Elements SE 4tb drive.

I would like help to diagnose the problem and try to fix it. The warrantee period is over

 

Firstly, I do not need to recover the data, I just want to get the drive working again so I can keep using it

 

The drive powers, spins up and sounds normal so I don't think there is a mechanical problem but I'm not sure

 

I'm using a desktop Windows 10 PC with USB 3.1 ports. I can provide more details of the PC if needed

 

The problem began when the drive accidently reached 100% capacity while syncing data with Free File Sync.

This happened because there was a lot of data in the recycle bin that hadn't been emptied.

 

I cleared some data and got it back to around 75% capacity

 

After that I started encountering " *Error* Code 23: Data *error* (*cyclic* redundancy check) " in free file sync

 

I decided to format the drive and start syncing again from scratch.

I only did a "Quick Format" with windows as NTFS.

Perhaps if I unchecked "Quick Format" it would have fixed it properly.

I optimized and defragmented the drive with windows.

 

I started syncing my files again and it was working fine.

Once I got to around 70% capacity, I started getting the Data Errors again. So I ejected it and gave up for the day.

 

Now when I connect the Drive to my PC, windows file explorer just jams up.

I can navigate the explorer but the drive never loads properly.

I get this never ending loading bar.

I cannot right click the drive, I can't eject the drive, I can't open the recycle bin, I can't even shut down the PC unless I unplug the drive, then everything instantly goes back to normal.
 

So my question is, is there anything I can do to fix the drive? can I somehow format the drive properly when it is in this state?

[DigitalGoat]

48 minutes ago, JamesdB said:

I'm having issues with my WD Elements SE 4tb drive.

I would like help to diagnose the problem and try to fix it. The warrantee period is over

 

Firstly, I do not need to recover the data, I just want to get the drive working again so I can keep using it

 

The drive powers, spins up and sounds normal so I don't think there is a mechanical problem but I'm not sure

 

I'm using a desktop Windows 10 PC with USB 3.1 ports. I can provide more details of the PC if needed

 

The problem began when the drive accidently reached 100% capacity while syncing data with Free File Sync.

This happened because there was a lot of data in the recycle bin that hadn't been emptied.

 

I cleared some data and got it back to around 75% capacity

 

After that I started encountering " *Error* Code 23: Data *error* (*cyclic* redundancy check) " in free file sync

 

I decided to format the drive and start syncing again from scratch.

I only did a "Quick Format" with windows as NTFS.

Perhaps if I unchecked "Quick Format" it would have fixed it properly.

I optimized and defragmented the drive with windows.

 

I started syncing my files again and it was working fine.

Once I got to around 70% capacity, I started getting the Data Errors again. So I ejected it and gave up for the day.

 

Now when I connect the Drive to my PC, windows file explorer just jams up.

I can navigate the explorer but the drive never loads properly.

I get this never ending loading bar.

I cannot right click the drive, I can't eject the drive, I can't open the recycle bin, I can't even shut down the PC unless I unplug the drive, then everything instantly goes back to normal.
 

So my question is, is there anything I can do to fix the drive? can I somehow format the drive properly when it is in this state?

I would check WD's support site to see if they have a bootable low level format tool image, that might be able to 'map' out any failed sectors. If there is no WD tool then maybe a compatible Seagate or Open Source tool would do it.

[TomChaai]

No, don't fix it. There is no way to properly fix a mechanical drive with cascading errors that is spreading. Even if it appears to work, can you really trust it?