Unable to open external HDD

[DonC]

The external drive is a Seagate 3GB partitioned into 2 drives. When I plug it in to the desktop, the drive did show as Sea1(I and Local Disc (J, but I couldn't open the drive, rename or anything else. I took the drive out of the external shell and it felt warm and was still spinning, vibration and sound, and the little blue light blinks as usual. Also there is the normal little "splash" sound when I physically disconnect or reconnect the drive, and the 'Safe Remove' for external drives is displayed when connected and disappears when I unplug it. Have tried a partition program and the W10 disc management programs and the discs are not seen. To back up a little, I woke the computer this morning after being asleep/unused for two days and got a message that drive J: needed to be format. I did NOT format and tried to open the drive, but no can do. I: drive had the proper name, Sea1 initally but would not open. Every time I try to open it, file explorer tries and tries but the little blue circle spins and I lose control of the window, i.e. I can't close the window or do anything else. I removed the HDD from the external case and took the drive to my laptop. Since the drive casing was still warm/normal hot, I gave it a quick cooling and hooked it up. The first time I connected I got the same initial indicators as the first time with the desktop, Sea1 (I and Local Disc (J, and after that, all the same indications/problems. As I am writing this the HDD "disconnects" itself after a short period of time, splash and disappears from filer explorer.

If anyone has any ideas of what to try next, I sure could use anything. Just want to recover the files and move them to a new HDD if possible.

Seems as like the : ) makes a smiley automatically, but I think you get the idea.

 

[Bighorn]

During the 2 days the computer was off was the external drive AC adapter also unplugged? Could there have been a power bump or failure during that time? I've had such drives fail over the years and it was always the printed circuit interface in the external case, not the IDE/printed circuit card on the drive itself, have put rescued drives in a computer and/or in USB portable cases made for them.

 

[Comp Cmndo]

Everything described indicates the disk has failed. You can try testing it with Seagate Sea Tools.

 

[DonC]

Thanks for the quick response. No power problems and it was plugged in the whole time. Took the drive out of the metal interface connection and used a USB SATA Docking Station to access the bare drive and got this:

You have to format the disk in drive F: before you can use it.
Then: F: not accessible
Volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make use that all required system file drivers are loaded and the volume is not corrupted.

Not sure that is clear to me. How you I check that the volume is/not corrupted.

Also the file explorer showed only one Local Drive F: and not the two partitions as separate drives.

As a side note, and it is strange. After sending out the plea for help, I saw a USB thumb drive on the desk and thought I would try it in the USB ports I used for the ex HDD. Guess what, it was also unseen/recognized too. Tried four more and same results. Said "What....." and restarted the computer. Got it back up and sure enough all thumb drives were now seen and usable. Then tried the ex HDD and --- same old problems.

Long un-fun day.

 

[ram1220]

I think it's an issue with Windows 10. I am having the same issue with my reliable WD external 2TB drive. I use Aomei to make a backup every month. Once per night I also do a differential BU. The backups can be restored using the Aomei emergency boot disk. However I can not explore the backups. I get the exact same error messages the OP does. Drive needs to be formatted. My Win 7 and Win XP backups also made with Aomei can be explored just fine. Just the Win 10 can not be explored. So to the OP you are not alone. If I find a fix I will be sure to let you know. I even went as far as going to Fry's and buying a new Seagate external drive. Same issue.

 

[Bighorn]

That is strange, I have 1 WDC 4TB, 1 WDC 2TB and 1 WDC 1TB drive plugged in, the 2 larger are on USB 3 ports and the other is on a USB 2 port. Also have 2 WDC NAS drives connected via Ethernet cable to my Wireless Router and no issues connecting from other computers that are Wired and Wireless/Wi-Fi. I did have a 1TB fail a couple of years ago but the drive itself is still good, the circuitry in the portable case was what failed.