Dead External Hard Drive

[Jayhawk Raven]

I have a dead external hard drive. I think the problem started when I was using the disk and my computer froze. I left it for a couple of hours, but it did not fix itself, so I did a hard restart on my computer.

I am now running Monterey 12.0.1 on on iMac18,3, Quad-Core Intel Core i5, 3.4 GHz

The Hard Disk does not show up in finder. In Dick Utility it shows up grayed out.


When I click on Info in Disk Utility it reports:
Volume type : Uninitialized
BSD device node : disk3
Connection : USB
Device tree path : IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/RP05@1C,4/UPSB@0/DSB2@2/XHC2@0
Writable : No
Is case-sensitive : No
Volume capacity : 4,000,752,599,040
Available space (Purgeable + Free) : 0
Purgeable space : 0
Free space : 0
Used space : 4,000,752,599,040
Owners enabled : No
Is encrypted : No
Can be verified : No
Can be repaired : No
Bootable : No
Journaled : No
Disk number : 3
Media name : WD My Passport 260D Media
Media type : Generic
Ejectable : Yes
Solid state : No
S.M.A.R.T. status : Not Supported


Disk Utility sees the disk, but will not run First Aid. When I try I get this in the details box:

Running First Aid on “WD My Passport 260D Media” (disk3)

Fixing damaged partition map.
Couldn’t modify partition map. : (-69874)

Operation failed…


When I try to erase it with Disk Utility I get this:

Erasing “WD My Passport 260D Media” (disk3) and creating “Untitled”

Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed. : (-69825)

Operation failed…


DiskWarrior Version 5.2 does not see the disk at all.


I have tried Terminal. Diskutil list shows my iMac's Fusion Drive, then the problem disk:
/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: *4.0 TB disk3

When I try to erase it from Terminal (diskutil eraseDisk APFS External /dev/disk3) I get this:
Started erase on disk3
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Error: -69825: Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed


Is there anything else I should try before I wipe the drive with a hammer?

For good luck there isn't anything on the disk that isn't backed up. In fact, this was my old off-site backup disk.

 

[jz0309]

WD has tools on their website that you could try, not sure if they have for your model though

 

[MacCheetah3]

Maybe:

Resolving Erase Process Failure on Mac

Step-by-step guide to dealing with 'Erase process has failed' error on Mac.

softwaretested.com

If you have a Windows PC, I suggest trying via it.

A Full Guide on How to Zero out Hard Drive - MiniTool Partition Wizard

Here is a full guide on how to zero out hard drive. If you want to remove all the data on your hard drive, you can try these methods mentioned in this post.

www.partitionwizard.com

Windows has salvaged drives Disk Utility struggles to handle.

The drive or enclosure could have failed, which may have been what caused the freeze/crash.

 

[Jayhawk Raven]

Thanks, jz0309. I downloaded the app from WD's website. The drive allegedly passed the diagnostics, but failed when I tried to erase:

Failed to erase the drive.
An error occurred while trying to erase the drive. Please ensure that the drive is connected to the system and try again.

 

[Jayhawk Raven]

MacCheetah3, thank you for the idea. I have several Windows machines, but none of them have USB-C ports. I think I have a Type A to Type C adapter, so I will try that.

 

[Fishrrman]

Try erasing/mounting the drive on a PC.
Does it work there?

If you can get it erased on the PC, take it BACK to the Mac, open disk utility, and try erasing it to Mac format.

If the drive won't erase/mount on the PC (as well as the Mac), then I'd reckon it was a failure of either the drive's internal hardware, or perhaps the drive controller board, etc.

Some additional thoughts...
If the drive works ok on the PC, but it STILL refuses to erase on the iMac, try an old USB cable if you have one. I know it sounds illogical, but just try it.
(by "old" USB cable, I mean one that is NOT USBc or USBa with the "blue tip", which denotes USB3 speeds)

 

[Jayhawk Raven]

I connected the drive to a PC. Windows Disk Management app could see the disk, and even read that it had two partitions on it. It could not do anything else. It would not allow me to erase the disk or delete a partition, giving the error message "The request failed due a fatal device hardware error."

I have initiated a Warranty claim from WD, so we will see where that goes.

Thank you so much for your help, though. I appreciate it.

 

[MacCheetah3]

I connected the drive to a PC. Windows Disk Management app could see the disk, and even read that it had two partitions on it. It could not do anything else. It would not allow me to erase the disk or delete a partition, giving the error message "The request failed due a fatal device hardware error."

I have initiated a Warranty claim from WD, so we will see where that goes.

Thank you so much for your help, though. I appreciate it.

The behavior did point to a likely drive failure. Sensible/thorough troubleshooting helps to verify (or at least narrow) the culprit. I hope you’re provided a free replacement.

 

[Jayhawk Raven]

Do you think my computer got hung up writing on it because of a disk failure, or do think the disk failure was the result of terminating the writing? I'm leaning towards the former now, although initially I thought it was the other way around.

 

[MacCheetah3]

Probably the former. A software interruption could very likely cause a directory corruption, but not normally a hardware failure. If, for example, the drive was physically disconnected (especially if bus-powered) while active, that might cause a hardware failure; however, even such an action is rare.

 

[StoneJack]

The best utility is diskwarrior
it is amazing
saved me few corrupted hard drives
fully fixes and replaces file tree

 

[Superalvaro]

WD tiene herramientas en su sitio web que puede probar, aunque no estoy seguro de si tienen para su modelo

Yo tambien tengo el mismo problema

 

[pmiles]

Yo tambien tengo el mismo problema

Best to start a new thread rather than resurrecting an old one. I'm assuming you can translate this as you translated a reply into spanish from english.

Rule number 1 about hard drives... if they start throwing fits... it's best not to reuse them. Generally speaking, if you can't get a drive to reformat under MacOS and Windows, it's probably dead. Even if you could get it to reformat under Windows when MacOS won't do it, it doesn't mean the drive is going to be reliable. It's like pounding a square peg into a round hole... sure, it can be done, but the end result isn't a victory.