Disk Mgt sees internal HDD as "Uninitialized", Diskpart doesn't

Every now & then this HDD won't initialize but eventually works. It's 1.5Tb & so unreliable I don't put data on it anymore. I check periodically & it's been okay each time. Yesterday I needed to organize data so I used the drive & naturally today, it won't initialize! I don't recall anything of real importance being on that drive so no great loss if it's dead.

It's not visible in Window Explorer. Any attempt to initialize fails. Diskpart does not see the HDD nor other recovery software like Crystal Disk Info Portable & other disk recovery software. I've tried to update the driver & Windows says the correct driver is installed. What else can be done?

GARoss said:

I've tried to update the driver & Windows says the correct driver is installed...

Sometimes uninstalling the drivers then reinstalling is required, rather than just updating, but I think it's not going to help in this case....

...so unreliable I don't put data on it anymore. I check periodically & it's been okay each time...

...almost certainly dead this time. Follow Samuria's suggestion, it will likely confirm the diagnosis.

Now it working! Crazy!I'll download maker software to diagnose.

It's a Hitachi 1.5Tb. Downloaded WinDFT & running long test now. Short passed but long is very slow.

Read its S.M.A.R.T. data for a clue as to its state of health.

Any reallocated sectors are a bad sign, more than a handful a very bad sign. Look at the raw values for these key warning signs...

Attribute		Description
SMART 5		Reallocated Sectors Count
SMART 187		Reported Uncorrectable Errors
SMART 188		Command Timeout
SMART 197		Current Pending Sector Count
SMART 198		Uncorrectable Sector Count

What SMART Hard Disk Errors Actually Tell Us | Backblaze.com

Bree said:

Read its S.M.A.R.T. data for a clue as to its state of health.

Any reallocated sectors are a bad sign, more than a handful a very bad sign. Look at the raw values for these key warning signs...

Attribute		Description
SMART 5		Reallocated Sectors Count
SMART 187		Reported Uncorrectable Errors
SMART 188		Command Timeout
SMART 197		Current Pending Sector Count
SMART 198		Uncorrectable Sector Count

What SMART Hard Disk Errors Actually Tell Us | Backblaze.com

Here's the DFT Report. I'll do the SMART test soon.

I guess I don't understand how to use the software. Below is a "Smartd-q OneCheck". In RED is the drive in question. All seems normal. "C:" is an SSD 275 Gb Crucial that seemed to be checked thoroughly.


smartd -q onecheck

smartd 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [x86_64-w64-mingw32-w10-b17134] (sf-6.6-1)
Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, smartmontools

Opened configuration file C:/Program Files/smartmontools/bin/smartd.conf
Drive: DEVICESCAN, implied '-a' Directive on line 23 of file C:/Program Files/smartmontools/bin/smartd.conf
Configuration file C:/Program Files/smartmontools/bin/smartd.conf was parsed, found DEVICESCAN, scanning devices
Device: /dev/sda, opened
Device: /dev/sda, Crucial_CT275MX300SSD1, S/N:172317668DCB, WWN:5-00a075-117668dcb, FW:M0CR040, 275 GB
Device: /dev/sda, found in smartd database: Crucial/Micron MX1/2/300, M5/600, 1100 Client SSDs
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 2426 13778200
# 2 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 2420 13778200
# 3 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 2420 13778200

Device: /dev/sda, is SMART capable. Adding to "monitor" list.
Device: /dev/sdb, opened
Device: /dev/sdb, Hitachi HDS723015BLA642, S/N:MN1020F003UHSE, WWN:5-000cca-367c1bcde, FW:MN5OA580, 1.50 TB
Device: /dev/sdb, found in smartd database: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000
Device: /dev/sdb, is SMART capable. Adding to "monitor" list.
Device: /dev/sdc, opened
Device: /dev/sdc, ST2000DM001-9YN164, S/N:W1E2T2GC, WWN:5-000c50-05e061f6b, FW:CC4B, 2.00 TB
Device: /dev/sdc, found in smartd database: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 (AF)
Device: /dev/sdc, WARNING: A firmware update for this drive may be available,
see the following Seagate web pages:
Firmware Updates for Seagate Products | Seagate Support
Barracuda (1TB/disk platform) Firmware Update | Seagate Support
Device: /dev/sdc, is SMART capable. Adding to "monitor" list.
Device: /dev/sdd, opened
Device: /dev/sdd, Hitachi HDS723020BLA642, S/N:MN3220F33AZYXE, WWN:5-000cca-369ef4676, FW:MN6OA800, 2.00 TB
Device: /dev/sdd, found in smartd database: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000
Device: /dev/sdd, is SMART capable. Adding to "monitor" list.
Monitoring 4 ATA/SATA, 0 SCSI/SAS and 0 NVMe devices
Device: /dev/sda, opened ATA device
Device: /dev/sda, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Device: /dev/sda, previous self-test completed with error (read test element)
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 2426 13778200
# 2 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 2420 13778200
# 3 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 2420 13778200

Device: /dev/sdb, opened ATA device
Device: /dev/sdb, previous self-test completed without error
Device: /dev/sdc, opened ATA device
Device: /dev/sdc, previous self-test completed without error
Device: /dev/sdd, opened ATA device
Device: /dev/sdd, previous self-test completed without error
Started with '-q onecheck' option. All devices sucessfully checked once.
smartd is exiting (exit status 0)

Type <return> to exit:

GARoss said:

I guess I don't understand how to use the software....

...and I'm not familiar with the software you are using. To read the SMART data from my drives I use CrystalDisk Info, preferring the Portable Apps version.
CrystalDiskInfo Portable | PortableApps.com

For readability I like to set its 'Function > Advanced features > Raw values' to display in '10 [DEC]'. Then look the key raw values I mentioned above. Here's a screenshot I used on another thread to illustrate the difference between 'powered on hours' and actual time the drive was in use, the 'Loaded hours'. But it also illustrates one of the 'warning signs' - the health status is 'Caution' and the C5 'current pending sector count' at 8 has an amber waning mark to its left.



'Pending sectors' are sectors that may be bad, but the drive hasn't been able to confirm the diagnosis yet while those sectors are in use. As it turned out, a full format of that drive found those sectors to be useable after all, so the pending sector count was reset to zero. If the format had found them to be truly unreadable they would have been remapped to spare sectors on the drive, and the '05 - reallocated sector count' would now be showing as 8.

Bree said:

...and I'm not familiar with the software you are using. To read the SMART data from my drives I use CrystalDisk Info, preferring the Portable Apps version.
CrystalDiskInfo Portable | PortableApps.com

For readability I like to set its 'Function > Advanced features > Raw values' to display in '10 [DEC]'. Then look the key raw values I mentioned above. Here's a screenshot I used on another thread to illustrate the difference between 'powered on hours' and actual time the drive was in use, the 'Loaded hours'. But it also illustrates one of the 'warning signs' - the health status is 'Caution' and the C5 'current pending sector count' at 8 has an amber waning mark to its left.


'Pending sectors' are sectors that may be bad, but the drive hasn't been able to confirm the diagnosis yet while those sectors are in use. As it turned out, a full format of that drive found those sectors to be useable after all, so the pending sector count was reset to zero. If the format had found them to be truly unreadable they would have been remapped to spare sectors on the drive, and the '05 - reallocated sector count' would now be showing as 8.

Lets try this one. Condition yellow in "Reallocated Sectors Count".