Can I safely run DISKPART clean in this situation?

have you considered using a live Linux distro bootable from USB to check and format the drive.
i have found that 'disks' within a live Linux distro can work wonders with an external or internal drive
where Windows fails. its worth a shot.

the live Linux distro does not install anything to your system it just boots from a USB stick
its also a very good repair tool for a Windows system, which can come in handy now and again.
best of luck, Steve ..

Hello Steve,

I have used the Rescuezilla bootable USB drive to clone disks, but I don't know if it can do what you are suggesting. It seems to be a similar concept though.

XxXxX said:

have you considered using a live Linux distro bootable from USB to check and format the drive.
i have found that 'disks' within a live Linux distro can work wonders with an external or internal drive
where Windows fails. its worth a shot.

the live Linux distro does not install anything to your system it just boots from a USB stick
its also a very good repair tool for a Windows system, which can come in handy now and again.
best of luck, Steve ..

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The drive is making clicking sounds. That doesn't necessarily mean it's broken but if it makes continuous clicking sounds that's generally a good indication that there is some physical defect somewhere. I've eliminated that clicking occasionally be removing the USB bridge from the drive altogether and using it in an enclosure or directly connecting the SATA cables to the drive after the bridge was removed and using it as an internal hard drive. If the actuator is on it's way out it can also make those clicking sounds. No OS or software can help if the drive is physically incapable of being read as illustrated in the OP.

If the USB to SATA converter is damaged and doesn't send enough power or a meaningful command to the drive, it might click as the head goes back and forth. You have to confirm the drive's health by separating it from the damaged USB to SATA converter and put it in another such converter, or even better, directly inside the computer. If indeed the drive doesn't make any clicks and CrystalDiskInfo or Hard Disk Sentinel confirm 100% health, I would use it as a secondary drive (not for Windows) and I would frequently backup any data prepared for when it actually dies. I have seen many such cases where I removed the damaged USB enclosure and used a third-party one or put the drive inside the PC. I have even installed Windows in some such 2.5" SATA drives. The rest of the system was old and slow anyway, so the owner will not notice any difference between 2.5" SATA at 5400rpm and 3.5" SATA at 7200rpm. Thankfully the interface is common for 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives. I remember when we needed an adaptor to connect an older 2.5" IDE drive inside a PC because the pinout was different. Once I had even used a SATA to 3.5" IDE adapter to connect a 3.5" SATA disk in an old Intel Pentium II computer without SATA ports! Not only it worked, but it was a little faster than the previous old 3.5" IDE hard disk it had! I had even installed Windows on it!

spapakons said:

Once I had even used a SATA to 3.5" IDE adapter to connect a 3.5" SATA disk in an old Intel Pentium II computer without SATA ports! Not only it worked, but it was a little faster than the previous old 3.5" IDE hard disk it had! I had even installed Windows on it!

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Ha ha ha I did that too! You could get them for a song back in the day. The PCIe conversion cards cost more though but they worked better. I had an old Maxtor 80GB PATA drive connected to one of those. Back in the day an 80GB hard drive was considered huge!Yup SATA was a real game changer alright.

Maximum size, at least in Greece, for 3.5" IDE drives back then was 320GB. SATA had 500GB and greater, so it was tempting to use a SATA disk instead of an IDE. Also rarely IDE drives reached the maximum theoretical speed of 66MB/sec or 133MB/sec, while SATA I had theoretical maximum at 1.5Gbps (192MB/sec). So the average SATA I disk was faster than an IDE disk. When connected to an IDE port using a SATA to 3.5" IDE adapter would work at the maximum speed supported by the motherboard, still faster than an IDE disk on the same port. Just having a "large" 500GB or greater disk was enough. Being faster was a bonus. Even if the motherboard chipset would not normally support 500GB or greater disks, the converter took care of this.

Here is a similar SATA-to-IDE adapter. You connect it at the back of the SATA disk and convert it to 3.5" IDE. Then you connect your IDE cable on it. It is Master only, you cannot connect a second device as slave. That was the only drawback using a SATA-to-IDE adapter. You dedicated one IDE port to a single storage device, while you could normally connect two IDE devices on the same port as Master-Slave. That's why I didn't like the SATA technology when I first saw it, you can only connect a single device on each port. So my old Pentium 4 motherboard had 2 IDE ports and 2 SATA ports and it could accept 4 IDE devices, but only 2 SATA ones. It felt then like some sort of compromise.

Yup. I still have one of those in my junk drawer some place. Originally I had two but for some reason I blew a capacitor on one of them when I connected it to the back of an IDE CD ROM. They were pretty cheap so no worries. The other one worked fine with my Sony VAIO backup drive. Admittedly, I found that whole "slave/master" thing a bit Freudian but I digress.

These tended to work a bit more reliably but you had to install the drivers for them first. The drivers usually came on a mini disc.


This particular card used a Marvell controller but could also be used with Intel's RAID software. It still works! I've used it many times to extract files from older IDE type hard drives.

I also have a PCIe to IDE + SATA card so I can connect my old ATAPI DVD-RW drives, but I had to remove it in order to connect a PCIe USB 3.0 That card is now replaced by a combo PCIe SATA III + USB 3.0 card, so I now have both SATA III and USB 3.0 which my motherboard doesn't have onboard (I chose many legacy PCI slots over new SATA III and USB 3.0 technology back then). I keep my ATAPI DVD-RW drives in the tower because I have lost the 5.25" bay covers...

spapakons said:

I also have a PCIe to IDE + SATA card so I can connect my old ATAPI DVD-RW drives, but I had to remove it in order to connect a PCIe USB 3.0 That card is now replaced by a combo PCIe SATA III + USB 3.0 card, so I now have both SATA III and USB 3.0 which my motherboard doesn't have onboard (I chose many legacy PCI slots over new SATA III and USB 3.0 technology back then). I keep my ATAPI DVD-RW drives in the tower because I have lost the 5.25" bay covers...

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The card featured in that picture is a SATA II card. It runs in PCIe Gen 3 but it won't produce SATA III speeds. I can still use SATA III drives on it because SATA III is backward compatible. I recall you looking for that card featuring SATA + USB 3. Congratulations on getting it. I still use my DVD-RW drives. Every now and then I'll find myself in a situation requiring access to a DVD/CD ROM. My blue ray DVD unit is usually suffice but sometimes I need something more basic. Not sure why that is the case. Perhaps it has something to do with ASUS firmware. Your PC must be getting close to approaching the 20 year mark. Perhaps it is time to consider getting something newer?

No, I have invested too much money on it and it's really fast for my needs. As long as I can run latest Windows version and serves my needs I won't change it. I predict it's adequate for at least another five years and there has at least ten more years until it is really obsolete.

PS: If I remember correctly I purchased the initial computer (Core-i3, 8GB RAM, 500GB mechanical hard disk, GeForce 610) in 2013, so it is about 12-13 years old, not 20! I have since gradually upgraded to my current Core-i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and RTX 3050. Why replace it? Because it is "old" and not Windows 11 compliant? I don't give a cent what Microsoft thinks. It is not dead (obsolete) until I say it is! I decide, nobody else! For comparison, my previous one was an Intel Pentium 4 socket 478 (aka Prescott, 32-bit), 3GB RAM, 500GB mechanical hard disk and AGP 256MB VGA. The Core-i3 was a huge leap forward. That's what I want my next one to be, not just something newer, a huge leap forward that will worth the money.

I meant no offense. I have PCs going back to 2009 still running on my network. They are fully functional. I must have gotten the impression that your PC was much older when you mentioned PCI. Remember, I'm the guy who's still running the original i920 and i960 Bloomfield chips on ye olde 1366 socket. I'm a big advocate of keeping PCs out of dumpsters and recycling bins. That was why I was so disturbed about my not even ten year old Work Station platform being rendered "obsolete" by Microsoft's bogus Windows 11 promotion. Intel won't even provide the fix for TBMT on this and my PC was only 7 years old at the time Win 11 came out. Coming from an X58 platform to an X99 platform was a huge leap for me. I totally skipped all that Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge stuff so I know exactly what you mean about taking a huge leap forward. Before my X58 I was using a Dell duo core Inspiron 530 and before that I was running a VAIO Pentium II so I know all about waiting before upgrading.

You were wise to get the RTX 3050. It will make a fine addition toward your next upgrade. After the RTX 3000 series NVIDIA really started losing it and there's been nothing but trouble since the 4000 and 5000 series of graphics cards since. I recently got my hands on an RTX 3070 card "out of the box" deal and I'm pretty durn sure it was the real deal too. It was pristine. I still had to pull the plastic protection off it and the fins were spotless. No indications of heat spots anywhere. No indications of the thing even being used. Before that I was running an EVGA 1070 and I still am. Glad I waited and glad I didn't wait too long because what NVIDIA is doing now is insane. The RTX 3070 can out perform an RTX 4080. So sad.

I've been telling people that newer is not always better for years now so I know exactly where you're coming from.

My experience says that while is good to wait before upgrade, if you see a good deal, go for it. If you leave it for "some time later", it will never be the best time and you will miss the opportunity. If I hadn't bought my PC in 2013, I would still have my old Pentium 4. It's hardly a good time to invest in a new computer, so if you see a good deal, do it! It's now or never, as Elvis said.

spapakons said:

My experience says that while is good to wait before upgrade, if you see a good deal, go for it. If you leave it for "some time later", it will never be the best time and you will miss the opportunity. If I hadn't bought my PC in 2013, I would still have my old Pentium 4. It's hardly a good time to invest in a new computer, so if you see a good deal, do it! It's now or never, as Elvis said.

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Sadly, I haven't seen a whole lot in the way of newer hardware that impresses me much. That's probably just as well considering what the prices are for some of the stuff they're peddling. PCIe Gen 5 looks promising but it seems that a good deal of the motherboards being released these days are primarily focused on giving the user fast NVMe with the main PCIe slot reserved for GFX. Not really a whole lot for user access to bandwidth regarding expansion cards and what not. I like my cards and I like my options.

To be perfectly honest I don't see much in the way of the future for me as my PCs will serve my needs until I keel over and check out. I don't like what they're doing with large language models and I don't use Chat GPT. I have no use for Co Pilot and I really think AI is ruining the internet. I used to be able to get solid and reliable information just using the search engines in my browser 10-15 years ago. These days the net is so clogged with commercialism and dubious AI fabricated garbage that the information isn't even reliable half the time. Yup. They did it. They destroyed the internet.

Reminds me of back in the day when television was a public service. Then it started turning into ten minutes of commercials before you could get to what you were viewing. Then came cable vision with the promise of commercial free viewing. Next thing you know you're paying the cable company to drown you in commercials. Sometimes (if you were willing to pay the extra bucks) you could still get semi-commercial free channels. Then came satellite TV and it didn't take long before that became a commercial racket. (Doesn't matter if you already were paying for the service provider. No, you still got commercials.) At the end of the day what sort of actual content are you getting?

Today we pay our ISP to advertise to us. We don't even get to access the world wide web anymore. Under the guise of security the ISP decides what we can access. Oh sure, we can access the dark net if we really want to but let's face it: The internet ain't what she used to be. Instead we get hawkers and mockers, and bogus ad blockers. We pay Chat GPT to lie to us and we pay advertisers and online media to do the same.

Yes, you buy something online and next time you open Google you see a lot of ads with the same or similar products. You also see ads for other products of the same shop. Same if you just search for something and don't buy.

I did as others had suggested and opened the case of this failed 7 year-old WD My Passport USB drive. It is not obvious to me what if anything can be done now.

Shuck it or Chuck it?

futbolfan said:

I did as others had suggested and opened the case of this failed 7 year-old WD My Passport USB drive. It is not obvious to me what if anything can be done now.

Shuck it or Chuck it?


View attachment 147639

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As you can see on the photo, the SATA-to-USB adapter is integrated on the circuit board (green). It cannot be detached and place the disk to another USB enclosure. So if you want to read the data on the disk (assuming there is no mechanical damage), you must replace the whole circuit board (green). Inspect it carefully, there should have a code on it (part number). So to buy it separately (if available) you can search with that part number or with the part number of the disk printed on the enclosure. Since the same part number might have two or more revisions, for best compatibility make sure you buy the same part number and ideally the same revision. To remove the screws you need a special screw driver called "Torx" which comes on various sizes. Thankfully there are cheap sets containing many Torx sizes, so you can buy one and remove the screws.

futbolfan said:

I did as others had suggested and opened the case of this failed 7 year-old WD My Passport USB drive. It is not obvious to me what if anything can be done now.

Shuck it or Chuck it?


View attachment 147639

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Surprised to learn that a WD drive that old uses a soldered USB bridge. I'm guessing this is a 2.5" drive we're looking at. I have one that size that is much older but it's still working and it isn't a Western Digital drive. I had a couple of "My Books" but those were 3.5" drives and of course they crashed and had to be shucked but the controller was not soldered in on either of them.

Unless the data is of extreme import I'd just chuck that drive. (I'd also think twice before buying any mechanical hard drive from Western Digital, but that's just me.) The drive is well off its warranty and it looks like it did double time, which is impressive for Western Digital. Once again:

Buying a separate enclosure that allows you to pull or insert the drive of your choice is a much better deal in the long run. That way if something goes wrong with the drive it can always be swapped out with another drive. If the enclosure fails you can easily put the drive in another enclosure or hook it up directly to your PC. Proprietary hardware generally comes with a hitch and that hitch makes it Non-User friendly.

2.5" Drive Enclosure

My Orico 2.5" enclosure has lasted me for ages. You don't have to get a transparent one like I did and you don't have to get an Orico either. These can be had for a song. I don't recommend Sabrent as I've had three Sabrent enclosures die on me, one on warranty, one right after the warranty expired, and one only months after the warranty expired.

Back in the day I used to do a lot of data recovery for people but now I am retired. Based on my personal experience IF space is not a factor I would recommend spending around ten or more extra dollars to get yourself a 3.5" drive enclosure because you can run both sizes of drive in one of those. OR

IF you plan on doing a considerable amount of data recovery, cloning, swapping and transferring data etc. or rescuing hard drives then I recommend what we used to call back in the day a "toaster".

TOASTER

They are essentially a hard drive duplicator. You can get them much cheaper than the one in the link above but StarTech is generally a reliable brand, I've found. You can get Chinese knock offs for half the price these days. Anyway, I've probably already said too much. I hope this helps.

I do like the idea of a drive enclosure. I have a Sabrent EC-DFLT 3.5" enclosure which has worked fine in the past. I'm about to use it again for a different project (cloning a 500 GB HDD). I'll see how it goes.

Even a Sabrent enclosure is better than no enclosure. Myself, I find Sabrent tends to be wanting for quality but if it works for you then by all means put it to work. At least this way if the bridge craters you'll still be able to keep your drive.