"Hard drive not accessible" - Tip for a fix

Edit:
(Just sharing a tip to fix "inaccessible drives" when nothing else works. It worked for me. And I used a partition manager to do it. Any partition manager software will probably work. The windows partition utility just keeps saying "not responding" when I tried to use it.)

I have a data hard drive that suddenly became inaccessible. Usually, when I encounter this problem, a normal CHKDSK command will fix it.




But not this time. I can't even run the error check via Properties>Tools>Error checking because the drive is not accessible.
Fortunately, the drive is being detected and visible in the Windows hard disk management utility and my partition management software (MiniTool Partition Wizard) which means the drive is ok (it should be okay because it is fairly new). It is just stuck due to some kind of error.

So I opened up my favorite partition manager tool and split the problematic drive into two. I created a small partition of about 10GB which automatically showed and accessible in the file explorer. But the original main partition is still inaccessible showing only the drive letter in the file explorer. Then back in the partition wizard tool, I merged the two partitions back together and voila! The entire drive is now accessible in the file explorer with all my data intact.

Indicate if you had seen any bugchecks, had any unexpected shutdowns or restarts, made recent changes to the BIOS, etc.



Please run:



Please post share links using one drive, drop box, or google drive.

zbook said:

Indicate if you had seen any bugchecks, had any unexpected shutdowns or restarts, made recent changes to the BIOS, etc.



Please run:

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/346094d1631611972-post-problem-reports-here-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-collect_logs_from_event_viewer-2021-09-14.bat

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/361213d1646305529-post-problem-reports-here-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-diskparinfo.bat

Please post share links using one drive, drop box, or google drive.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I was actually sharing a tip to fix the issue and not asking for help.

It's unclear as to what caused the error message or when the steps that you reported can be applied.

Is it a one time fix or can it be applied universally?

There may be many causes of the error message that was displayed in the opening post.

The logs were not for troubleshooting as the problem was already fixed.

The logs were to see what led up to the problem and what may have been reported during the problem.

zbook said:

It's unclear as to what caused the error message or when the steps that you reported can be applied.

Is it a one time fix or can it be applied universally?

There may be many causes of the error message that was displayed in the opening post.

The logs were not for troubleshooting as the problem was already fixed.

The logs were to see what led up to the problem and what may have been reported during the problem.

Click to expand...

The steps can be applied to any inaccessible drive (from file explorer) I guess if CHKDSK or SFC/SCANNOW does not fix it as long as the drive is detected by partition utility so you can actually split and merge partitions.

@badrobot

That was actually a pretty good idea.
Force File Explorer to see the drive, by tweaking the partition a bit. ^^

Ghot said:

@badrobot

That was actually a pretty good idea.
Force File Explorer to see the drive, by tweaking the partition a bit. ^^




View attachment 29721

Click to expand...

Exactly. I was actually only trying if I can manipulate the drive even if it appears inaccessible and it ended well for me.

badrobot said:

Exactly. I was actually only trying if I can manipulate the drive even if it appears inaccessible and it ended well for me.

Click to expand...

Made me think of Indiana Jones solving a puzzle in some tomb. :)
I wondered if you were wearing a fedora and carrying a whip, when you thought of that.

badrobot said:

Sorry, I was actually sharing a tip to fix the issue and not asking for help.

Click to expand...

Probably you should add 'solved' at the top so fellow members don't keep offering suggestions ?

Yep. In America we dangle our prepositions, so the title should have been...

"Hard drive not accessible" - How I fixed it ​

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Ghot said:

Yep. In America we dangle our prepositions, so the title should have been...

"Hard drive not accessible" - How I fixed it ​

​

​

Click to expand...

Well, I think people should read the entire post and not just the title before replying.

Ghot said:

Made me think of Indiana Jones solving a puzzle in some tomb. :)
I wondered if you were wearing a fedora and carrying a whip, when you thought of that.

Click to expand...

I didn't have a whip, but I did fire up my MiniTool Power Data recovery to recover my important data before messing up with the hard drive. After scanning the drive, my data are all still intact.

badrobot said:

I didn't have a whip, but I did fire up my MiniTool Power Data recovery to recover my important data before messing up with the hard drive. After scanning the drive, my data are all still intact.

View attachment 29725

Click to expand...

That'll work.

CHKDSK is effective only in case of file system corruption, can't do anything about HW errors and problems.
After making that disk accessible again, did you check SMART table ? By the way you fixed it I suspect there were some corrupted or bad sectors.

CountMike said:

CHKDSK is effective only in case of file system corruption, can't do anything about HW errors and problems.
After making that disk accessible again, did you check SMART table ? By the way you fixed it I suspect there were some corrupted or bad sectors.

Click to expand...

I don't usually spend time monitoring the health status of my disk because for the last 10 years, I barely have to worry about disk issues. And if ever I encountered disk issues, the usual error checking and fixing procedure handles it. And I know how old my disks are so I have an idea about the state of its use and abuse. I do care about backup and recovery that's why I don't worry too much about disk health. But I guess it's a good habit to do so if you have a spare time for it. I should probably download CrystalDiskInfo.
I just use the easiest method of SMART check which is the CMD way which I always get an "OK" status (no details).

Each software company may use different SMART parameters.

For example, HD Sentinel, Crystal Disk, HD Tune, Windows, Sea Tools may all check different parameters and have different ratings.

Hi @zbook, I agree:
"For example, HD Sentinel, Crystal Disk, HD Tune, Windows, Sea Tools may all check different parameters and have different ratings."

Pitfalls of Diagnostic and Monitoring software

I am addicted to diagnostics apps (Windows Event Viewer, HWINFO, GSmartControl, etc.,) and spend a lot of (unproductive?) time checking/tweaking my OS, new batteries and HDDs, sometimes with results but more often confusion. Some 3rd party apps flag SMART attributes as critical errors or even defects while device vendors (Seagate) proclaim that "their" SMART thresholds with critical attributes are proprietary (hidden) and not individually flagged by their own software. I recently installed a L200 1TB Toshiba mechanical HDD (HDWL11OUZSVA) and HWINFO flagged it with a critical error multiple Shock Events (the Toshiba Threshold for G-sense is zero): I found indeed a tiny screw missing and the HDD bracket was a bit loose while the fan was over-heating due to a plugged heat sink inlet (with dirt). I replaced the fan for a new one, removed the dirt and put an extra screw in the HDD bracket: Albeit less, these shock errors continue (1/day) and I decided to just ignore it since Toshiba and Seagate shock sensors apparently are overly sensitive in ultra-slim laptops according to some websites. Likewise "Read Recovery Attempts" are flagged by HWINFO (2/week) as critical errors but both attributes check OK in the SMART statistics and are not flagged in other software as errors. When I recently replaced my battery (1 dead cell in my 3-year old battery) Both Windows Battery Report and HWINFO used the design capacity of 49,500 mHw obtained from SMART (as is stated on the battery label) but not actually measured at 1st startup after a full charge (zero discharge) this resulted right from the start as "6% wear". The battery label states a capacity range (design and rated) and my full battery charge is in the middle with 46,620 mWh (steady) of that range so I ignore those diagnostics (6% wear) but keep an eye on the 100% charge. Also Windows11 diagnostic modules and “Trouble Shooters” are inconclusive, seldom leading to solving a problem, my 3-year old 1TB Seagate HDD (ST1000LM035-1RK172) was obviously getting bad as it took up to 1 hour to defragment in Windows11 Home (single boot) with only 100GB data but checked OK in chkdsk (no issues) and Scan Disk (healthy) in Settings. HWINFO reported increasingly uncorrectable (sector) errors (damaged platter?) and the sequential write was getting very slow (time to replace the HDD).

Bottom line: S.M.A.R.T. is supposed to be an industry convention for the HW producers but I found some critical SMART parameters omitted by different HDD brands and interpreted/rated differently in diagnostic programs.

That is actually an ingenious method, and I suspect it will be a good way to fix broken partition tables when they are corrupted versus being fully overwritten.

I actually had a lot of lost data on a drive that was partially formatted thanks to inattention when using the Microsoft MCT, and I've already extracted the data I needed from it - but I wonder if this will work on a drive that *has* been partially overwritten like mine.

I've left the drive fully intact, and have a second identical drive that I can make a bit by bit copy of, so I can easily test this in my case, which is trying to resurrect from a more destructive scenario.

If I get a chance to after Thanksgiving, I'll give it a shot!