WD mypassport 4TB - uninitialized, cannot access

[Gigiana]

Greeting everyone and the developer of this forum,

I have a WD mypassport 5TB external Hard disk suddenly become unintialized and I cannot see it as D:
It is a new one and been in use for about 9 months, I have about 1.5TB of data in it since firstly using. Photos and video of family. And some movies.
It suddenly become this status and but I can still see the "safely remove" icon at the system tray.

I'm not familiar with tech and go through the internet, find that Testdisk is a program for this kind of hard disk issue. But when I first get this program, I try the Photorec program, and it cannot find anything. I really don't know what I can do.

I think the very first thing I need to do is try getting the data first but if I cannot use Photorec to read the data, I dare not to do any steps to fix the hard disk as well.

I used testdisk - advance option to try "clone" the disk, but the message it comes out is : No partition available"
I tried to search in this forum and read that there's "log file" . But I tried this and the progressing of this create a very large log file in my system and I have to stop it.

Since the disk was only with about 1.5TB data, I hope it can be retrieved. And It's a rather new hard disk, I don't know what's happening.

Hope there's some information for me. Thank you. xx

[recuperation]

Try to safely disconnect the disk. To exclude any bugs in your operating system and even the disk firmware, shut down your computer and your external disk. Reboot your computer. Reboot your external disk and connect it to your computer. What happens?
If the problem persists, provide a log file of your disk health:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10910

TestDisk does not clone your disk. As the graphical user interface of TestDisk is clearly referring to a partition, there is no use in trying to create a partition image where no partition exists anymore.
The manual refers to using ddrescue when dealing with possible broken disks.
Using PhotoRec on a possibly dammaged disk can aggravate your disk problems. Instead of using PhotoRec and possibly killing your disk when running all kinds of recovery software you should clone it as described in the manual.

You can then safely run that same bunch of software against the clone without the risk of destroying something.

Photorec is the last line of defense when everything fails. Your first step is to see if Testdisk finds a partition that contains content you expect.

I try the Photorec program, and it cannot find anything.

This sentence is largely insufficient to qualify as a problem description.

Read
https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk_doc ... overy.html

and provide your TestDisk log file.

[Gigiana]

Greeting Recuperation,

Thanks for replying my post.
I tried the disconnect and shut down of my laptop too, but it does not work. And even when I tried to plug in now (after I find the problem with this external hard disk), I only dare to unplug it with my laptop completely shut down and disconnect the power.

I tried a software call CrystalDiskInfo, but after I installed it and with my external plug in, it is not showing up.

Thanks for telling the "PhotoRec" may not be the correct method for me. Because the first ever thing I tried was hoping to get the data first. I tried it only once. It showed pass 0 and pass 1. But the reading was taking just about 45mins and did not show any result or files.
I could not tell if that is too fast for a 5TB hard disk.

I read some post here and tried to search information.
Understand that create an image file is the best to deal with any data and I prepared my other 5TB drive for spare.
Perhaps I misunderstand that Testdisk would have an option to create image file. I do not know the software "ddrescue"

For a log file, I did try to use Testdisk - Analyze option to run it, but the log file is eating up all my C drive when it is just reading a 2%. Is it my hard disk with loads of problem? I needed to stop the Analyze as the log file is super large size.

I hope to provide you a log file and is there a better way for me to do that?
For example, I run it and let it read for a short period of time and just send you that part of log?

And I just find that with this reply, I can now post attachment and I hope to add some pictures here for a more detailed situation.

[Gigiana]

And here are 3 more attachment I hope to add here.

Thank you Recuperation!

[recuperation]

Use a tool like the free HxD to cut out the first 10 kByte and post it here.

[Gigiana]

Hello Recuperation,

Thanks again for reply, I think I'm out of luck here for the hard drive.
I posted photo the first ever time I tried using Testdisk, which I stopped at 2% of reading as the log file was more than 100GB.

I want to try again with your recommendation to post part of the log, but seems the hard drive is not work anymore with Testdisk.

I also tried you first piece of information of "Smartmontool".
It shows me the picture below.

At the same time, the WD utilities also show me the hard drive whenever I plug it. (from the first time of fault till now, the WD utilities shows the same, detects the same)
I think it's a serious problem for this hard drive now?

I am not sure if I plug it again for any more times will make Testdisk recognize it.
But it is still showing the same screen on the Disk management page and device manager page, WD utilities as well. (Same as the photo I given)
I tried to compare the information with my other WD passport, and in the device manager page, the normal one did show it as and portable device, but the faulty one is missing this line.

It's frustrating and I am not convinced the "initializing" is the next step I shall take.
Hope that you can advise.
Thank you very much.

[recuperation]

Unfortunately you were unable to deliver two things I requested from you.
You did not cut out the first 10 kByte of your log file and you did not follow the linked instructions to obtain your smartmontools log file.

Please contact a professional recovery lab.
I wanted to give you this advice anyway but I was waiting for a final proof.
Do not use this disk anymore.

[Gigiana]

Thanks again for reply, Recuperation.

When I plug in now, testdisk cannot see the drive, only the last time when I tried to Analyze it with Testdisk it appeared.
I think it's quite severe problem if I cannot even use Testdisk.

Understand that maybe I need to send to recovery for data.
At this situation, is it "ddrescue" no longer an option for me?

I can now only see the drive in WD utilities and disk management.

Thank you!