External hard disk problem - change from 1T to 2T suddenly!

[alex298]

Hello,

My computer platform: Windows XP

My friend borrowed my 1TB Buffalo External Hard Disk. He returned the Hard Disk to me after a few week. He said that my external Hard Disk had problem and could not be used since he borrowed.

Here's the problem that I found:

1. The External Hard Disk appear in the system tray when plug in my computer. However it does not show up in the Windows Explorer.

2. I tried to use Swiss Knife to partition and format the Harddisk. However when I click on the Hard Disk icon, the following error appear:

Read/rite error

3. I then tried to use EaseUS Partition Master to partition and format the Hard Disk. To my surprise, the external hard disk showing:

Basic MBR 2.00 TB / Unallocated 2.00 TB

I then tried to create a partition with 300 GB with NTFS file system. However the following error appear when format the partition:

There are some error occurred while writing partition chains on disk.

Why the storage change from 1.00 TB to 2.00 TB? My friend told me that he did nothing with the hard disk. He never use the hard disk.

Is the problem caused by the "additional 1.00 TB"?

What is the problem with my external hard disk?

How can I create partition and format my external hard disk?

Thanks and best regards

Alex

 

[bigi]

Install ubuntu on USB stick and run Gparted. It'll show you all what is up with HDD and you will be able to format it properly assuming HDD works.

 

[hhhd1]

If you have a receipt from when you bought it, make sure it matches the serial number

Check and see if it looked opened (harddisk replaced).

And make sure it doesn't have physical damage or scratches.

 

[tweakboy]

WOW, holy cow your hard disk overclocked by itself like magic. That is a trip

Can I ask what brand external you got ? We help you further.

 

[alex298]

Hi all,

Thanks for your information.

Install ubuntu on USB stick and run Gparted.

I cannot follow this. Could you please provide some guidelines for me?

Can I ask what brand external you got ? We help you further.

This is 1TB Buffalo External Hard Disk. I purchased it some years ago and the warranty should be expired.

Best regards

Alex

 

[alex298]

Hello,

Still waiting for a solution. It seems that many Partition software do not working in this situation.

Best regards

 

[murphyc]

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

If it cannot partition the disk, it's physically hosed. I love this idea of opening up the case and checking the serial number, as if the friend did a drive swap. "OH yeah man I never used it, I just put my busted disk in and took yours, thanks!"

There's no reason for any partition tool to get the size of the disk wrong, it's very basic information. If you know for a fact it was 1TB, but now it's 2TB, the drive has been swapped.

 

[imagoon]

windows XP
command line:
diskpart
list disk
(select the external disk it will never be disk 0 try it with out the disk attached then list the disk with it attached. The new number should be the external)
select disk 2 [EXAMPLE ONLY, you can wipe the wrong disk]
clean

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7601
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: Computer

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          238 GB  1024 KB
  Disk 1    Online         2794 GB      0 B
  Disk 2    Online         1863 GB  1024 KB
  Disk 3    Online          931 GB      0 B

DISKPART> select disk 2

Disk 2 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> clean

DISKPART> exit

This wipes off the MBR and destroys all partitions. You can format it disk manager or using diskpart.

 

[kmmatney]

Install ubuntu on USB stick and run Gparted. It'll show you all what is up with HDD and you will be able to format it properly assuming HDD works.

Yeah - this is a bit confusing. Just boot from a GParted live CD, and see if it can find and format it. As said above, if this can;t do it, then something is really wrong with the disk.

It could be something wrong with the enclosure electronics - you may be able to pull out the drive, and connect it directly to a SATA port in a desktop computer.