Trouble initializing a USB drive

Anonymous
2018-07-10T15:32:31+00:00

I am having trouble initializing an HDD that I have connected to my PC via USB.  I'm stuck, and I need some ideas.  Below is detail.

I am running Windows 10.  The outboard HDD disk in question was previously the internal C: drive on this PC.  I replaced it with a larger drive about four months ago purely so I would have more storage capacity; it was running fine at the time I replaced it, and it has been stored carefully since.  I am using a USB 2.0 to IDE SATA adapter cable to connect the disk to my PC via one of the PC's USB ports.  I've used this same cable to connect other HDDs to this same PC in the same manner successfully in the past.

When I navigate to ThisPC, the drive does not appear.  I right-click on START, choose Disk Management, and the following is displayed:

I click OK, and the following is displayed:

I run DiskPart, and I get this:

The Event Viewer shows me this:

... and this:

... and this:

Note that the second to last screen says the disk was "not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match".

I have no idea where to go from here.

Easy responses would be "the disk is bad" or "the disk is old and no longer supported".  I doubt that either is the case.  The disk worked fine until it was excised from the machine and replaced four months ago.  Since then, it's been stored carefully and not subjected to impact, moisture, extremes of temperature, etc.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Install and upgrade

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-07-10T15:37:56+00:00

    Hi PC. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 8 year Windows MVP, here to help you.

    Be aware that sometimes these makeshift external drives need power, too. The USB port can only power them so much. If it needed power before then it likely still does. I'd shop Amazon for a case that includes power supply, or an adapter like this which is standard: https://www.amazon.com/Generic-Adapter-Converte...

    Otherwise go into Device Manager and locate the drive under Disk Drives, right click to Uninstall, restart PC to reinstall driver.

    I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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  2. DaveM121 933.9K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2018-07-10T15:38:51+00:00

    Hi pcrowley203, sorry, your screenshots are not coming through, can you please try that again, pasted images do not work on Communiity . . .

    How to do that:

    Click your Start Button, type snip and hit Enter - this will open the Snipping Tool

    Set Mode to Full Screen, then click New to take a screenshot

    Save that file to your Desktop and close the Snipping Tool

    Then in your next Post, click the second last button on the toolbar above your post to select that image and upload it to your post . . ..

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-07-10T16:24:06+00:00

    Greg,

    Thanks for your help.

    I doubt that the issue is power.  I've successfully done this before with other disks.  Plus, I can feel by touching the drive itself with my hand that the disk is spinning.  Plus, see below ...

    I went into the Device Manager, deleted the drive, and rebooted.  The drive still doesn't show up under ThisPC.

    I open Disk Management, and I'm told "You must initialize a disc before Logical Disk Manager can access it".  I hit OK, and I get a pop-up that says "Data error (cyclic redundancy check)."  This is a change from before the reboot.  Prior to the reboot, the pop-up at this stage said "Incorrect function".

    I run DiskPart and I select the disk and the volume.  I then assign a letter to the volume.  This works, insofar as a drive with that letter (I chose the letter Q) appears in ThisPC.  However, when I open it from ThisPC, I'm told it's empty.  The disk is definitely not empty, but perhaps I've created a new partition on the disk, and the new partition is empty.

    More ideas?

    Thanks again.

    Paul

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-07-10T16:27:47+00:00

    Thanks Dave.  Please see my response to Greg's response to my original post.  It seems that I've made some progress since my original post.  Rather than recreate my lost screenshots, which may now be moot, let's see what response I get to my response to Greg's post.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-07-10T16:30:58+00:00

    Actually, my last observation ("perhaps I've created a new partition on the disk, and the new partition is empty") can't be right.  DiskPart reports that the size of the partition is 549 mb, which is the entire size of the disk.

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