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I have an external USB HDD which I think is broken. When I plug it in nothing happens. Can we confirm that is broken? Here is dmesg output:

[ 7998.225453] usb 2-1.2: USB disconnect, device number 10
[ 8013.506794] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 11 using ehci_hcd
[ 8013.600080] usb 2-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=059f, idProduct=102a
[ 8013.600092] usb 2-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=10, Product=11, SerialNumber=5
[ 8013.600099] usb 2-1.2: Product: LaCie Device
[ 8013.600104] usb 2-1.2: Manufacturer: LaCie
[ 8013.600109] usb 2-1.2: SerialNumber: 6E16FFFFFFFF
[ 8013.601756] scsi7 : usb-storage 2-1.2:1.0
[ 8016.628008] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ST950032 5AS                   PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 CCS
[ 8016.630465] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 8043.122441] not responding...
[ 8055.364940] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] READ CAPACITY failed
[ 8055.364954] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb]  
[ 8055.364961] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[ 8055.364970] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb]  
[ 8055.364975] Sense Key : Unit Attention [current] 
[ 8055.364987] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb]  
[ 8055.364999] Add. Sense: Not ready to ready change, medium may have changed
[ 8059.448001] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[ 8063.531287] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[ 8063.531299] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 8109.447663] not responding...
[ 8130.915342] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] READ CAPACITY failed
[ 8130.915348] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb]  
[ 8130.915351] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[ 8130.915354] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb]  
[ 8130.915356] Sense Key : Unit Attention [current] 
[ 8130.915360] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb]  
[ 8130.915365] Add. Sense: Not ready to ready change, medium may have changed
[ 8139.081607] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[ 8147.247893] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[ 8147.247899] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 8147.247903] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
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  • Just to be sure: Do you hear your drive? Is your adapter working? Lacie adapter don't have a good reputation.
    – don.joey
    Feb 20, 2013 at 8:14
  • 1
    There is an awfull lot of activity in that log for a situation where "nothing happens"...
    – Nanne
    Feb 20, 2013 at 8:26
  • 1
    I hear the disk spinning, and the led turns on. I dont know if its the adapter or not.
    – kapcom01
    Feb 20, 2013 at 16:44

2 Answers 2

0

You can try these steps to verify the functionality of your HDD:

  1. Try to see your HDD in fdisk with sudo fdisk -l.
    • Is your HDD listed?
    • Which filesystem is shown in the list?

If your HDD is not listed here it is probably broken -> Not guaranteed. Try the HDD on another PC! If it is listed (as I suspect it may be) go on:

  1. Try to format your disk to an new Filesystem, using fdisk and mkfs or gparted.

    • Is the HDD accessible after that?
  2. Try a "Low-Level-Format" on your disk with dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx
    Make sure you choose your external HDD as target, otherwise dd will destroy all your system. This will take a long time. Try again step 2 after that.

4
  • No it not listed. pastebin.com/2yZAQ85H I tested it on another laptop with windows 7 and it doesnt work..
    – kapcom01
    Feb 20, 2013 at 15:19
  • When the HDD doesent work on two system, I think it is dead. But look in Windows if the HDD ist shown as device. Windows will not recognize a ext-filesystem. Feb 20, 2013 at 15:50
  • Never ever ever run that dd command on an SSD!
    – K7AAY
    Nov 6, 2019 at 6:08
  • And what if it is listed (my case)? I am unable to mount it... Nov 27, 2021 at 11:50
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Before you try anything else, run:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ddrescue
sudo ddrescue if=/dev/sdx of=/mnt/path/to/large/drive/backup.img

This will install the ddrescue utility which is designed for trying to recover data from failing disks. the ddrescue ... command takes an image from the disk that can then be mounted as loopback, in case it fails further.

Sometimes, the Windows CHKDSK tool can help you repair Windows partitions if you are able to see a drive letter for the disk on Windows. I think it's the CHKDSK /R option that you need. For drive letter D: this might be:

CHKDSK /R D:

Then go back into Linux and see if you have any more luck.

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