Okay everyone, I am back again with a new fun issue.
I had an old computer running Windows 7. I build a new computer and realized I had left some files I needed on the old drive. So I placed it in an external enclosure. I will call this Disc 3 (this is the designation given in disc management). For the first few days, this external and my back-up (Disk 4 where I back-up my files from Disc 3) worked absolutely fine.
Then, about two days ago (roughly two weeks after making the new computer) when I started my computer, I got the Windows message “the discs need to be formatted” for both drives. Now they both have very weird, separate errors.
My current computer specs are:
Windows 7 64-bit
Video card GeForce GTX 660
Processor AMD A10 5800K processor
Ram 8GB
Motherboard ASUS F2 A85-M PRO
Power supply Raidmax RX-730SS
I plug in Disc 3, or restart with Disc 3 already attached, and it does not give me an error message, but the drive is not assigned a drive letter, and does not appear in My Computer. I can see the drive in Disc Management, at the bottom (image) list. The drive does not appear in the top (text) list.
The drive is listed as Disc 3 Unrecognized 930GB Not Initialized in the first slot and 930GB Unallocated in the second slot. When I right click the right spot, all the options such as "new Volume, Assign drive letter and paths" are grayed out. When I right click on the left spot, I can choose "Initialize disc, Offline, Properties, and Help."
If I select Initialize, it gives me two options, but both end the same way: "Disc Initialization Failed."
I am also having a problem with my other external drive, Disk 4. (placed here because I am having trouble believing both drives crapped out on me at once) where it is extremely slow loading. I can play and open files from the drive, but when I try to copy them it hangs, explorer.exe crashes, or it gives me a “Error: 0x80070079: The semaphore timeout period has expired.” It consistently appears in My Computer, but sometimes it may take 5-10 minutes to appear. It also tells me often "windows must format the drive to use it" when I plug it in. I know this probably means this drive is failing.
After doing some googling, I found out this semaphore timeout error is a network error, but I am not copying these files over a network, in fact I even unplugged my internet on this computer to see if that would help but I continue to get the semaphore error. Both hard drives are attached using WD enclosures, both are WD hard drives. I have 4 enclosures, and have tried them all, same result. I have several cords, have tried them all, same result. I have an old internal hard drive, that I placed into the enclosures, and it works fine.
Placed Disc 3 into the computer (took it out of the enclosure and connected it directly to the motherboard). Now it appears in My Computer as Drive h:/ under Local Drives with a large blue ? on it. When I try to get into the drive, it says “Cannot access the drive. Make sure the drive is connected and the file path is correct and try again.” But...it is a hard disc drive. Why does it appear under Local Drives? This drive was never set up to be shared over a network (actually I am not even sure how to do that).
Placed Disc 4 into the computer, and it says “You must format the disc before using it. Would you like to format it now?” but I select No because I need data from at least one these drives.
Disc 3 has some important files (both college work and job-work) that were backed up onto disc 4. Recovering either drive is okay (I do not need to recover both). But it seems so crazy that they both crash on me, with such different errors, on the same day.
Both disc 3 and 4 give the "disc must be formatted" error on my other computer, regardless of internal or external connection.
Occasionally, I can gain access to both drives, and see the files, and copy a few, but Disc 4 will give me the "semaphore error" after about 10-20 minutes and Disc 3 will do the "disconnection sound" and tell me the drive is no longer accessible.
Next I will be trying the “freeze the drive” option some people have suggested from googling, but I decided to see if anyone here had any more suggestions.
tl;dr version
2 drives work fine
2 drives both say "need formatted" on start-up, same day
Externally, one drive does not appear in My Computer, other has Semaphore error and slow loading
Internally, one drive can not be accessed and one drive "needs formatted".
Sometimes drives work, but never for long
Thank you for any help.
