Two WD externals acting up

[truenorth]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/283734-32-3xsata-hard-drives-failing This is an article that i found during continuing research trying to get to the root of your problem. There may be something within it that points to a possible cause for your issue. As  i understand it at sometime during your dealing with all 3 drives (including the new one) there never was an instance where the drives were NOT detected. It was that when detected errors were stated and access to data was either non existent or limited. The factor of bad sectors jumped out at me which could be a problem with the original 2 but to include the 3rd new one in that is a tremendous coincidence and i believe unlikely. So given that it would suggest to me that the problem affecting the other 2 is also unlikely to be that. I do reiterate CC's earlier notation as to problems with enclosures. I too have experienced that . But your problem is deeper than that as direct attachment of the drives also produces problems.Have you been able to enter your BIOS to see what parameters are set for your drives?truenorth

[Computer_Commando]

All three drives came out of the test the same way: SMART status FAIL, Test Status PASS.

When I right click the failed drives, and choose "Show Disc Information" two have red fail markers on Spin Up Time and Raw Read Error Rate. The third only has red Fail markers next to Spin Up Time.

What else should I be looking for?

Most motherboards have SMART detection built-in to the BIOS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.
If SMART fails, the drives should be returned for warranty replacement.  Where did you purchase these drives from, eBay?

[Mayuukosan]

I bought the first about a year and a half ago from Newegg, the second a year ago from Newegg, and the third I just bought from CompUSA. Only the newest one is still under warrantee, and I already plan to return it. All were bought new.

The forth drive failed today, a Seagate internal I bought about four months ago. I was using it in the newest enclousre with the newest cords. Same message at startup, "windows must format the disc to use it". Now I am pretty sure it is not the drives.

I am going to return my motherboard, see if that somehow fixes things. Will repost tomorrow when the new motherboard arrives and I install it.

[Computer_Commando]

Western Digital & Seagate have the warranties, contact them.  Some of the Newegg drives are acquired from OEM's, so may only have a 1-year, others can be 3-year.

[Mayuukosan]

Well, I got the new motherboard and installed it, two of the four drives are working well as far as I can tell, the other two (the original two) are garbage I guess. No more issues with "Windows needs to format the disc" yet, but I will be keeping an eye out. Thanks everyone for the help!