Weird issue with external HDD

[The VCR King]

My 1TB WD My Passport I use for backups suddenly began acting weird and wasn't able to be read. When I go to plug it into my PC it said it needs to be formatted before I can use it...

BUT if I plug it into the USB port on my Wifi router and turn on the NAS function I can access all the data on the drive as if it were a NAS.

So how come my "normal" USB ports won't let me read the drive but I can read it through my ReadyNAS? I'm confused

 

[johnb35]

Try a different pc first. Might be an issue with your usb ports.

 

[The VCR King]

Try a different pc first. Might be an issue with your usb ports.

As a matter of fact I took the drive with me to school today and tried it in the computer lab and it wanted me to format it there too... I'm honestly confused lol

 

[Intel_man]

ReadyNAS probably has the drives in a file format that's not NTFS or FAT. So you'll need some sort of software to read it when not plugged into a ReadyNAS device.

 

[beers]

I'd pull the data off of it, run some wdtools scans on it and fresh format it.

If you always use this on your PC it sounds like the file table was corrupt or damaged. That can happen if you're writing to the drive and disconnect it from usb while it's in use, or don't use the eject button


It can also happen to a failing drive, so best to retrieve the data and run some diagnostics. If it passes and SMART stats look okay you can probably format it and dump data back into it.

The NAS may care less about specific ntfs syntax, allowing you to mount and read the volume. You may want to also check the integrity of the data you pull off of it (can the files open, do things like compressed archives have checksum errors when opening, if you have the same file somewhere else, do they match with Sha hashes etc).

If your readynas allows you to do a fsck that would be a quick/dirty approach.

 

[The VCR King]

ReadyNAS probably has the drives in a file format that's not NTFS or FAT. So you'll need some sort of software to read it when not plugged into a ReadyNAS device.

The drive was always plugged into my PC's actual USB port for Windows Backup and recently it began asking me to format it before I could use it. I plugged it into the USB port on my router out of curiosity and it just happened to read it just fine.

I'd pull the data off of it, run some wdtools scans on it and fresh format it.

If you always use this on your PC it sounds like the file table was corrupt or damaged. That can happen if you're writing to the drive and disconnect it from usb while it's in use, or don't use the eject button


It can also happen to a failing drive, so best to retrieve the data and run some diagnostics. If it passes and SMART stats look okay you can probably format it and dump data back into it.

The NAS may care less about specific ntfs syntax, allowing you to mount and read the volume. You may want to also check the integrity of the data you pull off of it (can the files open, do things like compressed archives have checksum errors when opening, if you have the same file somewhere else, do they match with Sha hashes etc).

If your readynas allows you to do a fsck that would be a quick/dirty approach.

The drive passed SMART tests and I did a long sequential read in SeaTools and it passed. I went ahead and formatted it and I just made a new backup altogether. Seems to be working fine for now, thanks!

 

[Darren]

I'd personally use something other than Windows backup.