Not New HDD's Seem to be DOA

[cornemuse]

I recently bought 10 used WD 120 gig 2.5" hdd's. They were wiped obviously. However, when I connected them (1 at a time) to sata port (esata, actually), the computer froze up totally. A minute or so after disconnecting it, the comp finally responded (keyboard&mouse). I then connected it via usb, & it appeared as (f) in my computer. When I clicked on it I got message 'insert media', tried formatting, got same message.
Opened Comp management before powering up the drive(s) it never appeared in Device manager or disk management (comp frozen) connected via usb it appeared in device manager but not in Comp management.

There 'stickers' on most of the hdd's saying "Parties Removed" not partitions, 'Parties', also on some stickers saying' 151 AF TEST A'.

I stopped after three, thought 'whats the point?'

Also thought 'I'll ask someone who knows more than me, , , , , ,'

Any ideas? Check 'em all out and/or return 'em?

-corne-

[got 'em off ebay]

 

[eidairaman1]

You can try them off an SATA port if possible, sometimes the external shroud controllers go bad but the drive's main controller is still good, only drawback is taking the case off.

You can always return them with statement defective not working as advertised and guaranteed to be. If they dont respond to return your money, ebay will give you the money back and then they put the scammer into debt collections.

 

[qubit]

+1 to what eidy said, really. I think you should test all 10 using an internal SATA port.

Personally, my experience of used HDDs (for non critical purposes) has never been good as they've always been defective, either partially or complete failure, so I steer clear nowadays.

 

[jboydgolfer]

so I steer clear nowadays.

mine too. i either regret the purchase, or i end up spending hours troubleshooting

& then regretting it,

 

[cornemuse]

I will go ahead & test 'em all. My connection is mobo sata port - cable directly to esata port on a card slot (just the cable plug on the bracket, not actually plugged into the mobo's pci slot) - esata cable directly to hdd, known good external power supply. I use this setup 3-4-5 times a week with other hdds, , , , (use for backing up, much faster than usb!)

-c-

 

[cornemuse]

Initally all were 'unreadable'. I have a cloned backup hdd, swapped it out & still bad. (<- these are XP-64 bit os WD hdd's 500 g), Tried them in a friends computer, all are good, formatted, , My comp still does not recognize them. My comp does recognize other 2.5"-3.5"-and ssd's, both esata & usb, just not these. Another thing I noticed, -- they are WD blues & blacks --- with a Lenovo part #, I assume they came out of Lenovo laptops. Is there maybe a hidden partition on them for recovery that is possibly the problem?

-c-

 

[John Naylor]

My expectation is that these drives are so old that they are going to be very disappointing speed wise. My go to solution for old unreadable drives is a full format in an external HD dock. I dunno why it has been successful, I tried it on a lark the 1st time and was surprised that it worked. But have been able to put a half dozen old SSDs and 3-4 HDs back in service using this method. The external dock we use is a USB connected BlacX

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...&Description=BlacX&ignorear=0&N=-1&isNodeId=1

Most times a full format has done the trick, but in a few instances, had to use Diskpart to return the things to life.

 

[cornemuse]

neweggdotcom/Product/Prod...&Description=BlacX&ignorear=0&N=-1&isNodeId=1
These are all just usb adapters for hdds/ssds. I have a Kingwin 'Power Dock' usb III one of those, (basically identical, diff brand), like I said, this computer only does not see these particular 10 hdds. <- all dated Apr-May-June 2008

 

[eidairaman1]

If you are using ESATA, use SATA

 

[cornemuse]

If you are using ESATA, use SATA

sata port on mobo cable to esata plug (adapter) on back of comp, esata to sata cable, drives basically plugged into mobo. I plugged the cable into an internal drive bay sitting on the desk with its own power supply.

I tried unplugging the sata from bay & plugged directly into hdd, (along with power), Turns out the (electronics?/actual plug? on the) bay were bad, all is well, , , , ,

-c-