Semaphore timeout

[Aceman.au]

My brother gave me his 2TB portable HDD to give him a whole bunch of files, but the files wouldn't copy. So I ran the basic windows format tool and the repair tool windows offers to fix erros and it simply refused to format or fix the drive. So I got a stronger tool, namely KillDisk to try and force the format. But it won't work and gives me the error, "The semaphore timeout period has expired" and "Cannot write to sectors from XXXXX to XXXXX." (On the same line)

I tried looking on google to no avail. I assume the HDD is dead/dying, my brother isn't the most gentle person when it comes to technology. But if there is a fix I'd appreciate it.

 

[95Viper]

Try opening an Administrative Command Prompt and running the command "chkdsk X: /f" (do not use the quotation marks and "X" being your drive letter).

If the drive is full, try removing some files and then check the disk.
Check for long folder/file names that may exceed the maximum. Try renaming or moving the files to a folder with a shorter name.
You may want to try a defrag on it.
It is, also, possible the controller has gone wacky.

Try repairing the drive on a Linux OS.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I think its CHKDSK [Drive letter]: /F /R

also this util can find the long file names - Path Length Checker. Its old and im sure there are a few better now with powershell

 

[Aceman.au]

CHKDSK returned no errors. However I have a second identical drive I plugged in and I can't copy onto or format either. They're Seagate drives and install software upon connection (which might be the issue, looking into now). Not sure of exact type of drive but they're 2TB

 

[Caring1]

Have you tried taking them out of the external housing and placing them in your computer?

 

[Aceman.au]

Have you tried taking them out of the external housing and placing them in your computer?

I'm running a program off Seagates website that "Fixes errors". It's been slowly progressing for last 12 hours. Appears to be doing something as the HDD is quite warm. I'll let it finish overnight and if that fails. I'll give that a go.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I'm running a program off Seagates website that "Fixes errors". It's been slowly progressing for last 12 hours. Appears to be doing something as the HDD is quite warm. I'll let it finish overnight and if that fails. I'll give that a go.

dont forget to put some ice cubes on top to keep it cooler

 

[Aceman.au]

dont forget to put some ice cubes on top to keep it cooler

It's winter here, so the room temp is nice and cool

The thing finished and "fixed all errors" but didn't alleviate the issue. I tried format it as NTFS with 4096 allocation, but it didn't work. I formatted it as exFAT with 4096 allocation, also didn't work. The copying process just hangs.

I'll try and find that PnP software and remove it/update it.

 

[blobster21]

If you want to lay it bare, you could use the embedded diskpart utility.

From an administrator command line :

diskpart

then

list disks

then select the disk to wipe (be carefull, choose the right one !):

select disk XX

you then proceed to lay it bare :

clean

and then recreate the partition table :

create partition primary

then all is left to do is to select the newly created partition and format it :

select partition 1

format fs=ntfs quick

Give it a drive letter and you should be able to browse it :

assign

and when you're done with diskpart, simply

exit

 

[Aceman.au]

Says access is denied when I try to run the clean command. I did run the CMD prompt as admin.

 

[blobster21]

now that's totally unusual !

As a last resort measure, i would boot on a live linux distro (preferably gparted live) and try to fix the disk....but i'm afraid it's the hardware that's faulty this time. :/

 

[Aceman.au]

now that's totally unusual !

As a last resort measure, i would boot on a live linux distro (preferably gparted live) and try to fix the disk....but i'm afraid it's the hardware that's faulty this time. :/

I think it might be Windows 10. 2 different drives of the same model. 1 used last week. The other not used in 4 years. Both very old drives.

 

[Aceman.au]

now that's totally unusual !

As a last resort measure, i would boot on a live linux distro (preferably gparted live) and try to fix the disk....but i'm afraid it's the hardware that's faulty this time. :/

Oh man. I can't remember how to use Linux. Been probably a decade since I used Ubuntu

 

[blobster21]

You will be happy to hear that there's no knowledge involved if you want to use gparted live.

It's "just" a live distro with xfce as desktop environment. The gparted GUI is started automatically, it goes straight to the point.

gparted is pretty straightforward too, it reminds me the old Powerquest partition magic, everything is done using your mouse.

You can create a bootable gparted live USB key using free third party windows programs such as Rufus or Yumi, the later will even give you the choice to download the latest gparted live iso, and will do the integration.

 

[Aceman.au]

You will be happy to hear that there's no knowledge involved if you want to use gparted live.

It's "just" a live distro with xfce as desktop environment. The gparted GUI is started automatically, it goes straight to the point.

gparted is pretty straightforward too, it reminds me the old Powerquest partition magic, everything is done using your mouse.

You can create a bootable gparted live USB key using free third party windows programs such as Rufus or Yumi, the later will even give you the choice to download the latest gparted live iso, and will do the integration.

A lot of stuff in Linux is done by CMD line isn't it? But good, a idiot friendly GUI will be a help. Contacting my friend who uses a lot of linux for guidance.

 

[Aceman.au]

Oh right. Live CD/USB. Derp, don't need teh linuxes

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

So this HDD is an external USB drive?

Take it out of the case and plug it in directly to your system.

 

[R-T-B]

So this HDD is an external USB drive?

Take it out of the case and plug it in directly to your system.

This is a very bad idea if it uses one of those self-encryption doohickeys, which judging from it loading it's own software it sounds like it might. You could lose your data forever.

What model?

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

The OP is just trying to format it, so I dont think that matters.

I cant help but wonder if the adapter is corrupted. Maybe the OP as a spare pc to plug it in?