WD Scorpio Blue Troubles

Hi guys, I'm not positive if this is the proper place so don't exact revenge if it is not.

I have a Western Digital WD3200BEVT-00ZCT0 which I bought as an upgrade for my Inspiron 1525 a couple years ago, a couple of months after instillation the hard drive fell a couple of feet out of the laptop (caddy issues) onto carpet and sense then I wasn't able to instill an OS onto it or access the one previously on it. I recently bought a USB 3.0 2.5" SATA adapter and plugged that in. The only detected partition was about 2-3GB in size titled "System Reserved". I then deleted all partitions off the HDD and created a new one. This is detected as the proper 320GB (298GB in reality) once everything was done... the problem is that it refuses to format. I'll get a single partition but it'll state it as a "RAW" type and always says it cannot be formatted.

Is there any solution at all? Any and ALL help would be great. I'd love to augment my 750 GB M14X HDD with some external space

NOTE: The adapter works 100% for sure as I used it with a Seagate 500GB (took the HDD out of an old USB 2.0 External HDD) and the 1525's original Hitachi 120GB

Thanks in advance.

Edit: Screenshots in attachments

 

Sounds dead.

You could download the WD diagnostics from here: WD Support / Downloads / WD Scorpio & AV-25 / WD Scorpio Blue

You may want to enter the SN on the WD site and see if it is still in warranty and maybe you can get it replaced.

 

It's still in warranty, so should I initiate an RMA?

 

I would if I were you as it does not sound healthy.

 

Would it be better to e-mail them first or simply do the RMA? It wasn't shipped damaged so I'm not sure that RMA should be my first step.

 

I would just start the RMA process.

 

Yeah just start the RMA. I have dealt with the Western Digital RMA process many times and never been asked a question. State that "I used this software and it says it's dead, can't read drive anymore", etc.
Be sure to follow their shipping procedures exactly.

 

Will they provide the box and shipping label or do i have to?

 

don't forget to secure erease the data.

 

It's already had all partitions deleted, it's in RAW format right now so there's no data on it whatsoever.

 

If you haven't written 1's or 0's to every sector that is writeable, the data is still there.

Even after a 'quick' format and even after 'deleting' partitions.

If your data is/was sensitive (and especially if you had other people's data on your drive) I would highly recommend wiping the drive with at least CCleaner...

Good luck.

 

I'm not sure what was even on it and i forgot CCleaner actually had that option. Thanks.

 

As it's in RAW format CClearner isn't able to wipe it, i just tried to no avail.

 

Of course you need to format it first....

 

The entire issue with the drive is that it absolutely cannot be formatted.

 

Okay...

if the data is really sensitive then; destroy it (don't return it for warranty repair).

What is a WD SB 320GB hdd worth these days? $50?

See:
Seagate Momentus 5400.6 ST9320325AS Mobile Hard | Seagate ST9320325AS | Computer Storage & Hard Drives | Internal Hard Drives | Sale Discount Deal - Canada Post Comparison Shopper


Not worth the risk/cost of your's/client's data getting out into the 'wild' (your name is mud after that...).

Good luck.

 

It was used minimally, the most i believe is has is an OS really. i've already paid $10 for the label.

I don't see how having it replaced would allow data to go into the wild anyway?

 

And yet it does. Drives should be destroyed or wiped but many aren't and there are people who get hold of drives like these and harvest the data occasionally with serious consequences for the original owner. It's very unlikely in your case but you have to decide what's best for you.

 

Is the chance anything aside negligible? I'd love to thing WD being a HDD manufacturer would take the proper disposal steps..?

 

WD should do and we're assuming it doesn't get lost in the post, but mistakes and other stuff happens.

You said you used it minimally so is there anything on the disk that really matters; financial details etc? That's when things start to matter. The risk is pretty small and there's a reasonable chance the disk isn't easily readable.

 

regaurdless of what i've tried i CANNOT format it or read any data off it. the worst that should be on there are some... illegitimately acquired movies and software from when i was in high school. I've never kept any financials on anything as i've never done any taxes (college student) so maybe passwords.

I downloaded Drivewiper and had a look at the Hex data on the Drive, i'll upload a screenshot.

 

Then I'd change any passwords that matter and not worry about it.

Except to encrypt anything important in future??

 

With no Hex data is there anything to worry about?

 

That just means that that software can't read any data. Probably no other software could either, unless something could get the disk to format. The data is probably still there, but only accessible by a hardware inspection. And nobody is going to do that.

It's about risk. And in your case, it seems infinitesimal and there wouldn't be any consequences either so I'd just return it.

 

That's what I was thinking. I'm not even sure what the problem is. My best guess is a broken disk inside or something. I mean it spins up, doesn't make and clicking noises but it won't format in any program I've used.