HDD not Detected: Disk 1, Unknown, Not Initialized, Online

Ahahaha. So sorry for the slow reply. Yeah, as alphanumeric guessed, I am catching up slowly (I must learn!) and wow, you guys are so helpful and thanks for willing to explain so much in detail! Definitely not gonna throw it into garbage bin until I can confirm it toasted.

I remember my brother is still having his PATA hard drive with USB 2.0 to IDE. Will it work if I test it with that?
Also my brother might still have his old desktop around that probably has IDE bus. I think I can only check it out tomorrow (it's midnight here, by the way :p )
OK, if your brother has a 2.5" drive, this one could be connected thru his adapter to USB. That would be best because to connect to desktop would require another adapter.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Ahahaha. So sorry for the slow reply. Yeah, as alphanumeric guessed, I am catching up slowly (I must learn!) and wow, you guys are so helpful and thanks for willing to explain so much in detail! Definitely not gonna throw it into garbage bin until I can confirm it toasted.

I remember my brother is still having his PATA hard drive with USB 2.0 to IDE. Will it work if I test it with that?
Also my brother might still have his old desktop around that probably has IDE bus. I think I can only check it out tomorrow (it's midnight here, by the way :p )

Just keep in mind that the connector on your drive is meant to connect it to a laptop IDE plug. The IDE cable and plug in a desktop PC is bigger and won't connect to your drive without an adapter.
I think CountMike already posted something but I'll post another. You'll need something like this , Buy the Cables To Go Laptop To IDE Hard Drive Adapter at TigerDirect.ca to mate the two.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
True, enough. Most people know right away what your referring to when you say IDE. Mention PATA though? Not so much. Just about everybody know what SATA is. It can get very confusing though, that's for sure.
Throw in there old standards like MFM and BFI with 2 cables (before IDE) and a dozen of other SCASI standards and you do get a mess. To say nothing about optical HDD connections.

I can remember messing with those old hard drives. A data cable and a control cable. The good old days when the motherboard had onboard nothing. A big old keyboard connector and a row of ISA slots, lol.
Yes, a giant (by today's standards) MB with ISA (VESA) slots but pile of memory chips soldered on.MFM and BFI had all the controls for HDD on an ISA board but when it was all integrated with controller on the HDD itself (hence the IDE Integrated Drive Electronics) it became simpler. Used to make MFM to quasi SCASI jack one Atari ST to be able to use enormous 20MB HDD and throw away most of 3.5" diskettes of 512 KB.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Ahahaha. So sorry for the slow reply. Yeah, as alphanumeric guessed, I am catching up slowly (I must learn!) and wow, you guys are so helpful and thanks for willing to explain so much in detail! Definitely not gonna throw it into garbage bin until I can confirm it toasted.

I remember my brother is still having his PATA hard drive with USB 2.0 to IDE. Will it work if I test it with that?
Also my brother might still have his old desktop around that probably has IDE bus. I think I can only check it out tomorrow (it's midnight here, by the way :p )

Just keep in mind that the connector on your drive is meant to connect it to a laptop IDE plug. The IDE cable and plug in a desktop PC is bigger and won't connect to your drive without an adapter.
I think CountMike already posted something but I'll post another. You'll need something like this , Buy the Cables To Go Laptop To IDE Hard Drive Adapter at TigerDirect.ca to mate the two.
Ha, that one is even simpler and presumably cheaper.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Ahahaha. So sorry for the slow reply. Yeah, as alphanumeric guessed, I am catching up slowly (I must learn!) and wow, you guys are so helpful and thanks for willing to explain so much in detail! Definitely not gonna throw it into garbage bin until I can confirm it toasted.

I remember my brother is still having his PATA hard drive with USB 2.0 to IDE. Will it work if I test it with that?
Also my brother might still have his old desktop around that probably has IDE bus. I think I can only check it out tomorrow (it's midnight here, by the way :p )
OK, if your brother has a 2.5" drive, this one could be connected thru his adapter to USB. That would be best because to connect to desktop would require another adapter.

...so unfortunate. Tried with his connector and it wasn't even showed up in either Disk Management or WD Diagnostics Tool.

Ahahaha. So sorry for the slow reply. Yeah, as alphanumeric guessed, I am catching up slowly (I must learn!) and wow, you guys are so helpful and thanks for willing to explain so much in detail! Definitely not gonna throw it into garbage bin until I can confirm it toasted.

I remember my brother is still having his PATA hard drive with USB 2.0 to IDE. Will it work if I test it with that?
Also my brother might still have his old desktop around that probably has IDE bus. I think I can only check it out tomorrow (it's midnight here, by the way :p )

Just keep in mind that the connector on your drive is meant to connect it to a laptop IDE plug. The IDE cable and plug in a desktop PC is bigger and won't connect to your drive without an adapter.
I think CountMike already posted something but I'll post another. You'll need something like this , Buy the Cables To Go Laptop To IDE Hard Drive Adapter at TigerDirect.ca to mate the two.

Then... I think this would be my next mission.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Is this drive 2.5 inches wide or 3.5 inches wide? If its the bigger 3.5 inch form factor drive you don't need an adapter. The easy way to tell is the bigger drive will have a 4 pin power connector and the smaller drive won't.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Is this drive 2.5 inches wide or 3.5 inches wide? If its the bigger 3.5 inch form factor drive you don't need an adapter. The easy way to tell is the bigger drive will have a 4 pin power connector and the smaller drive won't.
Since nobody mentioned a power adapter, it's to be presumed it's a 2.5" which can be used without one. Some 2.5" USB drives have forked cable with 2 USB conectors so they do not draw to much power from a single port.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Just wanted to make sure, thanks. Also my apologies I think I may referred to you as he, when I should have said she. :eek:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Just wanted to make sure, thanks. Also my apologies I think I may referred to you as he, when I should have said she. :eek:
It's "computercracy" here, we are all the same.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Hi guys! Sorry for the slow update.
I just managed to find a connector and tested it on a desktop PC. It really took me a while to find it because the stores nearby my house didn't have any (such small city I live in...). Unfortunately it didn't work as well :( I guess I'll let it rest in peace.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Hi guys! Sorry for the slow update.
I just managed to find a connector and tested it on a desktop PC. It really took me a while to find it because the stores nearby my house didn't have any (such small city I live in...). Unfortunately it didn't work as well :( I guess I'll let it rest in peace.

Not a happy ending I guess :think:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
Hi everybody.
Im the new one here. I have the same problem with my hdd. WD Elements. I tried everything. Every single software, and nothing. I just wonder if MelissaM somehow solved the problem with the HDD or I can throw my into the trash can.

Please, I would be very grateful if anyone can tell me if there is a chance to save the files from my hdd or format it somehow.

Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
Hi everyone;
I have the same problem with my WD hdd, I tried many soft and guides but nothing works.
if someone get the solution or any idea, plz share it with us.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
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