External HDD suddenly transferring data slowly

[dodohelp]

Hi I have a 2tb WD Elements MyPassport USB2 external HDD which I’ve used for approx 1 year. Never had any problems with it transferring movies and music from my Windows 7 PC to it. For no reason its now become useless as its taking ridiculous amounts of time to transfer files to! I’ve tested a few other usb sticks and HDDs and they all run as fast as normal, so its definitely this HDD. Write speed is now 1.17MB/s. I’m transferring 1.1GB and its estimating 32 minutes to transfer it. WTF is going on? Any suggestions on how to fix it?

I’ve already tried to ‘scan and fix issues’ which took about 20 minutes and when I closed it the HDD became unreadable so I had to eject it and reconnect and its running just as slowly. Currently can access the files on there, modify and rename etc, but just takes an age to copy to.

[veeg]

Hello
Hopefully some of our members will chime in soon.
@Twitch6000 jmarket @Rustys

[Antman]

Please provide a SMART report.
This is a decent tool and reads most USB drives.
Download - Crystal Dew World [en]

[ATTACH]3242[/ATTACH]

[dodohelp]

thanks. I’ll try this now

[dodohelp]

I’ve downloaded it but no idea how to use it. Whats it supposed to do? Theres no tutorial on the website either so Im not sure what this is???

[Antman]

Extract to a folder. Double click the appropriate version. DiskInfo64 or DiskInfo32.

Select disk. Review.
Select other disk. Review

Details not important yet. If both say “Good”, then good.
If one or more says “Caution”, details become important.

[ATTACH]3255[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]3257[/ATTACH]

[dodohelp]

Thanks. My local disk is good
The external HDD in question is BAD

theres a red icon that says - (05) reallocated sectors count
and a yellow icon - current pending sectors count

[Antman]

Exactly what I expected and 100% consistent with your initial report.

If you have data on that drive and have any desire or hope to recover that data, DO NOT POWER ON THE DRIVE.

Please confirm.

[dodohelp]

what do you mean “do not power on the drive”? Its already on now whilst its connected to PC.

[Antman]

https://support.wdc.com/warranty/warrantystatus.aspx

[Antman]

what do you mean “do not power on the drive”? Its already on now whilst its connected to PC.

That disk is close to total death. Any disk I/O might be the last function it ever performs. Maybe not.

But, simply being powered on encourages Windows to use the disk, depending on your Windows settings - and it is not worth the effort to inspect those settings at this time.
While you have it on, write down the serial number. Maybe you will get lucky on the warranty.

The confirmation I need is:
Do you need to salvage the data?

[Antman]

[ATTACH]3259[/ATTACH]

[dodohelp]

ok thanks. yes I do need everything thats on it. Its approximately 80% full and I dont have another drive to copy it to

[Antman]

Record the serial number. Power it off.
The Passport itself has a different serial number. Only the complete unit is under warranty. No warranty applies to the disk itself (so having the serial number is essentially pointless, but still grab it).
Move it to a secure location.

Check warranty on the Passport.
https://support.wdc.com/warranty/warrantystatus.aspx

Please describe your PC tech skills.
If the unit is not under warranty, it is best practice to remove the drive from the Passport housing and attach it to PC internally. This gives us the best chance to copy the files to another drive (once you have one).
There is a 2% chance that SpinRite can re-order the drive sufficiently to recover the files if our first effort fails.
DO NOT believe any marketing BS about ANY software that claims it can assist you in this task.

Only one thing is certain - you need a new HDD. You might be able to install it inside the Passport housing.

[dodohelp]

thanks…

I’ve managed to check the warranty and its “out of warranty”. The box states 3 year limited warranty and I’ve not owned this HDD for 3 years. I’ve submitted proof of purchase and will await their response