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  • #2141578

    How to test an external drive

    by kcav175 ·

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    Would like to use Crystal Diskinfo to test a 2TB drive attache to a USB port on my WIn 10 PC. It only see sees the interna drive. How do I get the software to recognize the external drive?

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    • #2415137
      Avatar photo

      Does Windows 10 recognize the USB drive?

      by rproffitt ·

      In reply to How to test an external drive

      If W10 doesn’t see the drive, neither will Crystal.

      Please don’t leave out details like this along with the full make, model and year of the drive. Recently a complaint about some USB drive was solved by erasing the drive and doing the usual partition and format. Why did that work? It had some Linux filesystem which Windows knew nothing about.

    • #2415136

      How to test an external drive with Crystal Diskinfo

      by kcav175 ·

      In reply to How to test an external drive

      Windows sees the drive Crystal Diskinfo doesn’t see it. I want to analyze the disk with Crystal Diskinfo. Here is the information provided by Speccy.

      VendorCo ProductCode USB Device
      Interface USB
      Capacity 1953 GB
      Real size 2,097,152,000,000 bytes
      RAID Type None
      S.M.A.R.T
      S.M.A.R.T not supported
      Partition 0
      Partition ID Disk #1, Partition #0
      Disk Letter H:
      File System NTFS
      Volume Serial Number AA570EF8
      Size 1953 GB
      Used Space 17.7 GB (0%)
      Free Space 1935 GB (100%)
      VendorCo ProductCode USB Device
      Interface USB
      Capacity 1953 GB
      Real size 2,097,152,000,000 bytes
      RAID Type None
      S.M.A.R.T
      S.M.A.R.T not supported
      Partition 0
      Partition ID Disk #2, Partition #0
      Disk Letter I:
      File System NTFS
      Volume Serial Number D9BA2B05
      Size 1953 GB
      Used Space 674 MB (0%)
      Free Space 1952 GB (100%)

      • #2415135
        Avatar photo

        While I asked for more detail.

        by rproffitt ·

        In reply to How to test an external drive with Crystal Diskinfo

        I don’t see make, model or year and more.

        But hey, the issue is well discussed but folk do need to tell more. Here’s an example where [b]OPTANE[/b] mattered.

        Internal hard drive only recognized in CrystalDiskInfo and UEFI (and I mean really, I’ve tried every software I could google or commands I could find)
        by intechsupport

        I guess I could give you a google with all the priors but I had hoped for more detail to narrow it down.

        Google search for priors:
        https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=Crystaldiskinfo+doesn%27t+see+USB+drive+site%3Awww.reddit.com

        • #2415134

          How examine an external drive with Crystal DiskInfo

          by kcav175 ·

          In reply to While I asked for more detail.

          How can I direct Crystal DiskInfo to examine an external drive is my question? The sellers invoice does not tell the drive manufacturer or model of the external drive that is why I posted the results of running Speccy on the external drive. i have Crystal DriveInfo 8.12,2 x64 running on a Hewlett Packard Elitebook 8460p I am running Windows 10 Pro 21H1, What do I need to do to get Crystal DrivInfo to examine the drive I have attached to a USB port.

        • #2415133
          Avatar photo

          Small world.

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to How examine an external drive with Crystal DiskInfo

          We had or have that laptop and it’s pretty plain if I recall.

          -> As to your question, I can’t answer or point you to just a few ideas without more information.

          I’m left without answers to my questions so let me ask THE BIG QUESTION. Ready?

          -> Why must you run Crystal Disk Info on this drive?

          Your answers may help us get to the bottom of this.

        • #2415117

          How to get Crystal DiskInfo to see an external drive

          by kcav175 ·

          In reply to Small world.

          I discovered how to use Crystal DisskInfo to analyze an external drive after attaching an Ole Seagate Backup Plus. On the User Interface click on Disk a dropdown menu appears that list the disks on the computer. If the external drive is not there go to View and click on Rescan.

        • #2415116
          Avatar photo

          Did that fix it?

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to How to get Crystal DiskInfo to see an external drive

          I can’t guess how you perform your work but here I connect the drive then boot the PC and run the diagnostic apps. If I were to connect the drive after the app was run, the result would be unreliable.

        • #2415114

          connect the drive then boot

          by kcav175 ·

          In reply to Did that fix it?

          I am working with 2 external drives and each affects my computer differently. If I connect one of them then boot the PC the machine will not boot. After I boot and connect the drive the PC sees it, if I wait 2 minutes it loads the directory and I can access files. What if I ran Process Monitor? Would a log file help disclose the reason for these delays?

        • #2415125
          Avatar photo

          Re: Crystaldiskinfo

          by kees_b ·

          In reply to How examine an external drive with Crystal DiskInfo

          https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/crystaldiskinfo-external-drives/ has the list of external disks supported by the program. Maybe your disk isn’t included?

          Anyway, since your speccy says that it doesn’t support SMART, what do you want to report that Windows disc manager doesn’t show?

        • #2415115

          How to get Crystal DiskInfo to see an external drive

          by kcav175 ·

          In reply to Re: Crystaldiskinfo

          Thank you Kees_B for providing a list of supported drives. I would like to analyze 2 external drives with Crystal Diskinfo So far I succeeded at getting one to appear. I will tell the drive manufacturer that I could not find my drive on the list of drives CrystaklInfo analyzes maybe I missed it

    • #2415113
      Avatar photo

      THIS is what I wanted to read about. (The Why?)

      by rproffitt ·

      In reply to How to test an external drive

      1. “I am working with 2 external drives and each affects my computer differently. If I connect one of them then boot the PC the machine will not boot. After I boot and connect the drive the PC sees it, if I wait 2 minutes it loads the directory and I can access files. What if I ran Process Monitor? Would a log file help disclose the reason for these delays?”

      Let me skip all explanation and share what we do with such a drive at the office and shop. We immediately perform data recovery to get the files out. THIS IS JOB ONE! After the files are safely on backups (we use a new drive) then we can wipe the old drive clean and see if it’s healthy. We usually can tell if the drive is OK after the old drive is wiped clean, formatted then see how copying the files back in is going. We can use Linux and it’s own smart reporting too but hey, you can google that since writing it all here is way too long.

      TL;DR – We get the client’s files off the drive onto backups and try a wipe and fresh format on the old drive.

      2. “Thank you Kees_B for providing a list of supported drives. I would like to analyze 2 external drives with Crystal Diskinfo So far I succeeded at getting one to appear. I will tell the drive manufacturer that I could not find my drive on the list of drives CrystaklInfo analyzes maybe I missed it”

      As to the “could not find my drive” this is again where more story is required. Sometimes the client has a blank drive that has not been wiped, partitioned and formatted. Sometimes it’s data recovery work. Here you left out why you are trying Crystal so no one knows this till now and even then YOUR STORY is incomplete so the path forward is unclear.

      TL:DR – Could be a blank drive. Could be a failed drive. Bad cable and well, your story could help find a direction.

      • #2415112

        why you are trying Crystal

        by kcav175 ·

        In reply to THIS is what I wanted to read about. (The Why?)

        SeaTools failed, HDDScan didn’t work either, I would like to know how well my drives are working so I tried Crystal Driveinfo. It has analyzed one external drive. It doesn’t see the other. Maybe it is time to use DiskDirector and wipe the drive clean, reformat if and see if Crystal DriveInfo will analyze it?

        KCav45

        • #2415111
          Avatar photo

          Actually you already know these drives are not working well.

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to why you are trying Crystal

          But why are you using DiskDirector? At the shop, office and home we rarely stray from what the OS provides (linux, Windows, Apple OS, etc.)

          As it stands it looks to me and mind you I only know what you reveal in this discussion about these drives that these drives appear to be problematic or failing.

          In such cases the FIRST JOB is safeguarding the clients files. We get them onto a new good drive (or drives if they really want the files to be safe as a single copy is still unsafe.)

          Now we can try a fresh start with new partitions and a fresh format.

          -> At no point could this be assumed to fix the issue with Crystal. Remember you have never revealed these drives make, model, age and much about the backstory. Which is why from here on out I’m going to assume this is the same old story of the failing external drive.

        • #2415109

          Why I got into using External SSDs

          by kcav175 ·

          In reply to Actually you already know these drives are not working well.

          The reason I purchase 2 new external drives is I am planning to make a lot more videos than in the past and the file size is 50 of these videos is times larger than documents,

          I decided to connect 2TB SSDs to a USB port;
          – 2TB provides 10 times the storage of my internal drives
          – SSD, no moving parts that will break when dropped.\
          – USB port nearly all computers have a USB

          On both my PCs my internal drives are made by Crucial and work wonderfully well.

          KCav45

        • #2415107
          Avatar photo

          Please.

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to Why I got into using External SSDs

          You are slowly revealing important details.

          For example the drives, according to your last post are NEW.

          [b]BUT[/b] you have never revealed how you prepared them for use.

          Yes, yes I know that average user might thing “Don’t I just plug them in and use them?”

          -> That’s a big no from me. Yes, most RETAIL DRIVES arrive ready to use but here you have problematic drives so why not start with a fresh wipe, partition and format? (Yes, tell me if you did this or not.)

          So you have two drives.

          1. For the one that didn’t work, head to disk management to remove any partitions on it then create a new one (NTFS for most) then format it (I use the quick format.)

          That may be all that’s needed.

          2. For the SLOW DRIVE I don’t have a lot of story from you but something about 50 VIDEOS can cause Windows to slow to a crawl since:
          a. The HP you wrote appears to have OLD AND SLOW USB 2.0 so part b….
          b. Windows Explorer will sadly have to chug through those 50 video files SLOWLY OVER USB 2.0 to build those thumbnails. This could take a very long time.

          3. If I saw that on the somewhat working drive I would NOT open Windows File Explorer but instead open a COMMAND PROMPT to type in DIR D: or E: or whatever the drive letter is because this avoids Windows File Explorer’s need to build thumbnails and more.

        • #2415108

          Why are you using Disk Director

          by kcav175 ·

          In reply to Actually you already know these drives are not working well.

          In the old days Disk Director was 10 times faster than the disk management tool in Windows but that might not be the case anymore. If I don’t use Disk Director how should I wipe the drive using Windows and format a 2 TB drive.

        • #2415106
          Avatar photo

          Why disk management?

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to Why are you using Disk Director

          It’s built in so we don’t have to install it.
          It’s not slow.

          For me to wipe, partition and format a fresh drive we are talking a minute or two tops.

          Now for most drives we can wipe them fast by heading to Disk Management then just a few steps.
          1. Delete partitions on said drive. All clean!
          2. Make a new big NFTS partition.
          3. Format it (use the quick option if offered.)

          Wait a few seconds and then begin your copies or try testing.

          Remember that the laptop you noted has old USB 2.0 ports so maybe a five minute job.

    • #2415110
      Avatar photo

      About the NO BOOT WHEN ATTACHED ISSUE.

      by rproffitt ·

      In reply to How to test an external drive

      That issue is either a bad drive or we need to set the BIOS boot order to boot the internal drive first. Remember that you know your hardware better than me as well as the history of all this gear but changing the BIOS boot order would be on my TO DO LIST.

      • #2415104

        Progress Report

        by kcav175 ·

        In reply to About the NO BOOT WHEN ATTACHED ISSUE.

        I have 2 new SSD drives that can connect to a USB 3.0 port; one drive is 2TB the other has 2 2TB drives inside its case. The one with 2 2TB drives works well but the other took 2 minutes for the drive to appear in File Explorer, and it caused my Bluetooth Mouse to stall and you if you connected it before you booted the computer would not boot.

        I decided to reformat it. First I tried to use Disk Director. I started Disk Director and waited ½ hr. It did nothing so I decided to stop and use the Disk Management tool inside Windows 10. I selected the default format configuration settings for NTFS and started formatting. It has been running for about 3 hours.

        The SSD with 2 2TB drives inside its case is fulling my goals. I have backed-up the system partition on each of my PCs to it, and I have copied files to it. If you would like to see My Poetry or my Little Book of Prayers I will send you copies.

        I am able to run chkdsk and read the output in Event Viewer for the 2 2TB drive. However Crystal DiskInfo will not recognize it even after running Rescan. I am going to write to Crystal and ask if they have a driver as soon as I am certain of the make and model of my drive, the seller didn`t tell me I had to run Speccy. What disk analysis would you use? I have tried SeaTools and HDDScan neither worked well.

        KCav45

        PS Windows Disk Management is still running

        • #2415103
          Avatar photo

          Again. You are revealing details little by little.

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to Progress Report

          “2 2TB drives inside its case.”

          This is an advanced drive case. You write USB 3.0 but the spec seems to state these are on the left side of the laptop.

          Up till your last post I took it these were common single drives in USB cases. Now that you revealed more it’s likely the case is defective.

          As to the format I know if you did a long format it would take many hours. NO ONE I KNOW WILL WAIT FOR THAT LONG.

          So here we are with details slowly being shared.

          -> Time to get a refund on the failed drive.

        • #2415084

          I requested a refund

          by kcav175 ·

          In reply to Again. You are revealing details little by little.

          Today I requested a refund from Wish for the 2 TB drive that did not work correctly. When I connected it to either of my two personal computers the computers would not boot. If I started a computer then attached the drive it appeared in File Explorer, however when I opened it took 2 minutes to load (I timed it with a stopwatch.) It also interfered with control of my wireless Bluetooth mouse. Because of these problems I tried to reformat the drive and the reformat failed.

          I would like my money back.

        • #2415083
          Avatar photo

          That’s the final test.

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to I requested a refund

          You gave it a good try. It certainly sounds defective.

    • #2413336

      external drive

      by imstephanieys ·

      In reply to How to test an external drive

      Have you tried putting Apps on the faster external drive too? That would leave the internal only for the OS — which is kept constantly busy with the rolling Game DVR.

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