Windows 10 Forced Windows 10 update damaged my attached external USB hard drive

Karen Grube

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Feb 2, 2017
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21
I had a problem with a Windows 10 update process a couple of months ago that caused a USB-connected external hard drive to be corrupted and inaccessible. I was actually accessing the drive (searching for a file) when a Windows 10 update forced me to "shutdown and update." The system ground to a screeching halt, and when that happens, I know it's Microsoft forcing me to do a Windows 10 update. When I hit the Windows button, I saw that I was right; Windows was forcing me to update. I believe the forced shutdown while I was accessing the drive is what corrupted it.

I have exhausted all of Microsoft's technical support avenues, and the drive is now sitting at the Microsoft Store in Fashion Valley (San Diego) waiting for someone to authorize sending the drive to Seagate for data recovery at no charge to me. There is absolutely nothing more the store or technical support can do at this point except assist me in recovering the data assuming it's recoverable. I just won't let Microsoft damage my little external hard drive (1 terabyte) and then make me pay to get my data back. That's just not right.

I have been trying for about six weeks to get through to someone at a higher level at Microsoft who can authorize the store to send the drive out for recovery, but Microsoft makes that nearly impossible. I've even faxed the complaint department several times. Microsoft doesn't seem to have an executive level customer relations department at all, and no one at the store, at the Answer Desk, or in tier three tech support has been helpful beyond telling me there's nothing more they can do and no one else they can refer me to.

Every single person I've spoken with about this has refused to escalate my request to anyone higher beyond the level of the store manager and a tech support supervisor, neither of which can authorize the data recovery at no charge to me. I find that outrageous and unacceptable. I've even had Microsoft technicians tell me the situation I described is certainly possible. It would be just absolutely too coincidental for the drive to have failed at just the moment Microsoft was forcing me to update. As soon as the update was complete, the system rebooted. When I tried to access the drive again, it wasn't recognized. It was listed in the Device Manager, but Disk Management couldn't initialize it for some reason. So, I was told to take it to the Store, and they've been of no help. They even told me the drive is no longer getting power, although it certainly did the day I brought it in since it showed up in the Device Manager and Disk Management, though it couldn't be "initialized."

Has anyone else had a similar issue with not being able to access an external rive immediately after an update? Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
 
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Solution
Hi Karen,
Sorry to hear about all your problems. A couple of observations for you.

1.) Which version of W10 do you have? W10 Home or W10 Pro? This is important. Tell you why in a bit.
2.) Unfortunately, that lawsuit that Norway mentioned was for a Small Business user, and she got lucky. Lots of folks on this forum and several other tech forums I am on have not been that lucky-as most of them are home users. Microsoft pretty much ignores home user complaints, as far as litigation goes you have pretty much no chance of winning, unless you file a Class-Action suit with many hundreds of other people with the same problem and you have a really sharp attorney. To date, several folks have talked about doing this, but not...
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BIGBEARJEDI said:
contrary to what these yahoos are telling you.
Click to expand...

I think the original question was how to sue Microsoft.

I don't think at any point we said 'throw the drive away' although reclaiming any data can get expensive to the point where most folk don't bother..
 
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@kemical: That's the short version. I believe she's looking for evidence from us experts on getting PROOF that Microsoft's updates killed her hard drive; and to recover financial damages involved in replacing the bad drive and paying to have professional data recovery done to get her stuff back. Also, from OP's post #34:
"...My biggest problem is that Microsoft techs won't even admit there was an issue with the Anniversary Update and recognizing external drives, yet alone admit that their auto updates make your system grind to a screeching halt and won't let you stop them or exit the process, at least it didn't in the Windows 10 Home edition at the time."
Taking to the Microsoft Store for data recovery failed, and she is trying to use the precedent from the Article that Norway offered up about the business lady who sued MS in Washington State, won, and collected $10,000 from her Judgement against them. She also has told us she has spoken to an Attorney about how to file the Claim, but due to the amount as a Home User, he obviously wasn't willing to take the case. Very few Attorneys will do this without trying to get up a Class-Action suit against MS; as I have mentioned. Mike and others have corroborated the difficulty of her achieving this goal is unrealistic. I've already mentioned that this has been going on for many years before W10 with earlier windows versions and no individual I've heard of has been able to successfully sue MS for damages from any of their updates. OP's original post was Feb. 2nd where she talks about litigating against MS to recovery damages. It will be many months more before she actually decides to do it, as she's only going through the first stage of professional data recovery, and that with a company that doesn't have a good track record. She now has info I gave her on the right places to send her drive to; so we'll see if she decides to do that or not. I am sure she will keep us posted on her progress..

BBJ
 
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I have been in consistent, productive conversations with Microsoft Customer Service, not Tech Support. As soon as the drive arrives back from DriveSavers, I'll call the other recommended providers and ask if they can do a "second opinion" free of charge. If not, I'll see if Microsoft will cover the cost. I think they may. They have actually been very responsive and very apologetic about what happened, though still maintaining that the damage was unlikely to be caused by the "shutdown" part of "shutdown and update." I realize no one is going to give me a definitive answer about precisely what caused the head crash, but so far everyone I've spoken with everywhere else other than Microsoft has acknowledged that removing power suddenly while a drive is in use can cause this kind of damage.

But to clarify, it's not that I want to sue Microsoft so much as I want whatever data recovered that can be recovered at no cost, if they will agree. So far, they haven't, and the one data recovery provider says nothing is recoverable. But that doesn't mean that a second opinion indicating that the damage could have been caused by removing the power suddenly but that some data is recoverable won't change their minds.

I'll let everyone know how this progresses.
 
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Kroll Ontrack agreed to examine the drive at no cost and provide an estimate of the recovery if any of the data can be recovered. I shipped the drive to them a short while ago. I'll let you know what they say. Thank you so much for referring me to them.

Karen
 
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