USB HDD not accessible

Hi,
Sorry to hear you're having problems with your boss's laptop. Have you tried plugging in the WD external drive to a different working Windows computer? If it also fails to work on that 2nd test computer, it's likely that hard drive has failed. If it works on the 2nd computer and you can access the file, copy it, and even play it, the external drive may still be Ok, but your boss's laptop may have a problem. Typical problems are:
1.) Virus/Malware infection
2.) Windows registry corruption
3.) Failing or failed internal bootdrive on the laptop

It's also a really good idea to test that external hard drive whether or not it works on a 2nd computer. I suggest this drive diagnostic from WD the makers of your boss's external drive available at this link here: Software and Firmware Downloads | WD Support.
It is important to note that WD has 2 different drive diagnostics they supply to end users for free,
(1.) WD Drive Utilities for Windows, and (2.) Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows. The link I gave you above is for the WD Drive Utilities for Windows, as the DLG (Data Lifeguard Diagnostic) doesn't work on most external usb drives. The DLG diagnostic is for internal bootdrives on desktop PCs and Laptops only and won't work on your boss's external drive!

Next, prior to running any other diagnostics or repair utilities on that WD external drive (besides the WD Drive Utilities for Windows I provided you the link to), we suggest that you MAKE CERTAIN YOU BACKED UP ALL THE PERSONAL DATA YOUR BOSS HAS ON THAT DRIVE TO EXTERNAL MEDIA BEFORE PROCEEDING FURTHER TO AVOID IRRETRIEVABLE DATA LOSS!!

To address the first 2 issues you can try the following:
1.) To check if your external drive has viruses, use whatever built-in Antivirus (AV) that is already installed on your boss's laptop, ensure it's up to date and has the latest definitions. Scan/remove all viruses found. Next, download the Free antispyware MALWAREBYTES program from malwarebytes.org, and scan/remove all spyware viruses found. Retest your file access from your boss's laptop. If it now works, you had a virus infection and removed it which fixed it!
2.) To repair Windows registry corruption, try these software repairs (again, only run these repairs after you've backed up your boss's external drive and you've verbally verified that with him!).
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File scans
Right click on the Start menu icon and from the revealed list choose 'admin command prompt'. Type:
sfc /scannow
press enter and await results

In the same command prompt and after the above scan has finished type:
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Press enter and await results (longer this time).

If the first scan found files it could not repair but the second scan is successful, run the first scan again using the same command prompt box and this time it should repair the files found.
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These repairs are to be done after doing Chkdsk repair first which you've already done. These 2 repair commands are excerpted from a recent post by kemical, who is also helping you here on this thread, so they are safe to do once you've taken our recommended precautions discussed in paragraphs above. Remove the external hard drive from your boss's laptop and reboot it. Then once it's in Windows, reconnect the external drive to the laptop and retest your file access and try to play the file again. If it now works, you've fixed it!

These procedures and repairs will work on most laptops, probably about 85% of the time. Give these methods a try and it should take care of it. Of course, if none of these work, or the WD diagnostic shows that the drive has failed, you should purchase a new external drive for that laptop and get it working. Set aside the failed external drive, and take it to your local computer repair shop and pay them to get your boss's data off of it and put it into DVD discs, USB flash drive, or another new external hard drive and proceed from there.

Let us know how it goes.
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

Hi again,
How do you KNOW your boss's laptop isn't the problem? Did you take the external drive and plug it into a DIFFERENT working desktop PC or laptop and repeat the test as I asked you? What was the result? You basically restated your problem in response to the Post I gave you, without trying anything...

Did you scan for viruses on the external drive?
Did you run the WD diagnostic on that external drive I suggested? (WD Drive Utilities for Windows).

Please re-read my Post. This information and troubleshooting Guide I compiled is information I normally charge $50-$100 US for and you are getting it free. If you are going to ask for help, we'd appreciate it if you would at least try to follow our instructions. We can't help you unless you help us to help you!!

<<<BBJ>>>

 

What was the result of the Hard Drive test? And the result of the RAM stick test?

This is a very incomplete answer you provided us. If the file failed to play/read on a different computer, then that hard drive has most likely failed and it must be replaced. You mentioned also that you could not backup files to/from that drive on your Boss's laptop. That's another indication of failure.

If the Hard Drive and RAM tests passed, that drive could still be bad. You should consider taking it to your local Computer repair shop and having a Data Recovery done on to get whatever you can off of it. This would cost from $40-$120 US here. If your local Computer Tech can not get anything off of that drive, it will then need to get sent out to very very expensive professional Data Recovery. This can cost upwards of $550 US. Will your Boss be willing to spend that much to get that media file you are having problems with recovered from that drive to his internal drive on the laptop via DVD or USB? Does he have other files in his Library folders that he also needs back? You will probably need to ask him if the other stuff he has especially documents and photos are important enough to him that he would be willing to pay for these Data Recovery services.

At this point, you've exhausted home testing methods and I wouldn't try to do anything else on that external drive that could further degrade the file structure that's left. You should purchase him a brand new external drive for his laptop, or tell him to buy one (name brand preferably such as WD or Seagate). Then take the broken drive with his files on it to your local repair shop for initial Data Recovery attempts. This can take a few weeks. If they can retrieve anything off that drive they will provide to you on removable storage media and you can copy it back onto his new replacement external drive and he can continue working.

By the way, did your Boss create that media file or did he download it from the web or save it from an E-mail attachment that someone sent to him? What file format was that file? Does he have backup copies of that file somewhere else? If he does, as a test when you get the new external drive hooked up to his laptop, you should copy the backup copy of the media file and make sure he can play/read it from the new external drive. If that works, you've now fixed his problem!

<<<BBJ>>>