I got this error yesterday on my WD Elements 500gb. I found fixes, but most cases they can Initialise. Tried disk warrior, it wont read my drive partition nor Disk utility. Any hopes to resurrect this drive?
Could you try to open the enclosure, take the HDD out and try and connect it to another SATA to USB connector or a HDD dock?
You are the proud owner of one of those low cost drives that have the USB controller built right into the drive. No SATA or IDE connector at all.
Try to find another Mac or PC to see if you can resurrect this drive with the USB connection.
As I see it, the HDD has an USB port directly attached to it? That USB port is accessible through a hole in the HDD's enclosure right?
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Plus the "golden" connector looks like a sort of IDE connection. There are probably IDE to USB convertors out there (given that the data on the HDD is important enough for the effort, of course).
I'd call that one a lost cause. Looks like WD only gives a 1-year warranty on Elements drives, so if it's older than that I'd toss it and get a new one.
Warranty can run a wide range so keep that in mind when you're looking for a replacement, just in the WD line you can get as little as one year or as much as five. My Passport Elite and some My Passport Studio drives give 5 years, some Studio drives get 3 years. Here's the chart:
http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp
As I see it, the HDD has an USB port directly attached to it? That USB port is accessible through a hole in the HDD's enclosure right?
Does it show up in Disk Utility?
You can format (aka initialize) it from Disk Utility, then: Just select the hard drive and go to the Erase tab, give it a name and click Erase.
The HDD is dead. Asked about it to a pro and they said its a bad sector inside.
A pro?
A bad sector does not mean it is a bad hard drive. Hard drives are designed to account for bad sectors and will avoid them with writing and reading data. Additionally a hard drive with a bad sector can still be formatted and the bad sector will be recorded so that it no longer get written to.
Again I ask, a pro?
I am surprised they didn't open it and try to remove the bad sector.