External HDD suddenly stopped working

Question

I am using Ubuntu 16.04 (dual boot with Windows 10). Today, I wanted to use one of my external Hard Disks (WD - My Book Essential) but no partition appeared.

It seems the device is being detected, but neither OS can recognize partitions in it. (99% I am sure it was NTFS).

$ ls /dev/sdb*
/dev/sdb

$ sudo fsck.nfs /dev/sdb
/dev/sdb: NFS file system.

$ sudo mount /dev/sdb /mnt -t auto
mount: /dev/sdb: can't read superblock

$ sudo mount /dev/sdb /mnt -t ntfs-3g 
Failed to read bootsector (size=0)
Failed to mount '/dev/sdb': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sdb' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?

$ parted -l /dev/sdb
                        <<<< returns nothing
$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   350M  0 part 
├─sda2   8:2    0 117.2G  0 part 
├─sda3   8:3    0   466M  0 part 
├─sda4   8:4    0     1K  0 part 
├─sda5   8:5    0 779.3G  0 part 
├─sda6   8:6    0  26.3G  0 part /
└─sda7   8:7    0   7.9G  0 part [SWAP]
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  

$ dmesg | tail -30
[ 5276.984581] ses 6:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 13
[ 5276.985126] ses 6:0:0:1: Wrong diagnostic page; asked for 1 got 0
[ 5276.985133] ses 6:0:0:1: Failed to get diagnostic page 0xffffffea
[ 5276.985137] ses 6:0:0:1: Failed to bind enclosure -19
[ 5276.989163] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[ 5276.989483] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[ 5276.989491] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 5276.992708] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[ 5328.311463] usb 4-2: USB disconnect, device number 4
[ 5340.934431] usb 4-2: new SuperSpeed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[ 5340.950757] usb 4-2: LPM exit latency is zeroed, disabling LPM.
[ 5340.951456] usb 4-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=1130
[ 5340.951463] usb 4-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 5340.951467] usb 4-2: Product: My Book 1130
[ 5340.951470] usb 4-2: Manufacturer: Western Digital
[ 5340.951473] usb 4-2: SerialNumber: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
[ 5340.951812] usb-storage 4-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 5340.952206] scsi host7: usb-storage 4-2:1.0
[ 5343.990579] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WD       My Book 1130     1014 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[ 5343.991228] scsi 7:0:0:1: Enclosure         WD       SES Device       1014 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[ 5343.992376] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 5343.992534] ses 7:0:0:1: Attached Enclosure device
[ 5343.993104] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[ 5343.993438] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[ 5343.993443] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 5343.993928] ses 7:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 13
[ 5343.996014] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[ 5343.997075] ses 7:0:0:1: Wrong diagnostic page; asked for 1 got 0
[ 5343.997081] ses 7:0:0:1: Failed to get diagnostic page 0xffffffea
[ 5343.997085] ses 7:0:0:1: Failed to bind enclosure -19

$ sudo ntfsfix -d -b /dev/sdb 
Mounting volume... Failed to read bootsector (size=0)
FAILED
Attempting to correct errors... Failed to read bootsector (size=0)
FAILED
Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument
Failed to read bootsector (size=0)
Unrecoverable error
Volume is corrupt. You should run chkdsk.

$ sudo dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/null count=1
0+0 records in
0+0 records out
0 bytes copied, 0.000143676 s, 0.0 kB/s

$ sudo badblocks -b 4096 -c 4096 -s /dev/sdb
badblocks: invalid starting block (0): must be less than 0

$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdb
smartctl 6.5 2016-01-24 r4214 [x86_64-linux-4.4.0-59-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-16, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

Read Device Identity failed: scsi error no medium present

A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T permissive' options.

I used testdisk as well. It didn't recognize my external HDD.

I tried in Windows as well. In Disk Management it shows the disk needs to be initialized (which can end in losing my data).

As far as I understanding, I am not facing a serious hardware defect. But also cannot figure out what is the exact problem. I would prefer to avoid going for costly process of recovery in case I can manage it myself (with your help)

How should I solve this problem?

Solution

I took the hard disk for repair. As I could guess (based on the result of my test, mentioned in the question) there was no problem on hard disk itself but on the electronic boards.

The problem was solved by replacing the board with a new one.

Now, I can access all my data on the hard disk with no problem.

I hope this be helpful for others who might face with the same problem.

Comments

[Terrance]

What does parted -l /dev/sdb return?

[Mostafa Ahangarha]

it returns nothing

[Terrance]

There might not be any partition on the drive. You might need to look into Data Recovery then something like TestDisk.

[Mostafa Ahangarha]

I will try TestDisk. Will be back with the result. Tnx

[Mostafa Ahangarha]

TestDisk doesn't detect my HDD. It only shows /dev/sda.

[Terrance]

It can be installed into Windows too. Try from there. If not, you might be looking at a bad enclosure or a bad drive itself.

[Admin]

If the drive used to work but suddenly doesn't in both OSes it's clearly hardware related. As above, a bad enclosure or a bad drive inside -or- the USB port itself. The usual troubleshooting is testing other ports and/or in another computer if available.

[David Foerster]

Looks like a hardware failure on the site of the external drive or its enclosure. Possible duplicate of How do I check the integrity of a storage medium (hard disk or flash drive)?

[Mostafa Ahangarha]

The problem is not solved yet. I don't know who has suggested it to be closed!?

[Mostafa Ahangarha]

I don't think this question was off-topic. It didn't solve on its own, and it can happen to anybody else as well. I think the info I provided can be used by others to know their problem is something deeper than something can be solved programmatically. It was a sign of hardware issue.

[Pablo Bianchi]

I fixed with Gnome DIsks repair option.

[Mostafa Ahangarha]

Tnx. but as I said, I couldn't get access to partitions, so how could I solve the problem using any GUI or terminal application to fix the problem? I think my problem was different from the one you answered to.