"Resolving External Hard Drive Not Initialized, I/O Device Error"

Overview: External hard drive uninitiated I/O error

Here are some known reasons why a hard drive or external hard drive might show up as "Unknown" or "Not initialized" on your computer:

• Virus attack
• Bad sectors
• Lost partitions
• Corrupted file system
• Damaged Master Boot Record (MBR)

Symptoms of "Uninitialized Disk":

1. 1. The hard drive is displayed as "Unknown," uninitialized, and has unallocated space.
2. 2. The hard drive is shown as "Unknown," uninitialized, without any information about the available space.

"I/O error" refers to an input/output error, which typically occurs in computer systems and signifies a problem when attempting to read or write data. This issue might be caused by hardware failures, file corruption, incorrect device connectivity, or driver problems.

An "Input/Output Device Error" refers to an error that occurs when Windows is unable to perform input/output operations (such as reading or copying data) while attempting to access a drive or disk. It can happen with various types of hardware devices or media.

To fix the "Disk Unknown, Not Initialized" error on an external hard drive, you should first initialize the disk as GPT or MBR. Some people have succeeded, but others fail with the subsequent error message "The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error."

That's how you get two consecutive error messages combined. When the disk initialization fails and you're stuck with another foreign I/O error, where do you turn? This page is aimed at resolving the [External Hard Drive Uninitialized I/O Error].

Part 1: Recover Unknown Uninitialized I/O Error Data from External Hard Drive

Initializing the disk itself won't cause data loss or damage, so it's safe to initialize it to its normal state if it shows up as “Unknown” and uninitialized.

Initialize a hard drive in Windows Disk Management:

Step 1. Connect an uninitialized external hard drive, HDD, or other storage device to your computer.

Step 2. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog, type in diskmgmt.msc, and press Enter.

Step 3: Right-click on the uninitialized external hard drive with I/O device error and select Initialize Disk.

Step 4: Then set the disk initialization and format the disk as either MBR or GPT.

This time, however, it's different: you can't initialize the disk due to an I/O error. As such, you must take the less direct route and perform repairs outside of initialization. Doing so risks data loss, so it's wise to attempt to recover data from the inaccessible external drive before proceeding to Part 2 of this troubleshooting guide.

"Data Recovery Wizard" is a famous data recovery tool that can recover various types of files such as images, raw images, and documents from multiple storage devices, as long as the hard drive can be detected by Windows. If the hard drive is not showing up or getting recognized in Disk Management, try making it visible.

Recover Data from External Hard Drive with I/O Error

Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to your computer with the right USB cable. Run Disk Drill and you'll see your external disk under “External Drives.” The software supports all popular external hard drive brands, including WD, Seagate, Toshiba, LaCie, SanDisk, Samsung, and more.

Select your external hard drive and click the “Scan” button.

< strong > Step 2: As the scan progresses, the software will find more and more of your lost and deleted data, displaying it in the scan results. The recovered data is well organized. You can quickly locate your target files/folders by file type, or search for an exact file name in the search box.

Step 3. You can preview the files found by the scanning algorithm of the Data Recovery Wizard. Then, select the files and click “Recover”. To avoid overwriting your data, we recommend saving the recovered data to a different drive than the original Seagate one.

Part 2: Fix External Hard Drive Initialization Failed with I/O Device Error

You can solve the annoying issue and fix the uninitialized I/O error on external hard drive via: [1] replacing the cable, [2] repairing corrupted MBR, [3] using DiskPart commands, and [4] removing viruses from PC/laptop.

Solutions 2 and 4 have detailed instructions on the relevant pages, so we'll provide you with the step-by-step guide to clean your external hard drive with DiskPart. As the CMD command will wipe all data from an uninitialized hard drive, if you haven't recovered your data beforehand, head to Part 1, where you can restore your lost data after fixing the uninitialized external hard drive error with the DiskPart command.

Using DiskPart to clean up an external hard drive:

Step 1. Press Win+R, type diskpart, and press Enter.

Step 2: Type list disk, and press Enter.

Step 3. Type: select disk n and press Enter; (replace n with the drive letter of your uninitialized external hard drive.)

Step 4. Type clean, and press .

Step 5: Type either convert gpt or convert mbr, and press Enter.

Step 6. Type create partition primary and press Enter.

Step 7. Type format quick fs=ntfs and press Enter.

Step 8. Type assign and press Enter.

Step 9. Type exit and press the Enter key.

Here, click to copy all the necessary command lines to fix the uninitialized I/O error on external hard drive with the full error message “The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.”

FAQs on "External Hard Drive Not Initialized" I/O Error

After reading the full passage, you can find more questions and answers about this error in this section:

How do I fix an uninitialized and unallocated disk issue?

You can resolve the disk unknown not initialized issue by trying the following methods:

1. Initialize the disk directly. 2. Recover data from the hard drive and create a new volume. 3. Utilize a third-party partition recovery tool. 4. Check the hard drive connections. 5. Verify disk driver updates. 6. Perform manual repairs.

Will formatting an external hard drive erase the data?

When you connect a new hard drive to your computer, the system prompts you to initialize it first. Will initializing a hard drive delete data? Initializing a disk won't alter the MBR partition table sector. So, initializing a hard drive won't delete any data. However, you'll lose data if you proceed with formatting.

How to recover data after initializing an external hard drive?

You can download the tool Data Recovery Wizard to recover data after initializing external hard drive.

1. Launch this data recovery tool, select your external hard drive, and scan it. 2. Filter files and folders. 3. Click “ Recover ” to retrieve each file you want.

Should I initialize my external hard drive as MBR or GPT?

When first initializing an external hard drive, choose MBR if the external drive is 2 TB or smaller and you plan to use it. If your external drive is greater than 2 TB and you want to use it but not boot from it, choose GPT.