Cannot access a disk containing data without reinitializing it

Question

My ~1 year old 1TB My Passport is not recognized by Windows anymore; see the following screenshot.

Windows asks to “reinitialize” it before being able to use it, however, since the disk contains important data without any back ups, I do not want to reinitialize and lose access to data.

I tried accessing the disk with Diskpart, it shows the following.

DISKPART> detail disk
WD My Passport 2626 USB Device
Disk ID: 00000000
Type   : USB
Status : Online
Path   : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : UNAVAILABLE
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : No
Pagefile Disk  : No
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : No
Clustered Disk  : No
There are no volumes.

I tried accessing the external disk using a few recovery tools, however, all the recovery tools failed to even “see” the disk.

I tried accessing it on my macbook. macOS Finder and Disk Utility also failed to see the device, I was only able to list the device using the following command.

% ioreg -p IOUSB
+-o Root  ...
  +-o AppleUSBXHCI ...
  | +-o Apple ...
  | +-o ...
  |   +-o USB2.0 Hub  ...
  |   +-o USB 2.0 BILLBOARD  ...
  +-o AppleUSBXHCI Root Hub Simulation@01000000  ...
    +-o USB3.0 Hub ...
      +-o USB3.0 Hub  ...
      | +-o My Passport 2626@01212000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100002180, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (1 ms), retain 12>
      +-o ...
      +-o ...

Hence, there are only a very few options that can “show” the device, and many other tools, including the recovery tools do not even “see” the device hence they cannot initiate any recovery options on it.

I am under the impression that the MBR of the device is corrupt, and I was wondering how I can recover it given that all the numerous recovery tools I tried do not even “see” this device.

Edit 1

This post contains useful points for making back ups and trying to recover data; however, I tried most tools referenced in that post and they all fail to even "see" the external drive (i.e., they did not even recognize there is external drive connected). For instance:

R-Studio lists the disk, but all options are grayed-out so I cannot use the tool to create an image of the disk.
EASEUS from the v5.3.9 of Ultimate Boot CD does not even list the disk so I cannot copy the disk sector-by-sector.
SMARTUDM (viewer 2.00) does not even list the disk.

Edit 2

The drive spins up, albeit with an strange sounds for the first few seconds, then spins regularly.
I tried different cables, ports, and computers: all with the same symptoms.
The drive does not have any physical signs of damage/drop.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · 2024-08-20T14:04:54.703

It is unlikely initialize will even work. The drive is probably 'done for' as far as DIY methods are concerned. This is the give-away:

Disk Management is not correctly displaying the drive

In general if Disk Management does not show the storage device with correct physical capacity, there's a problem with this device which will prevent access. It's indicative for the device not responding correctly to a command to ID itself.

Reason for the device appearing at all is due to the fact that the USB bridge built in to external drives is configured to report itself as storage device.

In case of purely logical issues, like a corrupt partition table, the storage device will still display correct capacity:

Possible reasons for the device not ID-ing correctly

Problem with enclosure logic board
Electrical problem causing drive not to spin up (For a drive to ID it needs access to platters), see below for possible DIY
Firmware issue (drive firmware)
Mechanical failure

It's wise to leave proper diagnose to a specialized data recovery lab.

DIY type diagnostics:

Try different cable, port, PC
Listen: does drive spin up without abnormal sounds
Verify if drive can operate on 5v or if it needs external power

If drive spins and cables, ports seem fine, there's most likely an issue you can not solve yourself.

No spin, DIY

If the drive does not spin, you can hear and feel this, it may be worth checking component failure using a multi meter, and replacing failed components with component from a donor, or sometimes even only removing failed components.

Sometimes failed components can be determined by the touch (excessive heat) or continuity test using a multimeter.

For example a TVS diode may be simply removed or a 'fuse' can be bridged.

More information: https://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=86

Example of broken fuse (video): https://youtu.be/TsQP5AjVvsw

Example broken TVS diode (video): https://youtu.be/2YZ0LBhFCZY