Drive letter for USB disk gone after destructive test

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Bluesbr
Posts: 2
Joined: 2021.11.16. 17:15

Drive letter for USB disk gone after destructive test

Post by Bluesbr »

Hi,

I've used the destructive write test on a USB disk, after the read test discovered 9 damaged and 19 bad sectors.
After the destructive write test was complete, it showed all good.
But the drive letter for the disk is gone after the destructive test, so I can't access the disk. However, HD Sentinel has still access to the disk and I performed a read test, which gave a result of zero problems.
I've tried to connect the disk to another computer, but with no luck. I use Windows 7 and HD Sentinel version 5.5, registered to Giveawayoftheday.

Any idea how I can get my drive letter back?
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hdsentinel
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Re: Drive letter for USB disk gone after destructive test

Post by hdsentinel »

Yes, I can confirm that this is normal and expected: the destructive write test clears all sectors, including the data area and the Master Boot Record / partition table too.

After that, you need to create a new partition and format it:

1) please open a file browser dialog of Windows and right click on "This PC".
2) Select Manage
3) in the new window, under Storage section, please select Disk Management

Probably it will immediately show that there is a disk to be initialised: you can select the drive (the USB disk drive in this case) to create a new partition and then format it.
As you used the tests to reveal/stabilize possible issues, the quick format is completely perfect and enough to be used.

After this, a new drive letter will be available to read/write.
Bluesbr
Posts: 2
Joined: 2021.11.16. 17:15

Re: Drive letter for USB disk gone after destructive test

Post by Bluesbr »

Thanks a lot for your instructions! It worked.
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