SSD does not initialize and does not appear on "This PC"

I have an issue with an SSD (Samsung 850 evo 250 Gb) that I removed from an old PC and I wanted to use it as external SSD. This was the main SSD of the older PC, where C:\ partition was, and on which an OS is installed (Windows 8.1). I did not format the SSD beforehand, and this is likely the root of my issues. When I try to connect the SSD to my new laptop (Microsoft Surface Book 2) with an USB cable the SSD does not show up on “This PC”.

The main problem that I can think of is that now there would be two partitions labeled as “C:\”, and somehow “C” cannot be automatically relabeled by Windows 10.

To see if I could see the SSD in the BIOS, I connected the SSD while the laptop was turned off, and then I turned it on. However, W10 got stuck at the initial logo, probably due to boot issues related to the “double C:\” presence.

Finally, I noticed that the SSD does show up only in device manager, listed among the other internal storage media. If I open Disk Management, after approximately 15 minutes recognizes the SSD as unallocated and not initialized Disk. (Disk 3 in the screenshot attached).

disk management screenshot

However, I am unable to initialize it (as GPT or MBR) since I get the error:

“The request could not be performed because of an I/O error”.

The related Windows Log event is: VDS fails to write boot code on a disk during clean operation. Error code: 8007045D@02070008

 <Event xmlns=""> <System> <Provider Name="Virtual Disk Service" /> <EventID Qualifiers="49664">10</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>0</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2020-01-11T17:15:00.383873600Z" /> <EventRecordID>10732</EventRecordID> <Channel>System</Channel> <Computer>XXX</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>8007045D@02070008</Data> </EventData> </Event>

I also tried by launching diskpart from the prompt and execute the following commands:

list disk
select disk
clean

which were successful. However, when I type

convert gpt

or

create partition primary

I get the same I/O error.

Do you have any tips on how to solve this problem considering that I do not have the old laptop anymore?

Thank you very much!

UPDATE: I re-inserted the SSD in my old laptop (directly in the second hard-drive bay, so directly with the SATA connection to the motherboard, and not as main hard drive anymore), and it was perfectly recognized. I was able to convert it to GPT and format it (NTFS). Therefore, I thought it was a cable problem, and I bought a hard-drive box for SSDs and new cable .

However, when re-connected it with the new cable (SATA-USB) to the new laptop, the issue was again there: visible only in Disk Management as unallocated space, to be initialized. The initialization failed with the same I/O error as reported before. I tried also to connect it to a third laptop, and the issue was exactly the same.

Can it be possible that the problem is present when the SSD is connected through a USB connection and not through the SATA? However, I would probably exclude a cable problem since I tried already two different ones.

2 Answers

The problem is certainly not related to the drive lettering as each Windows installation keeps track of drive letters on its own - connecting a C: drive from one PC to another PC will not cause that drive to conflict with the PC's original C: drive.

If the drive was working properly when removed from the old PC, the issue is most likely with your "USB cable" you mentioned. I'm assuming this is a SATA SSD - if possible, it may be worthwhile to install the SSD directly into a desktop PC to test it (SATA cable directly to the motherboard) instead of using your USB adapter for it. Alternatively, purchase a new USB to SATA adapter that has good ratings and test it with that.

If a new adapter and/or trying it in a desktop PC doesn't work, odds are that the drive was corrupted in such a way that it is going to be impossible or nearly impossible to use.

Update: As the question mentioned, the drive was from a laptop. A new USB adapter did NOT solve the issue. In this case, the laptop had a drive encryption security feature that was enabled and preventing the drive from being used in another PC.

In this SSD there was a Drive Lock password set. The same hold for the other HHD that now it is used for the boot of my old laptop. Therefore, I could not discover it until I checked that in the BIOS.

When connected through the SATA-USB cable, it was impossible to spot since the SSD was not even initialized in the laptop where the Drive Lock has been set. Once the Drive Lock password has been removed, the SSD worked as it should.