I'm using a 2TB Crucial X9 Pro external SSD on my Windows 11 laptop (an MSI GP66 Leopard 11UG), and I've run into a serious issue. It was working fine until yesterday when it suddenly became inaccessible while I was watching YouTube. Now, when I connect it, File Explorer sees it as D: Local Disk, but I can't access it—File Explorer even freezes when I try. The SSD's activity light is constantly blinking, which I assume means it's trying to read/write, but when I unplug it, everything speeds back up.
I've already tried a bunch of troubleshooting steps:
- Restarting my laptop
- Switching USB ports and using different cables
- Connecting it to another PC with the same issues
- Attempting to access Disk Management, which freezes when the SSD is plugged in
- Running a chkdsk command from the command prompt but no repairs succeeded
- Power cycling and letting it sit in BIOS for a while
- Using Crucial Storage Executive software, which also freezes when trying to access it.
It seems like the drive might be corrupted. If formatting is the only option, I'm okay with that, but I'm not sure how to format since Disk Management won't work. The warranty is still valid, so I might consider getting a replacement if it's too far gone. Any help would be appreciated!
1 Answer
You might want to give Diskpart a shot from the command line. It can sometimes access drives when Disk Management can’t. Just search online for basic Diskpart commands to view your volumes. If that doesn't work, the drive might've been damaged somehow—like by being near a magnet. Fingers crossed it's just a minor issue!
Tried Diskpart and it worked! Thanks a lot!