Issues with my Western Digital drive

Hey there,
I've got a few external drives lying around, but I'm starting to run into some real trouble with my 1TB Western Digital.
Basically, after my last big binge-watch session where I loaded up a bunch of series, I was left with only about 50GB of free space (is that actually cutting it too close?)
That’s when things went sideways... the most recent shows I saved started stuttering, and eventually, they just froze up entirely with a CRC error message.😢
The usual CHKDSK tricks haven't done a damn thing. I ran CHKDSK/R for something like 30 hours straight, but it was totally useless.
I also have this other 2TB Western Digital drive, and so far, it's just throwing errors saying it can't create any new folders for reasons known only to itself, even though it should have about 900GB of breathing room.
I did a little digging online and stumbled upon two programs: Norton Utilities and CHKDSK's old rival, HDD Regenerator.

Now, people everywhere seem to swear by Norton Utilities, and it's sitting at around $90, but... every time I try to download it via torrent and make a bootable floppy or CD, my computer just shuts itself off. The only USB stick it actually recognized as a removable drive failed me, so I couldn't even attempt a USB boot. I can't seem to find a demo version anywhere; it looks like you have to pay upfront just to see if it works??

Then there's HDD Regenerator, which is looking like it costs me $100. It does have a demo version that runs a scan, which is supposedly able to fix bad sectors... or at least, it hits the first one it finds before it stops asking for money.😁

So, how much do bad sectors actually have to do with CRC errors?
Has anyone here actually used either of these two, or—God forbid—do you know of something similar that's actually free? 🤣

Run a scan on the drive using this tool: http://hddscan.com/

If the S.M.A.R.T. report comes back clean, then yeah—your data is just corrupted. You’ll need to wipe those files, run a defrag on the drive, and then copy them back over. Honestly, you can't "fix" a CRC error—once that happens, the data triggering the error is basically junk anyway. And hey, leaving 1 or 2 GB of space empty is plenty; it's not like you're trying to leave 50 GB empty, so don't sweat it too much.

As for that folder issue, go ahead and check the drive's properties—specifically the security tab—to make sure your user account actually has full read/write permissions. Or, if you want my two cents, it could just be some nasty virus making a mess of things.

I have to say, CHKDSK is honestly an incredible tool. I remember helping a buddy out with his laptop once when his John Doe was struggling with about 40 bad sectors, and it was looking pretty grim. But CHKDSK managed to track down every single one of those errors and fix them right up, and that same drive is still running perfectly in that same laptop to this very day.

If macOS is running and can read that John Doe, you can bypass the OS and run Disk Utility on that drive or partition instead.
It will find all bad sectors and mark them properly. Unless there are too many, in which case nothing can fix it.
It’s much faster than using Unix or anything similar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwjhnfWPOzs

Large drives should be split into smaller partitions, like E: 300GB, F: 300GB, etc.
That way, if one partition fails, you only deal with that one without wasting time on the rest.
You can find CHKDSK for free if you look, but I wouldn't bother. macOS does the same thing, just significantly faster—if you know how to use it.

Most times, a John Doe fails at the beginning. If you isolate that section, the remaining 90% might still work fine for years.
If the John Doe actually crashes, throw it in the trash. Those platters are beyond repair.

Best regards,
B. W.

Here goes Sandra Cook60 again with her incomprehensible rambling and advice that honestly doesn't make any sense at all. Seriously, can you explain to me how anyone is supposed to fix bad sectors on a drive using tools built into macOS? Please, let's try to keep this in plain English for once!

Look, sure, CHKDSK exists, but it’s pretty basic—honestly, it’s kind of unreliable—so you’re probably better off skipping it. You never really know what it actually did, or if it even did anything at all, because those logs start lying the second things get messy. 😁

Benjamin King2, that’s exactly my point. If CHKDSK actually did its job properly, nobody would be spending their hard-earned money on HDD Regenerator.

I just got this error message. Does this mean my IBM is dead?

"An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any devices that don't contain an operating system."

The IBM isn't even showing up under the Boot options in the BIOS anymore.

Maybe start by double-checking all your connections—specifically the cable going to the motherboard and the power cable plugged into the drive itself. I’d suggest pulling them out and plugging them back in just to be sure.

When you boot up the PC, try listening closely to the drive to see if the platters are actually spinning, or maybe just put your hand on it. If you don't feel any vibration at all, then yeah... it's probably safe to say the drive is dead.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that part. Every time I boot up my computer, I hear this noise right at the start.

Thanks for the tip, I got it sorted out.

Turns out a tiny little cable was unplugged. Barely even noticed it.