Thanks fiddler2007. I will do that.

So here are the results of my 3 HDDScan tests. http://hddscan.com/
1/ Verify - read data without transfer (no bad sectors).
2/ Read - read data to the host (no bad sectors).
3/ Butterfly - read data to the host with seeks (there was a mass of bad sectors at the very end).

So after seeing such a large number of bad sectors in the 3rd test which seemed out of place compared to the other two tests I checked the drive and Rharv's suggestion appeared (the drive light was off). So I guess the drive shut down during the Butterfly test. I plugged the drive in again and it is fine at the moment.

So I guess I buy a new drive today :-) Well I have a bit of a happy emotional problem so it should be :-(

I think what I will do is I will keep the new one unplugged except when in use. Hopefully that will make it last longer than 2.5 years (I registered it July 27th 2016).

Thanks guys, I learned a lot of new useful things and probably a few others did too so they know how to deal with this. If anyone has a similar problem but finding the solution is more complex maybe this link will help.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/external-drive-not-recognized-this-is-how-to-fix-it-in-windows/

Regards,
John

P.S. I am wondering which way I should load the new drive (downloads, copy from old drive, copy from one of my backups). I guess it makes sense to copy from one of my backups for three reasons. 1/ it will be the fastest, 2/ it might be most likely to be good and 3/ since that way I can test my backup. I will leave myself a reminder as to where I loaded it from. Another option might be to use this drive until it stops completely then do one of those choices.

Last edited by bowlesj; 01/22/19 04:47 AM.
John Bowles
My playing in my 20s:
https://www.reverbnation.com/johnbowles