Summary: The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error is one of the most common hard drive error usually seen while transferring or copying files. If the errors pops up on your screen, this means your OS will no longer be able to perform any operations on the drive and turns the drive inaccessible.
The Article helps you to fix the error request failed due to fatal device hardware error. And guides you to recover data from the inaccessible or unreadable drives.
What is Fatal Device Hardware Error?
The error request failed due to fatal device hardware usually occurs when the hard drive or SSD drive is severely damaged or corrupted. Due to corruption on the drive, operating system will be unable to access or complete read/write operations on it. The error also can be seen on removable disks such as external hard disks, USB or SD cards.
What causes the error ‘The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error’?
This error fatal device hardware error is most commonly encountered in the below mentioned scenarios:
- When you use the faulty hard drive cable. The data cannot be transferred and hence the computer throws the error message.
- When there are bad sectors in the disk. As mentioned earlier corruption are the main causes behind the fatal hard drive error.
It is always recommended to keep a backup of your data before trying the methods to fix any of the errors. If you fail to take a backup, recover the data from the hard drive and move on to the next section.
How to fix the external hard drive the request failed due to a fatal device hardware error?
To fix error request failed due to a fatal device hardware, follow the below mentioned basic troubleshooting methods:
- Use different USB cables and try connecting the device to the computer.
- Try plugging the hard drive to another computer and check if it gets detected.
- Update the drivers to fix the fatal hardware error
Even after changing the USB cables or updating the driver you encounter the error on external drives stating request failed due to fatal error, go to the below mentioned methods.
Use SMART attributes to verify the hard drive
Windows Management Instrumentation Command-Line(WMIC) is a Windows inbuilt feature that analyzes the hard drive or SSD and verifies all parameters by performing minor operations.
- Right click on the Start button, Select command prompt
- Now again, right-click on the application and select Run as administrator
- Execute the following command: wmic diskdrive get status
- If the output is normal as shown in the picture above, you can move towards the methods to fix the fatal hard drive errors on the external drives.
Note: If the results of analysis are ‘Bad’, ‘Caution’, or ‘Unknown’, it probably means that there is some serious error. In such situation, you should recover your data as a first priority. And try to replace the drive.
Run CHKDSK command
CHKDSK is the command that fixes minor errors that cause trouble in the hard drives. In this case of The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error is due to the mapping of the hard drive, the command completely scans the hard drive.
Follow the steps as mentioned in the method 1 and execute the below given command to fix the fatal hard drive error.
Note: If the utility encounters any bad sectors or memory, those blocks are shifted to a ‘no-access’ zone. Hence, the files that are shifted to no access zone will no longer be read by the user. In such cases, try recovering data from the bad sector hard drive and execute the command.
CHKDSK [volume [[path] filename]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/C] [: size]]
Where, [/F] will attempt at fixing system errors and [/R] will attempt at fixing bad sectors.
If you are asked to run CHKDSK after a restart, press Y and reboot your computer.
Run the Error Checking Tool
If CHKDSK fails to locate the errors, you can try to fix the fatal hard drive errors using the Error checking tool. Follow the steps to run the tool:
- Go to My computer, right-click on the drive and click Properties.
- Next, click on the tab Tools and select Check under Error checking.
- Now wait for the process to complete and reboot your computer.
Format the Drive to fix the fatal hard drive error
In most cases, formatting will fix the trouble causing errors. Since the error the request failed due to fatal device hardware occurs in portable hard drives, formatting will surely fix the error.
Important caution: Formatting the drive will wipe off the data from the hard drives. Hence, it is always recommended to take a back up of the data but in this case, drive itself is inaccessible.
If you are wondering how to recover data and fix fatal device hardware error, do not worry, you can easily recover data from the corrupt external hard drive without a data loss.
SFWare hard drive recovery tool is the most recommended tool to recover data from the inaccessible or unreadable drives. The tool works efficiently and recovers data from any error causing external drive. The scanning algorithm of the tool scans the entire drive sector by sector to restore back the data. Download now and try it for free now..
Now, you can format the drive without any fear, to format the drive, Press Windows + E. Right-click on the drive and select Format.
Note: Uncheck the Quick format option and format your drive properly. After the complete formatting, unplug the drive, plug it again and verify if the error exists or not.
Even After performing all the above mentioned methods if the error still persists, consider replacing your hard drive.
Conclusion
Although the fatal hard drive errors are inevitable sometimes, you can easily try to fix the error with the help of the methods explained in the article. It is always rewarding to take a back up of the data before executing any steps to fix the drive, if you have failed to take a backup, do not worry, with the help of SFWare hard drive recovery tool you can restore your data back on the drive.
