“Has anyone encountered the ‘Fatal Device Hardware Error’ on Windows? My external drive stopped working and shows this error. I’ve tried basic troubleshooting like reconnecting, but no luck. Any suggestions for fixing this or recovering data would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!”
Have you checked our knowledge base articles?
(Get Support for Your SSDs and Flash Products | SanDisk)
Try this one.
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If not, contact SanDisk Technical Support for assistance.
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The “Fatal Device Hardware Error” usually indicates a serious issue with the external drive or its connection. You can try basic troubleshooting like switching USB ports, cables, or running a disk check (CHKDSK). I am also attaching the blog post for your reference.
Thank you so much for the help.
I’ve encountered a similar issue before, and it was pretty frustrating. The complete error message I received was:
“Location is not available
X: is not accessible.
The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error.”
One method from this blog helped me resolve the issue, and it might be useful for you too.
Regarding data recovery, if your budget allows and the data is critical, I’d recommend reaching out to a professional data recovery service.
