AOMEI Partition Assistant
The Drive Cannot Find the Sector Requested – Solve it Easily
When "The drive cannot find the sector requested" occurs to your external hard drive, you can try solutions, like deleting unnecessary files and folders, run anti-virus software, run Check Disk utility, etc.
By Bryce / Updated on May 12, 2023
"The drive cannot find the sector requested" error on my hard drive
“My Seagate external hard drive is not showing up in my Explorer after it is connected to my Windows 10 computer. I open Disk Management and find that it is not initialized and unallocated. Then, I try to initialize it with MBR but it says “The drive cannot find the sector requested”. I don’t know what occurs and why I can’t initialize my disk. Is there any advice? Thanks in advance!”
Why "The drive cannot find the sector requested" error occurs?
The error mentioned above can occur when you initialize disk, copy files to hard drive and open hard drive, etc. And the reasons that account for it can be complicated and various; here some elements are listed:
▪ Your hard drive doesn’t have enough free space.
▪ The disk is infected with virus.
▪ The hard drive is damaged.
Four fixes for "The drive cannot find the sector requested"
Since the error can be caused by different factors and happen under various conditions, it is wise to take measures respectively.
But no matter what your situation, it is advised to protect your important data on the hard drive at first. If your external hard drive is accessible, you can copy necessary files on it to another place; if your hard drive is inaccessible, you can retrieve data via certain 3rd party data recovery software. Then, you can check out the following solutions for this error.
Fix 1. Delete unnecessary file and folders
When you copy files to a hard drive that is almost fully occupied, the error “The drive cannot find the sector requested” might occur. In such a condition, you can open hard drive, remove needless files and folders from it to reclaim free disk space. Then, the error will disappear.
Fix 2. Run anti-virus software to check your disk
If you have connected your hard drive to an unsafe computer and then the error occurs, the issue can be related to virus infection. You can check whether your disk is infected with virus by running anti-virus software. After get rid of virus, you can use your hard drive normally.
Fix 3. Run Check Disk utility to repair
If this error is caused by bad sectors on your disk, you can run Check Disk utility to scan and repair bad sectors. Refer to the steps given below:
1. Double click This PC in Windows 10 (Computer in Windows 7), right-click the drive that needs repairing, and choose Properties.
2. In the pop-up window, click Tools and click Check under Error checking.
3. Tick Automatically fix file system errors & Scan and attempt recovery of bad sectors. Then, click Start.
Fix 4. Format External hard drive
You can try to fix “The drive cannot find the sector requested” by formatting the external hard drive. To perform format flexibly and effectively, it is recommended to employ a powerful disk formatting tool – AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. It allows you to format a drive with exFAT, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2, Ex3 or Ext4; supports formatting drive beyond 32GB with FAT32 file system, and can format RAW drive.
✍ Free download it and follow the steps given below:
Warning: This operation will erase all data.
1. Install and run it. In the main interface, all disks will be listed; you should right click the partition on external hard drive that you want to format and choose Format Partition.
2. On this screen, choose a file system based on a specific situation.
3. In this window, you can preview the operation. After confirmation, click Apply and Proceed to commit operation.
Note: AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is suitable for Windows 10/8.1/8/7, XP, and Vista; if you are running Windows Server 2019, 2016, 2012 (R2) or 2008 (R2), turn to AOMEI Partition Assistant Server.
