Initialize disk says "incorrect function" and doesn't show up under my computer

Nic E 1 Reputation point
2022-07-13T08:08:16.877+00:00

I have an external 3.5" HDD disk connected with a Sabrent SATA docking station.

When I go to Computer Management, Disk Management, it shows "unknown" under Disk 2 in addition to 'not initialized'.

When I right-click on the disk and choose Initialize Disk with the option MBR, I get an error "Incorrect Function".

I have tried it on my laptop as well as my desktop. Also tried multiple USB ports.

220305-disk-management.png

220276-disk-part.png

Any help is appreciated!

Windows Hardware Performance
Windows Hardware Performance
Windows: A family of Microsoft operating systems that run across personal computers, tablets, laptops, phones, internet of things devices, self-contained mixed reality headsets, large collaboration screens, and other devices.Hardware Performance: Delivering / providing hardware or hardware systems or adjusting / adapting hardware or hardware systems.
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  1. S.Sengupta 16,771 Reputation points MVP
    2022-07-18T01:55:08.137+00:00

    There may be wrong with the hard drives connection cable. You should adjust the drives connection cable and try to initialize it again.

    You may need to rebuild your MBR table with the help of a third party application, like AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard


  2. kamran haid 0 Reputation points
    2023-11-24T23:42:33.3066667+00:00

    how i select final srep disk formatinor disk delete

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  3. Gastón Viarengo 0 Reputation points
    2024-04-02T22:15:32.13+00:00

    I have a similar problem and couldn't find a workaround. When adding a second disk to my laptop, it appears as "Unknown" and "Not initialized" on Windows Disk Manager, and got an "Incorrect function" error when trying to initialize it. However, I can successfully see it when plugging it to an external carry disk case. I don't have that issue with other HDD, so it's not a problem with the connector. Fortunately, I don't have any data on it. The information about my disk on Diskpart is:

    DISKPART> detail disk
    
    Disk ID: 00000000
    Type : SATA
    Status : Online
    Path : 0
    Target : 0
    LUN ID : 0
    Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1700)#ATA(C00T00L00)
    Current Read-only State : Yes
    Read-only : Yes
    Boot Disk : No
    Pagefile Disk : No
    Hibernation File Disk : No
    Crashdump Disk : No
    Clustered Disk : No
    
    There are no volumes.
    

    Could you give me any help or suggestions on how to proceed? Thank you!

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