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You don't say which Operating System you use, so my answer will be presented in general, Windows terms. If yours is a non-Windows Operating System and my answer seems to be of some relevance to you, please consider applying the logic and principles involved here to your own Operating System and, if in doubt, please feel free to add a Comment or Clarification to this Question. Please include information about the type, model and specification of your computer and its Operating System. Doing so helps us makes faster, more accurate and more assured Remote Diagnostics leading to better quality and more useful Advice, Answers, Guidelines , How-Tos and Solutions.
I'm assuming it hasn't been dropped or physically knocked. If it has, either or both the Hard Drive inside and the controller mechanism itself could be shock-damaged.
Similarly, overheating can damage either or both.
If it is still under Warranty, return it to the supplier.
If the Warranty has expired, open it to establish whether the Hard Drive inside is intact.
Often the damage is done to the controller board inside by the build up of poorly dissipated heat in many Hard Drive Enclosures.
You lose nothing. If the Hard Drive is either failing or damaged, you need a new Hard Drive and a better ventilated Enclosure anyway. If the Hard Drive is fine, you can carefully select and buy a new, better ventilated Enclosure for the Hard Drive, if the Enclosure is damaged but the Hard Drive fine - new Enclosure. If both Enclosure and Hard Drive are damaged, you need to replace both.
I hope this helps.
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The message "The Request Could Not Be Performed Because of an I/O Device Error" appears when Windows is unable to read the data on a storage device.
If this error message appears when attempting to access the files on an input/output (I/O or IO) device, such as an external hard drive, the file system on the drive could be damaged, the drive could be infected with a virus or the data connector inside the device enclosure could have come loose.
If troubleshooting the drive fails to fix the IO device error, formatting the drive might repair the device.
Connect the external hard drive to the computer.
Run an antivirus program.
Click the "Scan" tab or button, then click "Custom."
Uncheck all items in the list except for the drive letter assigned to the external drive.
Click "OK." Click "Scan" or "Scan Now" to run a virus scan on the hard drive.
Quarantine or remove any infections the virus scanner detects.
Click "Start." Input "cmd.exe" into the search field.
Press "Enter" to open Command Prompt. Input "chkdsk <drive>: /f /r" into Command Prompt.
Replace "<drive>" with the letter assigned to your external hard drive.
Press "Enter" to run CheckDisk on the drive.
CheckDisk will search for and repair detected errors or bad sectors.
Burn the files on the external hard drive to a set of DVDs or move the files to another drive, if possible.
If the IO device error reappears when attempting to move the files, disconnect the external hard drive from the computer.
Remove the power adapter from the drive.
Check the documentation included with the drive for instructions to take the drive apart.
If no instructions are available, contact the manufacturer for instructions or find out if disassembling the drive will void the drive's warranty.
Remove the screws securing the faceplate to the drive or from the edge of the enclosure. Insert the edge of a small, flathead screwdriver in between either side of the enclosure to wedge both sides apart.
Check the connections to the drive.
Confirm that the IDE or SATA interface is plugged into the back of the drive.
Reassemble the external hard drive, reconnect the power adapter and reconnect the drive to the PC.
Attempt to access the files on the drive.
If the IO device error reappears, return to Command Prompt. Input "format /fs:fat32 <drive>:" into the command-line prompt.
Replace "<drive>" with the letter assigned to the external hard drive.
Press "y" when the message "Proceed with Format (Y/N)?" appears.
The process will format the drive, erasing all data on the disk.
If the drive still fails to function after format, you will need to replace the drive.
Hope this helps
Windows 7
First, please disconnect all USB devices and then perform the following steps:
Click "Start" button, type "devmgmt.msc" (without quotation marks) in the "Search" bar and press "Enter". Click "Continue" if necessary.
In Device Manager, double click to expand "Universal Serial Bus controllers", right click on the Host Controller, click "Uninstall" and click "OK".
Repeat the step 2 to uninstall all items under "Universal Serial Bus controllers".
Then, restart your computer and Windows 7 will reinstall all USB controllers automatically.
If the hard drive that has failed is the same one that you are trying to recover from might the reason that you are getting this error.
This could be an issue where the part of the hard drive you are trying to access is corrupt and not accessible which would explain the reason that it would let you access the other partition.
Now I have seen cases where Malware can break the link of a Hard Drive.
So let's try a couple of steps.
Let's go back in to "Disk Management"
Lets right click on the partition that you are not able to access and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths"
Now try selecting a new Drive Letter.
This will restore the path if it has been broken.
There are also Data Recovery programs that might be very helpful to recover your important information.
Downloads to Recover Your Files and Save Your Bacon and 10 Best Free Hard Drive Utilities.
Some addition links found on Googlehttp://www.datarecoveryreview.net/
hope this helps
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