Repairing Guides

how to repair external hard drive windows

by Electa Schinner Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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Full Answer

How do I troubleshoot an external hard drive?

Way 3: Check Disk for Errors

  • Open File Explorer and find the disk which has problems.
  • Right click on the hard disk with errors.
  • Choose Properties.
  • Navigate to Tools bar in the Properties window.
  • Click on the Check button.
  • Select Scan and repair drive to start detecting & fixing disk errors.

How do you repair an external hard drive?

How to fix a corrupted external hard drive?

  • Method #1: Run chkdsk in Windows File Explorer. Right click the corrupted drive in Windows File Explorer and click "Properties". ...
  • Method #2: Format the corrupted drive to NTFS/FAT32 in Windows. ...
  • Method #3: Check and repair bad sectors using DiskGenius Free edition. ...

How to fix my external hard drive?

How to Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive Without Formatting

  • Method 1. Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive with Windows Tools (No Formatting) There are Windows tools available that are supposed to get a problematic hard drive back to normal. ...
  • Method 2. Update Corrupted/Outdated Driver in Device Manager. ...
  • Method 3. Run CMD to Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive Without Formatting. ...

How to reformat an external hard drive?

  • Open File Explorer
  • Navigate to “my PC”
  • Right-click the drive you want to format
  • Click “format”

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How do I manually repair an external hard drive?

1. On the desktop, open This PC (My Computer) and select the desired external hard drive. Right-click it and select Properties -> Tools -> Click on Check. The scan will start, which should fix the external hard drive errors.

Can a corrupted external hard drive be fixed?

Run CMD to Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive Without Formatting. The Diskpart command will erase all data on your corrupted device. Therefore, recover data from the corrupted external hard drive first and then you can run CMD to repair the drive.

Can you uncorrupt a external hard drive?

Yes, you can. If you don't have a backup of the hard drive's contents, you can recover files from a hard drive using data recovery software. You can attempt recovery of the data in the drive's current corrupted state.

How do I get my external hard drive to work again?

If the drive still isn't working, unplug it and try a different USB port. It's possible the port in question is failing, or just being finicky with your specific drive. If it's plugged into a USB 3.0 port, try a USB 2.0 port. If it's plugged into a USB hub, try plugging it directly into the PC instead.

How do I fix an external hard drive that is corrupted and unreadable?

5+ Fixes for "The Disk Structure Is Corrupted and Unreadable" Error#1. Unplug and Re-plug the Corrupted/Unreadable Device.#2. Check and Repair Disk Error via CHKDSK.#3. Reinstall Disk Drivers.#4. Format Drive.#5. Recover Data.

How do I fix a corrupted external hard drive without formatting?

How to Restore Data from External Hard Drive Without Formatting?Scan Your Computer for Viruses.Use CHKDSK to Fix File System Errors.Replace Corrupted Files with SFC.Recover Your Files with Data Recovery Software.

How do I scan and repair an external hard drive?

The below steps will guide you through how to scan and fix external hard drive.Open File Explorer. Right-click your removable drive and click Properties.Click the Tools tab, then click Check.Click Scan and repair drive. ... When finished, a window will appear stating what was performed.

How do I know if my external hard drive is damaged?

Common symptoms of external hard drive failure include:Failure to Mount or Recognize.Excessively Loud Operation.Clicking, Whirring or Grinding Sounds.Disappearing Files or Folders.File Corruption Error Messages.Extremely Slow Drive Access Times.

How do I fix Windows not detecting my hard drive?

Press Win + R to open a Run dialog and type: cmd to open Command Prompt by hitting Enter. Step 2. Type chkdsk /f x: (x should be the drive letter of your undetectable hard drive.) and hit Enter to run the disk checkup process.

How to recover data from external hard drive?

Since you're going to recover data from an external hard drive, you need to correctly connect the drive to your Windows computer. Run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and choose the exact external drive where you lost data. Click Scan.

Why is my hard drive not opening?

Missing or corrupted system files are responsible for a hard drive with unusual symptoms. It usually occurs when there is a problem during the file save process. So when your hard drive seems to be damaged and you cannot open it, maybe you need to repair the crashed system files at first.

Can a computer come into play without a hard drive?

A computer cannot come into play without a hard drive whirling. To correctly cooperate with a hard drive, or an external one, you must possess some necessary know-how skills for keeping a storage device healthy, and in turn, prolonging its life.

Part 1: Causes for Corruption of External hard Drive

Although there exist several reasons for the corruption of the hard drive, the following are the common factors across the segment:

Part 2: How to Recover Data from Corrupted External Hard Drive

You can repair corrupted external hard drive Windows 10 in few simple steps. However, you will not like the outcome, as you will lose most of the data. It is because you will be formatting the disk to remove bad sectors.

Your Effective External Hard Drive Recovery Software

Before proceeding with the steps mentioned, ensure to install the software. iBeesoft provides the recovery tool as a trial, where you will enjoy all the features without any limitation. Additionally, connect the external disk that you want to recover files from with the computer.

Part 3: How to Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive

Learn how to fix an external hard drive that is corrupted and unreadable with the additional methods discussed under this part.

How to repair a corrupted external hard drive?

If you still cannot repair your corrupted external hard drive, let's think from another angle about recovering data from the corrupted disk using Tenorshare 4DDiG. It is a professional and easy to use tool and able to recover all kinds of data from not only corrupted external hard drive, but also raw/formatted/corrupted partition from laptop/PC. Here're how to do use it: 1 Install and launch the Tenorshare 4DDiG software. 2 On the main interface, you will see all the data types that you can recover. In this case, choose "All Data". 3 Choose your corrupted external hard drive in the "Connected Drives" section. 4 Click on the "Scan" button and Tenorshare 4DDiG will find back all the data on your corrupted external hard drive. 5 After the scan, preview and select your wanted files, click on the "Recover" to proceed. 6 Click "Browse" to define a location. Then Click the "Start Saving" button to save the recovered data.

How to repair a hard drive?

Here are the stepwise guide: Step 1: Head to the Windows search bar and type "CMD" to open it. Right-click on CMD and select the "Run as administrator" option from the context menu. Step 2. Now in the cmd, input chkdsk *:/h/r (where * points to the specific drive you want to repair) and hit "Enter".

How to fix a corrupted hard drive?

Here are the few steps you can do to format your external hard drive: Step 1: Connect the corrupted hard drive to the computer. Step 2: Right-click on the device and select the "Format" option from the context menu.

How to uninstall a device driver?

Step 3: You will be able to see all disks on your PC listed here. Right-click on the hard disk with the errors and click on the "Uninstall device" to uninstall the device drivers. Step 4: After doing so, restart your computer and connect the hard drive again.

How to fix external hard drive not readable?

If your external hard drive is not readable on your PC, try to connect it with another computer to check if the drive is working fine. If it is working on the other PC, then you need to repair the external hard drive by reinstalling the device drivers on your PC. To do so, follow the detailed steps below:

Why is my hard drive corrupted?

It can happen because of multiple reasons. Out of the many, there can be malware infection, an increasing number of bad sectors on the hard disk, or errors in system files.

How to stop a computer from being slow?

To prevent it, use a small piece of cloth and a dip of spirit cleaner to clean your PC.

How to recover data from external hard drive?

To start external hard drive recovery, you should firstly get Recoverit Data Recovery free downloaded and installed on your computer. After the installation, connect the external hard drive to your Windows computer and then follow the next steps to regain the lost data from an external hard drive.

What does 0 mean on a hard drive?

Notes: 0 means the drive letter of the external hard disk to be repaired. It can be also 1 or 2. As we can see, to learn how to repair an external hard drive is handy as it helps in avoiding unprecedented circumstances about your data.

What happens if the command doesn't repair your hard drive?

If the above command doesn’t repair your hard drive, there’s a huge probability that it contains bad sectors, which also means that you might have already lost valuable data from the hard drive as well. Fortunately, you can also use the CHKDSK utility to look for bad sectors and recover deleted files.

How to recover deleted files from a hard drive?

Now, launch the software and choose the hard drive as the target location. It’ll be listed under the “External Devices” tab. Step 2 Click the “Next” button and Recoverit will start scanning the hard drive for all the deleted files.

What is a bad sector?

Bad Sector: A bad sector in a hard drive basically refers to a little cluster of storage space that can’t be read and is defective. Natural wear and tear (hardcore or overtime usage) or physical damage can lead to bad sectors. So, if your hard drive has any bad sector that is due to hardcore or overtime usage (but not physical damage), ...

Is an external hard drive a good tool?

No doubt external hard drives are a pretty useful tool for people who often find it challenging to organize their data. But facing data corruption or errors with the hard drive can lead to great disappointment. Nevertheless, every problem comes with a solution, and a corrupted hard drive is no exception.

Can you recover files from a damaged external hard drive?

In fact, the recovery rate for Command Prompt is so low that you might never be able to retrieve all the files from a damaged external hard drive. If you’re facing the same situation, we recommend using a professional data recovery ...

What to do if your computer cannot read your external hard drive?

If your computer cannot read your external hard drive, you can connect it to another PC to see if the drive can be read and work normally. If it works, you can make external hard drive repair by reinstalling the device drivers on your computer. Here are detailed steps for you to reinstall your hard drive's drivers.

How to uninstall hard drive?

Right-click the hard disk with hard drive failure and then click Uninstall device to uninstall the drive. Step 4. Restart the computer and connect the hard drive. The drivers will start installing automatically in most cases. After restarting, you can check if your external hard drive can be read.

Why is my hard drive corrupted?

Hard drive can become damaged or corrupted due to various hard drive errors like bad sectors on hard drive, file system corruptions. So you must learn these basic tips. After reading this article, you may find that hard drive repair is not so complicated.

Can a hard bad sector be repaired?

Formatting the drive will almost always fix this. But, if it's a hard bad sector, this indicates physical damage , which cannot be repaired.

Can a hard drive run into problems?

Hard drives can run into problems sometimes. This article will show you how to make hard drive repair and recover data from a hard drive. When your hard drive needs to be repaired, you can try the top 4 solutions in this article to fix the hard drive.

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