
How to Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive Without Losing Any Data
- Restore Corrupted File System Open Command Prompt > Type chkdsk g:/f and... Full steps
- Recover Data 1. Change USB Cable, Change Drive Letter... Full steps 2. Recover Data with Hard Drive Recovery... Full steps
- Repair Corrupted External Drive 1. Format Corrupted External Hard Drive... Full steps 2. Repair Corrupted Drive with Partition Manager... Full steps
- Repair External 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 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 your computer harddrive in under 5 min.?
Tidy up computer space with Disk Cleanup
- Choose Start→My Computer or Start→My Computer. ...
- Right-click the drive you want to check and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. ...
- Click the General tab, if it isn’t already open. ...
- 4. ...
- Clear the check boxes next to any files that you want to keep; check the check boxes next to any additional files that you want to clear off the disk. ...
- Click OK. ...
How to fix a corrupted and unreadable external hard drive?
Part 3: How To Fix Unreadable and Corrupted Hard Disk?
- Run the CHKDSK command through cmd prompt utility.
- Update the driver.
- Reformat the Disk to remedy the unreadable hard drive factor.
How to build or repair an external USB hard drive?
Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive with Windows Tools, no Formatting
- Open "This PC", right-click the drive that has bad sectors, and choose "Properties".
- Go to the "Tools" tab.
- Click "Check" to check and repair the bad sectors on your hard disk.

Can a faulty external hard drive be repaired?
Generally speaking, the external hard drive errors can be repaired using CMD. What you should note is that regarding "chkdsk f: /f ", the first f should be replaced with the drive letter of the external hard drive.
How do I fix a corrupted external hard drive?
How to fix a corrupted external hard drive WITHOUT formattingOn the desktop, open This PC (My Computer) and select the desired external hard drive. Right-click it and select Properties -> Tools -> Click on Check. ... Use chkdsk.Use Disk Management. ... Use diskpart.
How can I recover my external hard drive without formatting?
Press Windows Key + S and search for Command Prompt. Right-click it then click Run as administrator. Type CHKDSK E: /F /R /X and press Enter (replace “E:” with your own drive letter). When the scan is finished, you'll see a screen that details how many issues were found and resolved.
Can I reformat an external hard drive without losing data?
The short answer is, yes. It is possible to reformat the drive and keep your files by formatting your drive and then using a data recovery tool to restore your information.
Can you recover data from external hard drive?
Yes, it is possible to recover files that have been lost due to deletion or the formatting of an external hard drive. This can be accomplished because of the way modern operating systems handle data deletion on hard drives.
Will formatting fix a corrupted hard drive?
While formatting can repair a damaged hard disk, there's no guarantee that your data can be recovered after the drive is formatted, especially if a Full Format is performed. Right-click Start and click Disk Management. Right-click the corrupted partition and click Format. Check Perform a quick format.
How do I fix my Seagate external hard drive not recognized without losing data?
Basic hardware troubleshooting steps:Try connecting the drive to a different port on the computer.If possible, try using a different cable.Try using the drive on a different computer.Verify the drive light is on. ... Try a different power outlet.More items...
How do I fix a corrupted Seagate external hard drive?
Click Go on the top menu bar from the Desktop. Choose Utilities. Choose Disk Utility....To get to First Aid:Click on the partition to select it. ... Click on the First Aid tab.Click on “Verify Disk” and if Disk Utility says it's needed, then run “Repair Disk”.
How to recover data from corrupted external hard drive?
When the external hard disk partition is corrupted, the file cannot be accessed. However, this does not mean that files will disappear forever. The first thing you need to do is to recover the data from the corrupted hard disk. You can use DiskGenius to recover the lost data.
How to fix a corrupted external hard drive?
There are many ways to repair a corrupted and unreadable external hard drive. Next, we will mainly introduce three tested methods.
How to maintain external hard drive?
1. Purchase high quality external hard disk. We should not be greedy for cheap and buy too cheap hard disk, because cheap hard disk is made of low-cost materials, such a disk is not only unstable, but also easy to bring security risks. Therefore, it is suggested that users should choose hard disk with good quality and excellent workmanship.
Conclusion
By using methods above, you can fix a corrupted and unreadable external hard drive without losing data. Corrupted hard drives can be a real headache, especially if there is important data in them. If you are unable to repair your hard drive using these steps, please try to consult a professional technician at DiskGenius for a satisfactory solution.
How to Repair Corrupt External Drives?
You can try fixing corruption on external hard disk using 2 methods: CHKDSK in Command Prompt and Formatting the drive.
How to Recover Data from Corrupt External Hard Drive?
To recover data from corrupt external drives, download and install the application on your Windows or Mac systems. Connect the external hard drive to your computer and launch SFWare External Hard Drive Recovery tool.
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 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:
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.
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 make a new hard drive a simple volume?
Step 2: Locate and right-click on the unallocated space of the external hard drive, select "New Simple Volume". Step 3: Set partition size, drive letter and file system (NTFS), etc. Step 4: Click "Finish" to complete the 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 external hard drive unallocated?
So how does your external hard drive become unallocated? Here is a list of reasons that may cause external hard drive or storage devices unallocated: 1 File system and internal device error 2 Improper operations 3 Virus attack 4 Outdated disk driver
Why do we need an external hard drive?
As most users use an external hard drive to save valuable files and essential data. And when the external hard drive becomes unallocated, to restore data becomes the top priority.
How to recover data from external hard drive?
Step 1 Select a data recovery mode. To recover data from external hard drives, you can select the " External Devices Recovery" mode to start. Step 2 Connect the external disk. Make sure your external hard drive has been connected to and can be detected by the computer. Step 3 Select a location.
Why do people use external hard drives?
Almost anyone uses external hard drives to save precious data or to extend the storage capacity of their Computer. But like an internal hard drive, they can become unallocated. Without allocation, you are unable to write, read, and store data on the unallocated disk. If you want to access your data on it, you might need to fix ...
How to get erased data back?
The good news is that you are still empowered to get the erased data back by using a hard drive data recovery program. Open CMD (press the Windows key + R and type CMD then hit enter) In CMD type: Diskpart and hit enter. In Diskpart type: list volume and hit enter.
Why is my hard drive unallocated?
Some of the known issues to cause a hard drive to become unallocated include: Infection with a virus or spyware. The hard drive is suddenly disconnected from the power supply.
How to change the drive letter on a hard drive?
Right-click the Start button and select Disk Management. Right-click on your external hard drive and select Change Drive Letter and Paths. Select the drive letter and click Change. If you don’t have one, click Add instead. Change the drive letter to another one from the dropdown list. Then, click OK, then OK again.
How to update my external hard drive?
Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager. Expand the Disk drives drop down and right-click your external hard drive. Click Properties. Go to the Driver tab and click Update Driver. Click Search automatically for drivers. Windows will then scan the internet for updated drivers for your hard drive.
What happens if your external hard drive is corrupted?
If the drivers used by your external hard drive are corrupted or outdated, this can result in a breakdown in communication between the drive and your computer.
What to do if your external hard drive isn't accessible?
If your drive isn’t accessible and you don’t have a backup to restore from , you can recover data from an external hard drive using recovery software. Through the use of data recovery software you can restore files that were previously lost, as well as files that are inaccessible by your operating system.
What happens when you plug in an external hard drive?
The moment you plug your external hard drive in, a window opens stating that it can’t be read, or that it’s inaccessible. You might even receive a window that suggests formatting it. Regardless, something has happened that’s now preventing you from accessing your files. In these situations, you have to be strategic in what you do.
Why does my external hard drive stop working?
Let’s take a look at a few common reasons why your external hard drive has decided to stop working: 🦠 Virus attack – Viruses can be created to attack your hard drives. This includes external hard drives that are connected at the time of a virus attack.
Can formatting a corrupted hard drive fix it?
While it may not work in every situation, formatting a corrupted hard drive definitely has a chance of fixing it. Formatting is typically done when preparing a new hard drive or performing a fresh install and involves removing all the data from the hard drive, including any corruption that was present.
How to backup image to external drive?
2. Click Backup on the left pane and select Disk Backup. 3. Click Add Disk to select the external drive as the source disk to be backed up. 4. Click the folder shaped button in the second column to select the destination path to save the image backup . 5.
How to fix a corrupted external hard drive?
Learn how to fix a corrupted hard drive using CMD below: 1. Tap the Search button on the taskbar and type “cmd” in the search box. Right click “cmd” and then select “Run as administrator”. 2. Type chkdsk F: /f /r /x and press Enter. F is the drive letter of the corrupted external hard drive.
How to fix a corrupted USB drive?
You can easily fix it by connecting the external drive to another USB port or a new PC.
What happens when you make a backup of an external hard drive?
If you make a backup for your external hard drive, you can restore it to normal state when it gets corrupted . The recovery process will bring you back not only a working drive but also all the data stored on it when the backup is made.
How to change the drive letter on a Windows 10 laptop?
Follow the steps below: 1. Hit Windows Key + X on your keyboard, and select Disk Management from the menu. 2. Right click the external drive and select Change Drive Letter and Paths. 3. In the pop-up window, click Change. 4. In the next window, choose a drive letter from the drop-down menu and click OK.
Why is my external hard drive not accessible?
External hard drives can become corrupted or not accessible due to various reasons, such as file system error, bad sectors, virus attack, sudden ejection or other improper operations. Reformatting the hard drive can fix any non-physical errors on the drive.
Can I connect my external hard drive to a different USB port?
You can connect your external drive to a different USB port or PC, change drive letter of the drive, or run the CHKDSK utility. To protect your hard disk from possible errors, you can create backups for it with AOMEI Backupper. Besides the backup & recovery functions, AOMEI Backupper owns the clone and sync features.
Why is Recuva so popular?
Recuva is popular because of its ability to restore files from hard drives, DVD or CDs, memory cards, and external drives. Recuva works by searching for unreferenced data, and it’s known for restoring lost directory structure and renaming two files with the same name during data recovery.
How to remove folders from external drive?
1. First, connect the external drive to your computer using the USB port. Wait for Windows to recognize your drive. 2. Open File Explorer. 3. Click on “This PC.”.
What is Ontrack EasyRecovery?
Ontrack EasyRecovery is a powerhouse among data recovery software. It’s best known for its power to recover more files than its competitors, but the user interface is less intuitive than other programs. It has a $79 annual license with no limits on the number of times you can use it.
What does a quick format do?
A Quick format only deletes the organizational structure of the files on the drive, without removing the actual files. Think of it as throwing away a bunch of file folders but not their contents. You just stack the papers all in one pile. That’s what Quick File does.
What to do after reformatting a drive?
After you have reformatted your drive, move directly to using a third-party data recovery software. While these programs may not be able to restore 100% of your files, using them will certainly save more than you would have without trying this process.
Is easeus free?
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is free, but it will only recover a total of 500 MB of data before you need to upgrade to the Pro version for $69.99 (Unless you want to share about the product on social media. Then you can use up to 2GB.)
Is Stellar Data Recovery good?
2. Stellar. Because of its efficient user interface, Stellar Data Recovery is excellent for beginners and non-technical users.
How to format a NTFS to a FAT32?
2. Right-click the volume or external hard drive and choose Format in the menu. 3. Choose a File system and decide whether to Perform a quick format. Then click OK to execute it. ☛ Format FAT32 to NTFS or vice versa with command line: 1. Search for “CMD” and select Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator. 2.
How to restore data to a formatted hard drive?
Restore your data to the formatted hard drive. 1. Go to Backup tab and choose a backup mode you want. For example, if you want to format external hard drive without losing data, then choose Disk Backup. 2. Select the external hard drive as the source directory, and specify a destination to store the image file.
How to backup a hard drive before formatting?
In practical case, you can use Backup and Restore in Windows 10/8/7 to backup before formatting. The path is: Start > Update & Security > Backup > Go to Backup and Restore (Windows 7) > Set up backup.
How to format external hard drive?
1. Open This PC and right-click the volume or the external hard drive to Format. 2. Choose the File system you want, and decide whether to do a Quick Format or not (here I’ll let it stay checked for easier data recovery), then hit Start. ☛ Format a drive in Disk Management: 1.
