how to repair your external hard drive

[Solution] How to Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive without Formatting

Follow below step by step guide with professional partition manager software - EaseUS Partition Master Free to find out how to repair corrupted external hard drive without formatting now:

1. Check and repair the corrupted external hard drive You can directly follow Method 1 in Part 3 with EaseUS Partition Master Free to check and repair errors in ...
2. Wipe data on the corrupted external hard drive and make it unallocated Launch EaseUS Partition Master Free and right-click the corrupted device by selecting Wipe data; then it ...
3. Create a new partition to repair the corrupted external hard drive

Full Answer

Why is my external hard drive not connecting?

Why External Hard Drive Recognized But Not Accessible?

• Presence of bad sectors caused by inappropriately removing the drive from PC without following the removal protocol.
• Mechanical failure is caused by dropping the drive on the ground.
• Virus or Malware is caused by opening an ill-conceived website or file.
• Driver issue caused by some software glitch.

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. ...

More items...

How to repair corrupted external hard drive without losing data?

Run CMD to Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive Without Formatting

• Press Win+R, type: cmd and click Enter;
• Type: diskpart and hit Enter;
• Type: list disk and hit Enter;
• Type: select disk 0 and hit Enter; (0 stands for the drive letter of your corrupted external hard drive.)
• Type: clean and hit Enter; (This will wipe all data on the drive.)
• Type: create partition primary and hit Enter;

More items...

How to fix external hard drive not working?

How to Fix "External Hard Drive Is Not Working/Responding" Error

• Method 1. Check and Fix Disk Errors on External Hard Drive. ...
• Method 2. Formatting an External Hard Drive to NTFS to Repair the Fault. ...
• Method 3. Create A New Partition in External Hard Drive. ...
• Method 4. Assign a New Drive Letter to External Disk. ...
• Method 5. Initialize External Disk and Create a New Volume. ...
• Method 6. Update Disk Driver. ...
• Method 7. ...
• Method 8. ...
• Method 9. ...

How do I fix a malfunctioning external hard drive?

How Do I Fix My External Hard Drive That is Not Reading?Examine the Physical Connection between Your PC, Hard Drive, and External Power Source. ... Disable the USB Selective Suspend in Your Computer's Power Options. ... Format and Create a New Partition on the Drive. ... Update or Reinstall Drivers.

How can I repair my external hard drive without losing data?

Best Methods to Repair External Hard Drive without Formatting?Run Antivirus Scan on your Hard Disk.Run Command Prompt to Check for File System Errors and Bad Sectors.Run SFC Scan.Check Hard Disk in Disk Management.

Does repairing external hard drive erase data?

It has no effect except on the drive it is repairing. Repairing only affects the directory and filesystem. If a directory is corrupted and repaired then it's possible a file or two may be lost on the drive in question. But Disk Utility does not delete files except when you erase a drive.

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.

Can a 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.

Does repairing a drive erase it?

No, but the damage may be so severe that it can't be repaired. You could already have data loss. It's also possible that a repair of a badly-damaged disk could result in data loss, such as if the failure is a hardware issue and the repair causes it to fail completely.

Does scanning and repairing drive delete files?

Windows gives you a solution to repair your device when it encounters some problems. For example, it will ask you to scan and fix your removable disk when it detects errors. This is convenient for you to solve the problem. But it may delete your valuable files by mistake.

Does repair your computer delete files?

It shouldn't erase any data - just update the files under c:\windows (or wherever you installed windows to). Having said that it would be prudent to back up your data first - if necessary by plugging your hard-drive into another computer - just in case.

Does Mac repair disk erase data?

No. Disk Utility First Aid only checks and repairs the errors related to a Mac disk's file system format and directory structure. It cannot erase data on the drive.

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.

How to tell if your hard drive is spinning?

Listen up to the sound that your connected hard drive is making. Are you able to hear it? If it is spinning you'll possibly know the sound.

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.

Can you use diskpart.exe to repair an external hard drive?

You can also directly use the diskpart.exe to repair external hard drive not detected. Here are the steps:

Can you repair an external hard drive?

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 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.

Why do we need a hard drive?

The hard drives are installed in all computers to store files for the operating system, user data, and software programs. To maintain a healthy hard drive, you just need to know some basic skills to prolong hard drive life. Therefore, you can do these three tasks daily to take good care of your drive.

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:

What is a backup of your hard drive?

Taking backups of your data is the most authenticated way of attempting all chances of hard drive recovery without losing the data. You can easily take the backup of your hard drive data, a certain partition of it, or the whole operating system. There are windows backup tools available known as "Backup and Restore" in Windows 7/8.1/10. The backup tool in Windows 8 is renamed to "File History".

How to repair a hard drive on a laptop?

Go to Tools tab. Under Error checking, click Check. If prompted, click Yes or enter the administrator password. Click Scan drive > Repair drive. Wait for the process to finish. The scanning process may take a while depending on the size of your external hard disk and the specifications of your PC.

How to get chkdsk to work on external hard drive?

Click the Start button. Type Command Prompt. Right-click Command Prompt and then select Run as administrator. On the Command Prompt screen, type the command below: chkdsk <drive letter>: /f. <driver letter> would be the letter assigned to your external hard disk. For example: chkdsk E: /f.

How to open file explorer?

Open File Explorer by pressing the Windows keys button + E.

How to repair an unreadable external hard drive?

The process does not require any third-party software and uses the built-in error-checking tool from Windows. It will search the disk for bad sectors and helps in repairing them without the need for format. After completing the process, you can safe ly remove the external drive , reconnect, and see if you can access the contents. If you can access, then copy all the contents to a new folder on the local hard drive. The steps are:

What are some good habits for external hard drives?

The good habits include updating the software, firmware (if required), and practicing the proper removal procedure after using the drive.

How to open disk management in Windows 10?

a. Open the disk management by typing the same in the search bar in Windows 10 or right-click on the Windows symbol and select the "Disk Management" option.

How to restore data inside a corrupted hard drive?

In the Disk Management utility, try changing the drive letter of the storage media, which could restore data inside the corrupted hard drive.

Why reformat a hard drive?

Reformat the Disk to remedy the unreadable hard drive factor.

Why is my external drive not accessible?

Whenever you get the error notification upon opening the external drive: "H: is not accessible." It means that the disk's file or directory is either corrupted or unreadable, and you need to fix that. There might be numerous factors behind the external drive becoming unreadable. Still, the leading cause you should consider is that there might be some file system damage to your portable storage device.

Why is my portable hard drive prone to damage?

As mentioned earlier, your portable hard drive is prone to damage daily since it is used with such doggedness that one can forget how delicate the gadget is . Because of this scenario, many problems may occur with the drive, and the standard most error that typically happens is the "External Drive or its directory becoming corrupt or unreadable.".

What happens if you accidentally drop a USB drive?

Physical damages to the external hard drive should also be considered because the external drive is becoming unreadable. If you have accidentally dropped the device, it may cause some internal damage ...

Why is my HDD not readable?

Corrupted Master File Table is the other culprit behind the HDD becoming unreadable, and you cannot open the contents of the disk. A partition table is mainly damaged due to improper handling of the hardware, such as removing the external hard drive from the PC without using the "Safely Remove Hardware" option.

Why is my computer infected with viruses?

Virus infection: Virus infection or malware attack occurs due to casual and unsafe browsing on the internet. If you happen to download a suspicious or pirated file from a shady website and open through the file explorer, it might infect your computer and all the devices connected to it, as well.

Why are my platters not spinning?

A very common issue we see with dropped drives is light media damage. The heads bump the platters for a moment, cause a light scratch.

Is Vahan a good place to repair a MacBook?

This place is great, i’ve been going here for three years Vahan, recovered my data from my hard drive , then he upgraded my Laptop MacBook Pro ( Two HD’s installed and upgraded ram), and today they repaired my MacBook it was running slow they switched out the data cable. Very Honest and Have great service. They’re better than the Mac Genius Bar . Affordable and they repair on time.