C drive corruption is a serious issue as it houses the operating system, essential system files, and installed programs. The effects of a corrupt c drive are more than just missing drive or inaccessible files, here are potential effects and symptoms of a corrupted C Drive
Operating System Fails to Boot: The system can fail to start and throw errors like “Operating System Not Found” and “Disk Boot Failure”.
Slow or Freezing System: When the system files are corrupted in the C drive, the computer may become sluggish, freeze frequently, or crash unexpectedly.
Blue Screen of Death: Critical system file corruption can trigger BSOD error and you will see error messages like “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME” and “NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM”
Failing Applications: You may experience program failures and improper functioning when trying to run applications and programs installed on the C Drive.
The cause behind the corrupt internal hard drive or external hard drive can be due to different reasons including accumulation of bad Sectors, physical damage to internal parts, abrupt shutdowns, malware or virus attacks, file system errors, etc.
How To Fix a Corrupted C Drive?
Here are several manual methods to repair a corrupt hard drive:
1: Error Checking Tool
Open File Explorer, Right-click on C drive > Properties
Open Tools tab > Error checking > Check now and Scan the drive
Wait for the Scan to complete and now try accessing the c drive.
2: Check Disk Errors using the Command Prompt
Run Chkdsk Command
- Open Command prompt as Administrator
- Type: chkdsk C: /f /r and hit Enter
This will scan the drive for errors, identify and recover data from bad sectors.
Run SFC Command
- Open Command prompt as Administrator
- Type: sfc /scannow and press Enter
Wait till the scan fixes the corrupt system files.
Run DISM Command
Connect your device to a stable internet connection, Open Command Prompt as Administrator and type the following command:
Type: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
This scan may take a while depending on Internet speed and device, Once the Scan is completed, restart your computer to apply changes
3: Advanced Startup Options
- Restart your computer and press F8, Shift + F8 to enter Advanced Startup Options.
- Select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options.
- Choose from the following tools:
System Restore: Restore your system to an earlier working state.
System Image Recovery: Use a saved system image to recover.
4: Format the C Drive
If the above solutions, don’t fix the corrupt C drive reformatting the drive is the last resort, Here is how you format the c drive:
Remember:
All the data stored on the C drive will be erased
You will have to reinstall Windows to make the system functional after formatting.
- Press Shift and restart the system to access the recovery menu.
- Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.
- Type: format C: /fs:ntfs and confirm the action.
Recover Data from the Corrupt C Drive
If you want to recover the data from the drive rather than fixing it, You can either recover data from the hard drive using the previous backup or use the most popular and reliable data recovery tool to retrieve data from the corrupt C drive.
We suggest you SFWare Hard Drive Recovery tool as it holds an impressive track record and a very clean interface that can recover data in a few simple steps with just basic computing knowledge.
Download Now and Try
1. Download, install, and open SFWare Data Recovery
2. Select the C drive and click on Start Scan.
3. After the scan, all the data recovered from the drive will be listed for you.
4. You can locate, select, and preview all the data that you wish to keep. Click on Save if you are satisfied with the results.
We suggest you save the files in a different location from the previous one to avoid loosing the data again.
(NOTE: It is recommended to connect an external drive beforehand and save your recovered data onto the external drive directly.)
Tips to Prevent Future Corruption
Reliable Power Source: Sudden power loss or power surges can corrupt the c drive, to avoid this use a stable electricity source and UPS
Antivirus: Run regular scans to detect and remove malicious programs that can damage the drive
System Updates: Update Windows regularly to ensure that you have the latest security patches and bug fixes.
Disk Cleanup and Defragmentation: Run Disk Cleanup and defragmentation to remove unnecessary files, including temporary files, organize data, and reduce fragmentation.
Regular Backups: Back up important data regularly using external storage, cloud services, or both. This ensures that even if corruption occurs, your data is safe.
Conclusion:
Though hard drives and operating systems have evolved to keep your data safe, they can still fail. Hard drive failures are particularly bothersome, especially when system partitions like the C drive can cause the entire system to fail.
We hope this article helped you fix a corrupt C drive and recover data in case the hard drive fails. If the DIY solutions don’t work, consider professional data recovery services to repair the corrupt drive.
