Most of the external hard drive users encounter problems like “external hard disk corrupted and data can’t be accessed any more”. An external drive could get damaged or corrupt by various factors.
The major reason behind the external drive corruption could be errors in the file system. This can be caused by bad sectors, sudden system shutdown (crash), software or hardware issues and sometimes physical damage. Any damage caused to file system makes hard drive RAW and data becomes inaccessible.
Table of Content
- Indications of Corrupt External Drive
- PART A: Fix External Hard Drive Using Proven Methods
- PART B: Recover Files from Corrupted External Hard Drive Using Recovery Software
Few Errors Messages That Prompts When External HDD Is Damaged/ Corrupt
When an external drive is corrupted, error messages are prompted to indicate that the drive is no longer accessible by the user. A few common error messages are given below:
Error 1: “External hard drive not recognized”. The message immediately pops up when device plugged into system.
Error 2: “G:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable“. Where G is the external drive connected
Error 3: If drive letter becomes inaccessible and says “format the disk in the drive before using it“.
Error 4: The hard drive becomes RAW and prompts “Disk needs to be formatted” error.
Error 5: External hard disk shows 0 bytes.
Not only on Windows, but you can also encounter the error External hard drive not recognized on Mac computers.
When any of the above-mentioned errors and your external hard drive is corrupted and unreadable, the first step to keep your data secure is recovering it from the drive. Because the methods used to fix the external drive may involve data loss.
If you are wondering, how to recover inaccessible data from the corrupt drive, here is best and professionals recommended tool. With SFWare hard drive recovery tool, you are not only able to recover corrupt external drive but can also recover formatted data from the drive. however, it is recommended to recover your data initially before heading to repair.
How to Repair External Hard Drives?
You can fix external hard drives using proven solutions (CHKDSK and drive formatting) provided in this article. It is often used as a common hard drive troubleshooting solution.
CHKDSK is a Windows system-built utility for checking for and fixing logical errors. Formatting the drive fixes it by erasing all the corrupt data stored on it.
Method 1: Repair External Hard Drive Using CMD(CHKDSK)
If you the corruption is due to missing or damaged System Files, all you need to do is restore corrupt system files. To fix corrupt system files, you can make use of CHKDSK.
Type cmd in search, Select Command Prompt and Run as Administrator
Next, type chkdsk C:/f -> press Enter where, C is an external drive
Finally, type sfc /scannow -> Enter.
Where, sfc /scannow is a system file checker utility in Windows that helps scan for corruption in Windows File System and restore them.
Run CHKDSK To Fix Errors and Bad Sectors
If you want to perform CHKDSK on your disk, please ensure you don’t have any important data on the external hard disk. There may be chances of data loss. If all the important data is properly backed up, you can attempt to fix corrupted hard drive with CHKDSK utility. Or you can try recovering data using a trusted tool and go ahead with the following steps.
Step 1: Next to the Windows Start menu, in the ‘Search Windows’ box, type cmd.
Step 2: On the search result, right-click on the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
Step 3: Type the command: CHKDSK F: /f /r /x (F should be replaced by your external drive letter)
The “/f” parameter tells CHKDSK to fix any errors it finds.
“/r” tells it to locate the bad sectors on the drive and recover readable information.
“/x” forces the drive to dismount before the process starts.
If you fail to repair corrupt external disk using CHKDSK, you can try formatting the external storage drive. Although, formatting is the easiest way to fix a corruption in external hard drive, it also involves losing data permanently. Therefore, have backup of your important data or recover data from the drive.
Method 2: Fix External HDD Corruption by Formatting the Drive
To fix corruption by formatting the drive, all you need to do is connect external drive to your computer and navigate to the drive or go to My computer.
Find the external drive and right-click on the drive. Select Format from the option and click ok. The prompted, message appears on the screen saying, Formatting the drive will erase all the data on the disk, click OK. Now, your drive is completely formatted.
What if you have not taken backup? Do not worry. With SFWare, you can recover corrupted data from the external drive. Also, not only corrupt but also recovers data from formatted external drives and RAW drives when no file system was recognized.
How To Recover Data from Corrupted External Hard Disk?
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.
1. Download, install, and Launch SFWare Data Drive Recovery software.
2. Select the corrupted external drive, and click on Start Scan
3. After the QuickScan, you will be presented with all the recovered files from the drive in the Lost and Found Files or Deleted Files folders.
4. Make use of the Advanced Filter and Search option to easily locate and select the files that you wish to recover.
5. Double-click on any file to preview its contents to verify the recovery. Click on Save and restore the files to your device.
NOTE: Save the recovered files on a different drive for best results.
Conclusion
I hope you were able to recover data from a damaged external hard drive with the help of this article. Always look out for minor signs, such as crashes, slow load times, or unopenable files as they may be the tip of the iceberg. To keep your data safe, always take a regular backup. Still, if you miss any data from an External hard disk, SFWare External Hard Drive can help you recover files from external as well as internal hard disks.
