Folder Disappeared from External Hard Drive? Fixed!

Why do files/folders disappear from external hard drive?

In computing, external storage devices render great convenience for users to upload and download files/folders without the network. Therefore, users often use these removable media or portable devices to store and transfer data.

Some of you may have encountered this issue. To recover missing folders, please don’t write new data to this electronic device after data loss because any written performance could overwrite these missing folders.

Meanwhile, there’re some common reasons for folder missing on external hard drive.

How to fix the issue of folder disappeared from external hard drive?

Files/folders missing from external hard drive? This part shares five feasible methods with you to find the lost folder.

Method 1. Unhide the hidden folders from external hard drive

If your files/folders are hidden, you need to unhide them using Windows File Explorer. Let’s show how it works.

Step 1. Press “Windows + E” to open “Windows File Explorer”. Then click your external hard drive > “View” > “Options”.

Step 2. Under the View tab, click the “Show hidden files, folder, and drives” option. Then click “Apply” > “OK”.

Method 2. Fix file system errors by checking the external hard drive

The corrupted file system could prevent you from viewing files/folders on the external hard drive. If you want to reappear your missing folders, please fix file system errors by checking the external hard drive.

Step 1. Connect the external hard disk to your PC. Then click “This PC” > right-click on your connected external hard drive > “Properties”.

Step 2. Under the Tools tab, click “check” to start the error checking process.

Step 3. Click “Automatically fix file system errors” > “Start”. After the process, you can open Windows File Explorer again to check whether these folders are visible to you or not.

Method 3. Change Registry value to recover folders

If you fail to set the folder attribute, the virus infection may have disabled your ability to change folder settings by attacking the registry. Please follow these steps to change settings in “Registry.”

Step 1. Press “Windows + R” to open and type “regedit” in the Run command window. Then click “OK” or hit “Enter”.

Step 2. Go to this route: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL

Step 3. Confirm whether the “CheckedValue” is “1”. If not, right-click on it and hit “Delete”. Then right-click on the blank space, and click “New” > “DWORD (32-bit) Value”. After that, set the value data as “1”.

Method 4. Recover the deleted/lost folders from external hard drive using the command prompt

Your folders have likely been deleted from the external hard disk if none of the above methods help you recover missing folders. So how to fix the issue of files missing from external hard drive?

At the moment, you can utilize Windows File Recovery to recover the lost files from the internal and external hard drives, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, and other electronic devices. Please get an overview of its merits and demerits below.

Step 1. Check the file system of your external hard disk: Connect it to your computer, and click “This PC” > right-click on it > “Properties”.

Step 2. Select a recommended mode according to the file system of your external hard disk and data loss circumstances.

Step 3. Choose your needed switches from the following form.

Step 4. Download Windows File Recovery from the Microsoft Store by clicking the “Get” button. Then install and “Open” it on the computer.

Step 5. Fill your selected mode and switches in the basic command format: winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]

Let’s perform how to restore the recently deleted folder from the external hard drive (E drive) to the destination drive (D drive). Then you can copy the adjusted command line “winfr E: D: /regular /n *.ZIP” in the command prompt window.

Step 6. Press “y” to go on. After recovery, you can open the destination drive to locate your retrieved folders. If you need to stop the recovery process, press the “Ctrl + C” keys.

Method 5. Recover the deleted/lost folders from external hard drive with data recovery software

Without a doubt, using the command prompt to recover the deleted/lost folders is quite hard to operate. Are you seeking another user-friendly data recovery software? If it happens in your case, why not consider this data recovery tool-MyRecover? 

Step 1. Download MyRecover on the computer. Then connect the external hard disk to your PC.

Step 2. After loading the disk, select the external hard drive and click the “Start Scan” button.

Step 3. The software will run Quick Scan and Deep Scan automatically. After scanning, you can see all the deleted files/folders and other missing files.

Step 4. Confirm your scanning results and click “Recover x files”. Please store these retrieved folders in a new location instead of your external hard drive.

Further reading: External hard drive data loss prevention  

This detailed tutorial guides you to fix the issue of folder disappeared from external hard drive with five methods. After solving this problem, some users raise questions such as “is there any way for external hard drive data loss prevention?” It turns out there is.

To prevent data loss in the future, we’d like to introduce freeware-AOMEI Backupper to you. This free backup software for Windows could help you create a “File Backup,” “Disk Backup,” “Partition Backup,” and “System Backup.” Let’s take the file backup as an example.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Backupper on your PC. Then connect your external hard disk to the computer.

Step 2. Click “Backup” > “File Backup”.

Step 3. Click “Add folder” or “Add file” > “This PC” > “Devices and drives” to add files or folders. Then click the “Start Backup” button.

Step 4. Click “Finish” to exit the window.