How to repair external hard drive without losing data? Get the corresponding ways to fix corrupted external hard drives and perform external hard drive data recovery on this page.
An external hard drive is a convenient storage device that accommodates different types of digital files. This portable device can be moved between PCs, providing extra storage for backup files. But sometimes, you may receive error messages that remind you to fix external hard drives.
Hi! I’ve stored all my photos and music on my external hard drive. But recently, some photos didn’t copy across properly. I deleted them, but the hard drive is stuck canceling the action, and Windows is asking me to repair the drive: We have found errors on this drive. To prevent data loss, repair this drive now. But does repair this drive erase data? Thanks.
-A user from TenForums
Please don’t worry because there is a chance to repair external hard drive without losing data. To select a targeted method, please first get an overview of the following reasons.
Several factors are responsible for external hard drive failures.
When it comes to how to select a suitable solution, please keep the following principles in mind.
If you need to recover data from Micro SD card not undetected, these two fixes also are useful. Let’s show how it works.
Sometimes, your connected external hard drive might be undetected by your Windows because of a missing drive letter. So there’s no sign of your external hard drive via File Explorer.
If it happens to your case, you can view your unrecognized external hard drive via Disk Management. This Window system utility can display the details for each drive for your PC and perform advanced storage tasks.
Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to your PC. Then press “Win + X” to select the “Disk Management” option.
Step 2. Right-click on your external hard drive and select the “Change Drive Letter and Paths” option.
Step 3. Select “Add” to assign a new drive letter to this unlettered external HDD.
Step 4. Select the “Assign the following drive letter” option. Please ensure the newly chosen drive letter is different from all the existing drive letters.
As mentioned above, outdated/corrupted external hard drive device drivers can prevent this drive from working normally. So you need to update or reinstall your external hard drive device drivers to address this issue.
Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to your Windows PC. Then press “Win + X” and click “Device Manager” to open it.
Step 2. Go to Disk Drives and expand it. Please right-click on your external hard drive and select “Update driver” or “Uninstall driver” as you prefer.
Step 3. After rebooting your computer, its operating system can automatically reinstall your external hard drive. Or you can click the “Browse my computers for drivers” button.
Given the unique features of external hard drives, if there are no accessible disk backups, you’ll have no choice but to seek help from a third-party tool.
Some users say powerful Windows File Recovery is designed to recover lost files from local storage devices like external hard drives. In theory, this file recovery software is an ideal one. But in practice, only computer-savvy users can operate this utility because there’s no accessible GUI (graphical user interface) for users and you need to type CMD.
So why not utilize another friendlier Windows data recovery software with an intuitive GUI to recover deleted & missing files from external hard drives? Released by AOMEI Tech, professional MyRecover provides you with a high recovery rate & easy-to-follow operating steps.
Let’s perform how to recover deleted files from external hard drives via MyRecover!
Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to your Windows PC. After running MyRecover, select your connected external hard drive, hover the mouse over your RAW external hard drive by checking the drive letter and the size, then click Scan.
Step 2. Filter your needed data according to Name, Date, Document Type, or Path.
Step 3. Go to the Deleted Files/Recycle Bin/Other Missing Files folder and select the data you want. Then click “Recover x files” to begin the hard drive RAW data recovery.
Are you wondering how to fix a corrupted external hard drive? There’re two feasible fixes for your reference.
CHKDSK aims to check the file system and file system metadata of a volume for logical and physical errors. Please remember to use CHKDSK with the /f, /r, /x, or /b parameter. Otherwise, your CHKDSK command only can display the volume status and cannot fix errors.
In this case, you can fix a corrupted external hard drive without formatting.
Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to your Windows and enter “cmd” in the search bar. Then click “Run as administrator” to open the command prompt window.
Step 2. Type “chkdsk F:/f” in the window. You can replace F with your external hard drive letter. Then wait to see this notice: Windows has made corrections to the file system.
If your external hard drive suddenly becomes RAW, you can format it first and make it ready for further use. For example, you can change its file system to NTFS.
Please refer to the following steps to convert RAW to NTFS without losing data.
Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to your PC. Then press “Win + X” to select the “Disk Management” option.
Step 2. Right-click on your RAW external hard drive and select the “Format” option.
Step 3. Select the NTFS file system that works with your current Windows OS. Then click “OK” to save these changes.
Are you wondering how to repair external hard drive without losing data? After reading this article, you may get the corresponding ways. In brief, you’d better have a closer look at its possible causes and methods guide.
To prevent the second damage, please consider using AOMEI Backupper to create disk backups. This free Windows backup software also allows you to back up files, partitions, or systems regularly.