When you plug in your external hard drive, window appears indicating that it cannot be read or is unavailable. You might even get a window suggesting formatting it. Still, something happened that is now preventing you from access to your data.
These kinds of situations call for strategic behavior in all you do. If you’re not sure what you’re doing, changes can make things worse. We will go over in this post the causes of this and how to get back your external hard drive data without formatting it.
Causes of External Hard Drives’ Failures
Hard drives are not perfect by nature. As individuals grow older, their susceptibility to data-related problems gets worse. Let’s explore a few typical causes of your external hard drive’s decision to stop working:
→ Viruses can be created to attack your hard drives. This includes external hard disks attached at the moment of a viral attack.
→ Corruption: If a hard disk is removed during the process of writing, the included data runs the risk of getting corrupted. corrupted data is not accessible and corrupted disks have issues recognizing them.
→ Drivers are what let the hardware and operating system of our computer cooperate with each other. Should they become polluted or out of current, communication could break down.
→ Physical damage: Anything which could physically harm the hard drive. Water damage; drops; severed cables; etc. If the drive isn’t being recognized, physical damage is harder to recover data from; often, professional hard drive inspection
is needed.
→ Hardware or file system compatibility issues could cause the hard disk to fail with the computer or operating system you are attempting to use.
→ Negative areas: Bad sectors could either decrease the drive’s performance or even make files inaccessible, either due to logical or physical deficiencies.
Retrieving Files From an External Hard Drive Without Formatting
Recovering your data before an external hard drive fully dies should be the first thing you do if you are unable to get it going.
You should look at using data recovery software when you do not have a backup of the data of your external hard disk. Disk Drill is a program specializes in finding and recovering purportedly lost or inaccessible data.
Here we will be using Disk Drill Data Recovery because it provides a free trial and has an excellent record for successful recoveries in both personal and business circumstances. Your data will be back and ready to use in a few clicks.
1. Get and install Disk Drill on your system. Once completed, open it.
2. Make sure the computer has your drive connected. Choose your external hard drive then click Search for missing data.
3. Click Review discovered items when the scan is done.
4. Examine the recoverable data for any items you wish to retrieve. Click on their icons to choose them. After ready, click Recover.
5. Specify at which location you wish to retrieve the files. It’s recommended you to copy the files to somewhere other than their original storage location. When ready, hit OK.
6. You will be shown a confirmation screen explaining what was done when recovery is finished.
How to Repair a Corrupted External Hard Drive without Formatting
Fixing your hard drive can assist you avoid losing any data if you are having troubles with it. Try some of the below methods to access the hard disk without formatting.
Method 1: Change or assign the drive letter.
Your operating system needs a drive letter to let you access the disk. Usually assigned automatically when the drive is attached, they can be manually assigned or modified based on not being assigned automatically:
1. Select Disk Management from the menu that appears after right-clicking the Start button.
2. Change disk Letter and Paths by right-clicking on your external hard disk.
3. Click Change under the drive letter choice. Not owning one, click Add instead.
4. Swap the drive letter for another from the dropdown list. Click OK then OK once more.
Method 2: Either reinstall or update the drivers.
Drivers let your operating system interact with the devices atttached to your computer. Should the drivers your external hard drive uses be incorrect or outdated, communication between the disk and your computer may break down. Either manually reinstalling the drivers or updating them to the current version can easily solve this:
1. Start the device manager by right-clicking the Start button.
2. Expand the disk drives drop down and right-click your external hard drive. Click characteristics.
3. Click Update Driver found in the Driver tab.
4. Click Search under Drivers automatically. Windows will then search the internet for updated drivers for your hard disk. Click Close if no additional drivers turn up.
Also Learn about Risks and Benefits of Clearing TPM When Resetting Windows 10/11
5. We will then make the current drivers reinstall forces. Click uninstall device.
6. Unplug your external drive; then, plug it again in. That indicates the drivers have been updated after the drive is identified.
Method 3: Fix file system problems with the CHKDSK tool.
By default Windows features the Check disk utility. It checks for and repairs issues with the file system including directory errors and flawed sectors.
1. Press Windows Key + S then seek out Command Prompt. First result should be right-clickable and run as administrator.
2. Press Enter (replacing “E:,” with your own drive letter), type CHKDSK E: /F /R /X. The scan lasts more the larger your drive is.
3. The scan will indicate whether or not it turned up any issues when it ends.
How to protect your hard drive data
Of course, frequently managing your data ensures you’re less likely to lose data in instances like this one, even when data recovery is a savior in many others.
| Make regular backups. | If you always keep a copy on hand, you won’t ever have to worry about data recovery. Though it sounds costly, regular backups are the best method for making sure your data is safeguarded. |
| Eject drives properly. | Unplugging your drive without safely releasing it will stop writing activities. Should this occur, your data may be damaged and maybe your whole hard drive may be corrupted as well. Safely eject the drive before unplugging it to avoid this. |
| Appropriate store drives. | Particularly hard drives, drives are quite prone to physical damage. Although some manufacturers spend on robust containers for the drive, this is merely one layer of defense. Think about getting your drive to live in an external hard drive case. |
In essence,
This article’s approaches let you recover an external hard disk data without formatting. Still, the issue can linger even with all of the solutions under development. If so, try recovery with data recovery tools; afterwards, think about drive formatting to restore functionality.
Actively maintaining your data going forward will help to avoid these kinds of problems. Spending some effort in your daily setup of an automatic backup will save many hours up line.