How to Recover Files from External Hard Drive Without Formatting
Losing important files due to accidental deletion or corrupted data on an external hard drive can be a frustrating experience. Fortunately, it's possible to recover files from external hard drives without formatting, even for beginners. This post will guide you through the process, providing a step-by-step solution to retrieve your valuable data.
What Causes a Faulty External Hard Drive
External hard drives can become faulty due to various issues, making it difficult to repair them. The construction and components of the drive, such as the hard drive itself, circuit board, and USB connection, can all contribute to the problem. Since external hard drives often contain sensitive and valuable data, repairing them can be a challenge, especially when it comes to retrieving the stored information.
The potential causes are listed below:
- Virus attack
- Unsupported drivers on your PC
- Damaged cables and connectors
- Faulty power supplies or faulty electronics
How to Recover Files from External Hard Drive Without Formatting
Before taking action to repair the hard drive, export the data first using data recovery software to ensure you don't lose any important files, especially if the drive is on the verge of failing completely.
Recovering data from a faulty external hard drive can be stressful, but Deep Data Recovery makes it easy and reliable. This software is simple to use and provides effective results quickly, allowing users to recover lost data from an external hard drive without formatting.
- The software allows users to recover deleted files from various models, including hard drives, solid-state drives, and USB drives, among others. It supports different file systems and can recover files from corrupted or damaged storage devices.
- All file types are supported, ensuring the recovery of whatever information needs to be salvaged.
- This software enables users to recover deleted files from their faulty external hard drives, including documents, photos, music, videos, and email.
To recover data from an external hard drive without formatting, download and run external hard drive recovery software. This will allow you to retrieve your data.
Here's a step-by-step guide to recovering deleted files from an external hard drive.
Step 1. Choose file types and click "Next" to start
- To recover lost data, download and install Qiling Data Recovery software on your computer or laptop.
- Connect the external hard drive to your computer.
- Run Deep Data Recovery and select the external drive from the External drives list. Choose the desired file types and click "Next" to initiate the scan.
Step 2. Choose and scan the external hard drive
- Select the external drive from the list of external drives, then click on "Scan for lost data".
Step 3. Check the scan results
- Qiling data recovery software will scan the selected drive for all data, including deleted, corrupted, and existing files, immediately.
- The Filter feature allows you to quickly locate specific types of files, such as pictures, documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, videos, and emails, by selecting the desired file type from a list.
Step 4. Preview and recover data
- Double-clicking a file from the scanned results to preview.
- Choose the files you want and click "Recover".
- To ensure the integrity of the recovered files, consider saving them to a different drive or storage device instead of the original one. This helps prevent any potential data loss or corruption that might occur if the original drive is faulty or damaged. By transferring the recovered files to a separate drive, you can maintain a safe and stable environment for them, reducing the risk of data loss or corruption.
How to Repair a Corrupted/Faulty Hard Drive
Fixing a corrupted external hard drive can seem daunting, but it's not impossible. There are at least three ways to recover a corrupted external hard drive, offering a glimmer of hope for restoring lost data.
Method 1. Format the External Hard Drive to Fix It
To fix the issue, format your hard drive through your computer's built-in device manager, backing up any important data or files first to prevent potential loss during the process.
Step 1. Connect the problematic external hard drive to the PC.
Step 2. Right-click the device and select "Format".
Step 3. To change the file system of a drive, select the drive in the Disk Management console, right-click on it and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths," then select "Add" and choose a new file system, such as NTFS or FAT, from the dropdown menu. Click "OK" to confirm the changes and finish the process.
Method 2. Update External Hard Drive Drivers
Updating your external hard drive's drivers can resolve issues with a corrupted drive. To fix the problem, you can update the USB drivers, which can be done by following these steps. This could potentially resolve the issue and get your external hard drive working properly again.
- Right-click "This PC" and choose "Properties > Devices Manager".
- Click on "Disk drives", right-If a hard drive is not showing up in Windows, you can try to update its driver by clicking on it in the Disk Management window, then selecting "Update driver" from the context menu. This may resolve any issues with the drive not being recognized by Windows.
- To update the USB driver on Windows 10, go to Device Manager, find the USB driver, right-click on it and select "Update driver". Then, click "Search automatically for updated driver software". Windows will automatically search and download the latest USB driver on your Windows 10 computer.
Method 3. Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive with Experts
Experts can help repair damaged external hard drives, preventing data loss, and Qiling offers a data recovery service to restore lost data.
Consult with Qiling data recovery experts for one-on-one manual recovery service, which includes the following services after a FREE diagnosis:
- To repair a corrupted RAID structure, unbootable Windows OS, and corrupted virtual disk file, you can follow these steps:
- Recover/repair lost partition and re-partitioned drive
- To resolve the issue with a Bitlocker-encrypted drive that has become RAW, you can attempt to repair it by unformatting the hard drive. This process involves using a tool like Qiling Partition Recovery or a similar software to scan the drive, identify any issues, and attempt to recover the original partition structure.
- Fix disks that become GPT-protected partitions
Conclusion
External hard drives offer portability and convenience, but can be prone to issues that cause file corruption or loss. Despite this, there are ways to recover your files without formatting or repairing the drive. Understanding the common causes of a faulty external hard drive, such as physical damage, software glitches, or hardware failures, can help you take preventive measures and ensure that your data is safe. With the right knowledge, you can retrieve your lost data and have peace of mind.
Recover Files from External Hard Drive Without Formatting FAQs
If you still have problems, read the questions and answers below to get additional help.
1. What can I do when an external hard drive not working?
If your external hard drive is not working, you can try troubleshooting the issue by checking the power cord, USB connection, and file system, and also try formatting the drive or using a different computer to see if the problem is with the drive or the computer. If none of these solutions work, you may need to contact the manufacturer or a professional data recovery service to help you recover your data.
- Check and Fix Disk Errors on External Hard Drive
- Format External Hard Drive to NTFS
- Create A New Partition in External Hard Drive
- Assign a New Drive Letter to External Disk
- Initialize External Disk and Create a New Volume
- If your external hard drive is not working properly, don't try to fix it yourself. Instead, contact the manufacturer or a professional repair center that specializes in hard drive repair.
2. How to fix the external hard drive freezes the computer?
To fix the external hard drive freezes computer error, try updating your computer's drivers, checking for disk errors, and running a virus scan to ensure your system is free from malware. If the issue persists, try using a different USB port or cable to rule out any issues with your computer's hardware.
- Solution 1. Diagnose & Repair Drive
- Solution 2. Fix Bad Sectors
- Solution 3. Reformat External Drive
3. How do I fix my external hard drive without formatting?
If your external hard drive is damaged, you can fix it without formatting using the built-in Windows utility CHKDSK (Check Disk). This tool can scan and repair any errors or inconsistencies on the drive, potentially restoring it to a functional state without requiring a full format.
- Press Windows Key + R and search for Command Prompt
- Right-click it, then click Run as administrator
- Type CHKDSK E: /F /R /X and press Enter
- Replace E: with your own drive letter
After the scan is complete, a screen will appear showing the results, including the number of issues that were found and successfully resolved.
4. Can you recover files from a corrupted external hard drive?
If you don't have a backup of your external hard drive, you can recover files from it using hard drive recovery software.
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