Fix External Hard Drive Not Working – Expert Solutions

I. The reason why the external hard disk does not respond/does not work

If your external hard disk does not respond or does not work, it may be caused by the following reasons:

● There is a problem with the connection between the external hard disk and the computer.

● The hard disk has bad sectors.

● Virus damage or malware infection.

● The hard disk is overheated.

● Outdated/corrupted drivers. You can view the steps to update the hard disk driver.

● Mechanical or physical errors.

Let’s troubleshoot the simplest connection problem first. If unresolved, the hard disk may be faulty. Please check the third part for hard disk failure repair methods.

II. Check the connection between the external hard disk and the computer

If your external hard disk fails or isn’t displayed on the computer, first check the connection between the hard disk and the computer. Follow the method below to see if the hard disk can be recognized.

1. Check and replace the connecting cable of the external hard disk

The first thing you should do is check the external hard drive USB connection cable:

● If the connection cable is loose, reconnect the external hard drive to the computer and make sure the connection is secure.

● Check if the external USB cable is damaged. If so, replace it and reconnect the external hard disk to the computer.

2. Change the USB port or connect to another computer to check

If the USB connection cable is fine, reconnect the external drive to another USB port on the computer. If the drive is still not detected, connect it to another computer to determine if the issue is with the connection or the hard disk.

3. Check the power management settings of the USB hub

If the external hard disk still malfunctions or remains unrecognized by other computers after changing the USB port, the issue might be with the USB hub’s power management settings. Please consider the following solutions.

Step 1: Please press (Windows + R) key to open “Run”, type (devmgmt.msc), and press (Enter).

Step 2: In Device Manager, expand the Universal Serial Bus Controllers list, double-click USB Root Hub (USB 3.0), and in the properties interface, click the Power Management tab. Uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power, then click OK. This prevents the system from automatically disconnecting USB devices to save power.

After trying the three solutions above, most connection problems should be resolved, allowing you to access the hard drive. If it remains unrecognized, the hard disk may be faulty. Use the following methods to repair the hard disk.

III. How to repair the failure of the external hard disk

1. Run antivirus software

Viruses and malware can cause hard drive failure. Scanning and removing them with antivirus software may fix corrupted drives. Connect the external hard disk to another Windows computer with reliable antivirus software to scan and remove viruses.

2. Use hard disk detection/repair software

If the hard disk has bad sectors, you can use special hard disk detection/repair software to detect and repair hard disk errors.

Step 1: Connect the external hard disk to the computer. Download, install, and run the HDD-SCAN tool, a free software for diagnosing hard disk drives, RAID array servers, flash USB, and SSD drives. It tests for errors (bad blocks and sectors), displays SMART attributes, and allows changes to HDD parameters like AAM and APM.

Official website link: https://hddscan.com/

Step 2: HDD-SCAN outputs the scanning status graphically. At around 78% completion, numerous bad sectors (B) are detected.

Step 3: HDD-Scan can output detailed scan logs. If bad sectors are found, use the brand’s repair software, such as SeaTools or Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic. Search online for the appropriate repair tools based on your hard disk brand. Note: Repairing with brand software may erase all data. Back up your data first to avoid loss.

3. Use Windows built-in disk checking tool

You can try to use the Windows built-in Disk Check tool to check and fix external hard drive errors. Please do the following:

Step 1: Connect the external hard disk to the computer, press Windows + R, enter diskmgmt.msc in the input box, and click OK to open disk management.

Step 2: In Disk Management, right-click on the failed hard disk partition and select (Properties).

Step 3: Go to the (Tools) tab, select (Check).

Step 4: For Windows 7 or Windows 8, check “Automatically fix file system errors” and “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.” Windows 10 repairs all errors by default. Wait for the process to complete.

The disk check function marks bad sectors as unusable at the file system level to prevent data from being written to unstable storage spaces. Even after repairs, bad sectors will still appear in detection software like HDD-Scan. To completely resolve bad sectors, you can replace the hard disk.

4. Run the chkdsk tool to repair hard disk errors

The chkdsk tool is a Windows command to check the disk’s current state. It displays disk state, memory state, and the number of discrete files in a specified path, and can also repair the disk. Repairing a hard disk failure with chkdsk is simple. The steps are as follows:

Step 1: Connect the faulty hard disk to the computer, search for cmd in the lower-left search box, and select Run as administrator to open the command prompt.

Step 2: In the command prompt window, enter chkdsk D: /f (where D is the disk letter) and press Enter to fix the error. After the repair is complete, check if the problem is resolved.

After repairing the external hard disk using the above steps, if data loss occurs, you can restore the data using the following methods.

IV. How to restore the lost data in the external hard disk?

1. What is Renee Undeleter?

Renee Undeleter is designed to restore various data files. Whether you accidentally delete important files, empty the recycle bin, or format the disk/storage, this tool can retrieve lost data. It includes four functional modules: Fast Partition Scan, Whole Partition Scan, Whole Disk Scan, and Image Creation, providing comprehensive solutions for all data loss problems.

2. How to use Renee Undeleter to recover hard disk partition data?

Step 1: Download, install, and run Renee Undeleter on the computer. Select the (Whole Disk Scan) option on the main interface.

Step 2: Select the hard drive and click (Next).

Step 3: Wait patiently for the scan to identify all existing partitions on the hard disk. A “Select the partition you want to scan” window will appear, allowing you to choose a specific partition. If no selection is made, all partitions will be scanned, which will take longer.

Step 4: Preview files during scanning. Once the required files are found, select them and click Recover to restore the data from the external hard disk to another disk on the computer.