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4 June 2024  Amanda J. Brook  Senior Product Manager
 

Summary
Learn how to effortlessly recover data from external hard drive, a popular and practical storage device with ample capacity. Never lose your files again!



Table of contents

table iconI. Reasons for Data Loss of External Hard Disk
table iconII. How to restore the data in the external hard disk?
table iconIII. How to repair the failure of the external hard disk?
recover data from external hard drive

I. Reasons for Data Loss of External Hard Disk

A removable hard drive (external hard drive) connects to a computer to increase storage space. Unlike internal hard drives, external hard drives are portable and can store files from multiple devices, making them ideal for backing up important files.
If the data in the external hard disk is not accidentally deleted by you, but is automatically deleted or suddenly disappears, then the external hard disk may be faulty, and the reasons may be:
● Virus and malware attacks.
● There are bad sectors in the external hard disk.
● The removable hard disk is not ejected in a safe manner.
After understanding the reasons why the external hard disk may fail, let’s take a look at how to recover data from the external hard disk and fix hard disk errors.

II. How to restore the data in the external hard disk?

Many professional data recovery software options can recover data from external hard disks, with similar recovery steps. Using Renee Undeleter as an example, here are the steps. This software is compatible with both Windows and Mac systems.

1. What is Renee Undeleter?

Renee Undeleter is designed to restore various data files. Whether you’ve accidentally deleted files, emptied the recycle bin, or formatted a disk/storage, this tool can retrieve lost data. It includes four modules: Fast Partition Scan, Whole Partition Scan, Whole Disk Scan, and Image Creation, addressing all data loss issues comprehensively.
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Supported file types Image, video, audio, text, email and so on;

Image creation Create a partition image to read and back up data;

Supported devices SD card, SDHC, SDXC, USB flash drive, hard disk and computer.

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Multiple scan modes Fast partition/whole partition/whole disk scan;

Supported devices SD card/USB/hard disk.

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2. How to use Renee Undeleter to recover the data in the external hard disk?

Step 1: Download, install, and run Renee Undeleter on the computer, and select the (Whole Disk Scan) option on the main interface.
Note: Do not install on the disk that needs to restore data, so as not to cause data overwriting.
select whole disk scan in renee undeleter
Data Recovery Function:

  • Fast Partition Scan – Quickly retrieve files lost due to accidental deletion or emptying the recycle bin.
  • Whole Partition Scan – Recover files from inaccessible or formatted partitions.
  • Whole Disk Scan – Analyze partition information and fully scan the entire disk.
  • Image Creation – Create an image of a partition to back up its current state.
Step 2: Select the hard drive and click (Next).
select a disk to recover in renee undeleter
Step 3: Wait patiently for the scan to identify all partitions on the hard disk. The Select the partition you want to scan window will then appear, allowing you to choose a specific partition to scan. If none is selected, all partitions will be scanned, which will take longer.
recover partition with Renee Undeleter
Step 4: During scanning, double-click the file to preview. If all required files are found, check the target file and click Recover to restore the data to another disk on the computer.
select taget files to recover with renee undeleter
The above are the specific steps to recover data from external hard disk. If your external hard disk files are lost due to hard disk failure, you can check the following repair methods, which may be able to solve the problem of hard disk failure.

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 viruses with antivirus software may fix corrupted hard drives. Connect the external hard disk to another Windows computer with antivirus software and use it to scan and remove viruses.

2. Run the chkdsk tool to repair hard disk errors

chkdsk is a Windows command to check and repair the disk state, memory state, and the number of discrete files in a specified path. It simplifies hard disk failure repair. The specific steps are as follows:
Step 1: Connect the faulty hard disk to the computer, directly search (cmd) in the search box in the lower left corner, and select (run as administrator) to open the command prompt tool.
run as administrator
Step 2: In the opened command prompt, enter the command chkdsk G: /f (G refers to the letter of the drive), and press (Enter) to fix the error.
Tips If (chkdsk G: /f) cannot solve the problem, you can also try (chkdsk G: /r), (/r) can find bad sectors and restore readable information, and (/r) includes (/f) feature and additional analysis of physical disk errors.

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 icon + R key) on the keyboard, please enter (diskmgmt.msc) in the Run box, and then click (OK) to enter the disk management.
run disk management
Step 2: In Disk Management, right-click on the target hard disk partition and select (Properties).
check disk's properties
Step 3: Switch to the (Tools) tap, and select (Check).
check disk
Step 4: For Windows 7 or 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.
check disk Windows
The disk check function primarily marks spaces with bad sectors as unusable at the file system level to prevent data from being written to these unstable areas. After repair, bad sectors will still appear if scanned with tools like HDD-Scan. To completely address bad sectors, you can perform low-level formatting (not always repairable) or replace the hard disk.