External Hard Drive Cyclic Redundancy Error

[arlon]

Hello,

I was transferring files from my external hard drive (Seagate, 250gb) when the power shut off. When I use the drive again, I got this cyclic redundancy error and windows suggest to format the drive. I can't do it now since I have many important files. I tried disk check but the drive is inaccessible (even in cmd prompt). Any suggestion please?

 

[tjmjr630]

So I've currently removed my hard drive from my laptop which was "corrupt" and now I have it connected to my work comp through a USB as an external drive. I too am getting the CRC data error. Before I do the format, I just want to ensure I'm not losing my data... when I have the option to format, before hitting the format button, it doesn't really give me the option to "quick format"

 

[Fauzia Octaviani]

Good day!

Thanks for all your replies. I tried John's suggestion but it didn't work. The drive is really inaccessible and sometimes it's giving me "drive invalid" error. I tried other methods but the only thing that worked was the SEA tools for windows from the manufacturer itself (I can't believe I haven't think of them in the first place). It took 16 hours for that application to fix my drive. Now it's working nicely. Thanks again everyone. Cheers! 😉

Please tell me how you use the SEA tools for windows because i didn't know how it works eventhough I tried it .. I'm so desperate in here. Please help meeee. I have the same exactly problem like you had 🙁

 

[Hugo Gattoni - Brazil]

Good day!

Thanks for all your replies. I tried John's suggestion but it didn't work. The drive is really inaccessible and sometimes it's giving me "drive invalid" error. I tried other methods but the only thing that worked was the SEA tools for windows from the manufacturer itself (I can't believe I haven't think of them in the first place). It took 16 hours for that application to fix my drive. Now it's working nicely. Thanks again everyone. Cheers! 😉

Please tell me how you use the SEA tools for windows because i didn't know how it works eventhough I tried it .. I'm so desperate in here. Please help meeee. I have the same exactly problem like you had 🙁

 

[Hugo Gattoni - Brazil]

Hi Fauzia Octaviani!
I read carefully all instructions sent by John Reyn on December, 30 - 2015. I read these instructions 3 or 4 times. Then I applied the instructions, carefully, one each time... and this procedure solve my problem. It is not so difficult, but we need to understand it completely. I hope you solve your problem. If you are facing trouble to implement the solution ask for a friend or a IT professional to help you. Even you are capable to implement the solution to have a friend on your side will be a good way. (Sorry to my poor Englich)... Good Luck!!!

 

[Fauzia Octaviani]

Yesss! This is great solution works absolutely fine! in Windows 7, go to 'Start' and the search for 'cmd'. then type in type 'chkdsk C: /f /r' ( 'C' signifies the affected Drive) and windows will do the work for you. It took me about 50 hours but then my external HD (Verbatim) works again! Note that if you run this process on your laptop, make sure your machine doesn't automatically turn off the power after x- minutes.

THANK YOU THANK YOU REALLY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR DETAILED SOLUTION! I WAS SO DESPERATE AND I FOUND YOUR POST AND I TRIED IT AND IT DID REALLY WORK!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH I'M SO HAPPYYYYY

 

[Hugo Gattoni - Brazil]

Yesss! This is great solution works absolutely fine! in Windows 7, go to 'Start' and the search for 'cmd'. then type in type 'chkdsk C: /f /r' ( 'C' signifies the affected Drive) and windows will do the work for you. It took me about 50 hours but then my external HD (Verbatim) works again! Note that if you run this process on your laptop, make sure your machine doesn't automatically turn off the power after x- minutes.

THANK YOU THANK YOU REALLY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR DETAILED SOLUTION! I WAS SO DESPERATE AND I FOUND YOUR POST AND I TRIED IT AND IT DID REALLY WORK!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH I'M SO HAPPYYYYY

 

[Hugo Gattoni - Brazil]

Hi! Send thanks to John Reyn! He is our "Gooroo"! I´m happy to know you solved the problem! Good!

 

[Renji_100able]

Yesss! This is great solution works absolutely fine! in Windows 7, go to 'Start' and the search for 'cmd'. then type in type 'chkdsk C: /f /r' ( 'C' signifies the affected Drive) and windows will do the work for you. It took me about 50 hours but then my external HD (Verbatim) works again! Note that if you run this process on your laptop, make sure your machine doesn't automatically turn off the power after x- minutes.

TQ TQ TQ!! tried your solution, mine was chkdsk I: /f (since my problem ext hdd letter was 'i'), and wait about 3 minutes for the computer to solve it. Really saved me there as my important project are inside my ext hdd..really thank you

 

[Yakudle]

To everybody posting about chkdsk not working for them,.. I propose a "possible" solution, that might sound crazy but read through.
A quick format on a hard drive erases only the map of where everything is stored (a.k.a. the File Allocation Table or FAT; NTFS uses a similar file structuring system which uses a bitmap to index the data), the data is left on the disk and will remain there completely intact UNTIL IT IS WRITTEN OVER (sorry for yelling, but that Bit is very important. . . . Get it? ...I'm a computer science major, nerd humor should be expected). So, unless you do a thorough format, which scrubs every sector squeaky clean, your data will remain on the hard drive! You will only be removing the table that is used to reference its whereabouts. While performing the format be certain to check box labeled "Quick Format" (it is checked by default) Now, proceed at your own risk, and only if you are left with no other options as you do run a risk of losing some content.
If you follow these instructions to a 'T' you will likely recover all of your data, aside with the corrupt bit that buggered your drive. If something doesn't make sense, please ask, I'd rather clarify than be condemned for bad advice.

1) If the drive you're trying to recover is the only drive in your system, you will need another system or hard drive available to boot to allowing you to access this dive as a secondary or external drive.

2) If after connecting the damaged hard drive to your system it does not appear in the "My Computer" (or "This PC" for Windows 8 users) you will be needing to take a couple extra steps ***listed under the asterisks following step 6***. otherwise proceed.

3) Right click on the drive from the location mentioned in step 2, and select "Format". (You may want to try "chkdsk" one more time just to be sure there wasn't just a data-mud-ball that got dislodged during the previous attempt).

4) After performing the quick format DO NOT OPEN TO VIEW OR SAVE ANYTHING TO THE DRIVE, as mentioned before we do not want to write over the now non-addressed files.

5) Download a FREE program called "Recuva" (Yes 100% FREE, no bull! and it is absolutely the best file recovery software to date that I have come accross) You can find it here: http://www.filehippo.com/download_recuva *NOTE* Don't save it to the hard drive your trying to salvage, refer to the large capital print in step 4.

5.1) After downloading the .exe installer, open it to begin the install.

5.2) The installer will ask you if you want context menu options added to recover files, this just means if you right-click on something do you want an entry added for this software.

5.3) Next it'll ask you if you would like to install CCleaner too, select "No". (Unless you want it, mind you that it's a registry cleaner... In modern computing registry cleaners do about as much good as those silly balance bracelets, windows is is capable of maintaining itself {for the most part} and you stand a chance of doing more harm than good if something gets "cleaned" that shouldn't).

5.4) Click "Next" then "Finish" and your off to the races...

6) Run Recuva, point it at the drive that's been bulling you, and watch it beat it into submission and steal back your lunch money... or files, whatever.

*********If this is you... "MY DRIVE ISN'T WHERE YOU SAID IT WOULD BE, @$$H013!!!"... then refer to the following:
2.1) Open up your control panel, I'll assume you know how to do this, if not you'll need to spin around in your chair 5 times then lean towards the door, exiting swiftly, while being careful not to hit the computer or any peripherals on your accelerated departure. Once out of the room contact your nearest nerd, or geek (nerd would be better, geeks are likely too busy playing D&D, WOW, or WEETPP (relax, it's not what you think... it stands for "What Ever Else The Protege's Play", ...but yes, it's pronounced the way you think it is). I realize it would've taken me less typing to just provide the steps for opening the control panel, but it would not have been nearly as entertaining ...for me anyways. Now then,..

2.2) Click "Hardware and Sound", then under "Devices and Printers" select "Device Manager". If you see a yellow triangle next to Disk Drives this is a good sign, or better yet you see your drive listed without any errors at all! On the other hand, if you don't see your drive you might want to check your connections, if everything is plugged in and you're still not seeing it, try right clicking on "Disk Drives" and selecting "Scan for Hardware Changes". Lastly, try another port, or even another machine... If you do see the yellow triangle or your drive proceed to the following..

2.3) Go to start and run "Disk Management" (windows 8 users just bring up the start page and begin typing), the search result will return something like, "Create and manage disk partitions", or "Disk Management". Open it.

2.4) Once disk management is shown, select the troublesome drive, the color of the bar on the drive indicates the current status. Black = unallocated storage space. Right click on the drive and select "Reactivate Disk", if the status of you disk reads "Foreign" select "Import foreign disks", this should, make your disk drive recognized by the system once more.

2.5) If you are able to successfully perform the aforementioned, try to once again run the command - "chkdsk X: /f /i" (replacing X with your drive letter), as you may have resolved the conflicting issue previously encountered. If chkdsk still flips out and throws a tantrum, then go back to pick up where you left off at step 3.

I wish you all the best of luck, may your files be recoverable and free of corruption and your wallets stay full! (Usually I charge $150 for data recovery...)

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day... Teach him how to fish, and he can go get drunk by the lake and find his own damn fish!" - Jesus

"Reactivate Disk" does not exist for me sadly

 

[David_396]

IT'S NOT WORKING FOR ME. I HAVE A WD 1TB EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE. I GET THE "DATA ERROR (CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK)" IT COMES UP IN DISKMANAGMENT BUT NOT ON MY COMPUTER. SAYS DISK NOT INITIALIZED, BUT WHEN I TRY TO INITIALIZE IT IT GIVE ME TWO OPTIONS. MBR OR GTP, BUT IT ALWAYS COMES BACK WITH DATA ERROR MESSAGE. HELP ANYONE...ALL MY MEMORIES ARE IN THERE FROM WHEN I MET MY WIFE TO NOW MY 3RD CHILD!

I have been having literally the exact same problem since yesterday. I swapped out my system drive and reinstalled windows on the new one. Then plugged in my old WD Green as an external to copy over settings and documents. After turning that drive off to reboot (so it didn't try and boot from the old drive), it has not been read by the computer. It won't mount or initialize and so I can't run CHKDSK or anything on it. Any ideas?

Bumping this thread, because I have the very same problem, caused by accidental removal of the HDD during file transfer. The drive is not even being read as NTFS, but as RAW and there doesn't seem to be a way to format it, since it won't be read by windows. It seems like it might be time to give up on it, but I had my entire music library on there, spanning several hundreds of GBs as well as other personal data that I'd like to recover. I suppose at this point I would just go for being able to use the actual drive at all even if the data on it is gone.

If anyone knows anything I could do, that would be much appreciated.

Same problem here, somebody has to know whats going on.

 

[Hamza_26]

Cyclic Redundancy Check error or CRC error is not an exceptional error and people came across it during those moments when they need their external hard drives the most. And irrespective of any specific reason behind the error, it is quite serious and must need to be fixed if you want to regain access to your external hard drive and to avoid potential loss of any of your precious data.

So do you want to know how I managed to fix and solve Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error on my external hard drive all by myself and recovered all the data? And all of that without spending a single penny?

Continue reading to find out each and every steps I followed which helped me fixing CRC error…

But first, we will discuss about what Cyclic Redundancy Check error really is and how it affects your external hard drive.

Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) is an error checking code used by computers running Microsoft Windows operating system, specifically to check storage devices like hard disk drives, external hard drives, and optical disks (like CDs and DVDs).

In particular, this checking technique is designed to verify and detect any unintentional changes or modifications occurred in the data (it is also known as ‘RAW data’ in geek terms) stored in the storage media (i.e. external hard drive or hard drive).

CRC error message usually pops up under numerous conditions including logical and physical damage. Some of the possible conditions are outlined in the next paragraph.

The logical damages could be caused by the conditions including power failure during the transmission of data to the external hard drive, accidentally unplugging your external hard drive during the data transmission, corruption of registry files, cluttered hard disk. Whereas, any physical damage occurred to your external hard drive may not be recoverable in most of the cases.

It’s hard to predict that whether your external hard drive is experiencing logical damage or physical damage, however there are techniques and methods that you can follow in an attempt to solve most of the logical damage that could have happened to your drive.

Here, in this article, we will show you how you can solve Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error on external hard drive. And to make the resolution easier and simpler to follow, even for an absolute beginner, we have divided this step-by-step guide into different methods/sections so that you can keep a track of which method you have to attempt next.

How to Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) Error on external hard drive

The Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error could be possibly solved in a number of ways but below we have outlined only those methods that actually work. So let’s first begin with the name of methods to make it easy for you to track yourself.

Method #01 – Check external hard drive Using Built-in Check Disk Utility
Method #02 – Check external hard drive Using Windows Command Prompt CHKDSK Command
Method #03 – Quick Format external hard drive and Recover Data Using Software
For best possible results and prompt resolution of Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error, we will recommend you to follow each and every step carefully, as well as in an orderly procedure.

Method #01 – Check external hard drive Using Built-in Check Disk Utility

Check Disk is a free utility software that is built into the Microsoft Windows operating system. You can use this utility to troubleshoot the Cyclic Redundancy Check error you are experiencing on your external hard drive, keeping you from gaining access to the precious data stored on the removable media drive.

This utility is designed to find and repair errors or corrupted files that might be causing the Cyclic Redundancy Check error message to show up.

The procedure to check your external hard drive using the check disk utility is as follows.

Step #01 – Plug in the external hard drive, in which you are experiencing Cyclic Redundancy Check error, into your computer running Windows OS.

Step #02 – On the Start menu bar, click on the “Start” button and click on “Computer” to open Windows Explorer. Or alternatively, you can directly open Windows Explorer by using the keyboard shortcut keys i.e. Windows key + E.

Step #03 – From the navigation pane on the left, click on “Computer” to access the page where you can see all the hard disk drives and removable media storage attached to your computer.

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



You will need to do this in case if you are not already on the same page as shown in the screenshot above.

Step #04 – You will find your attached external hard drive under the “Devices with Removable Storage” group.

Fix Cyclic Redundancy Check error



Step #05 – Right click on the external hard drive you want to check and click on “Properties”.

Step #06 – Once Properties page has been open, click on the “Tools” tab.

Step #07 – Under the “Tools” tab, there would be a section named “Error-checking”. This is where you are going to find a button that says, “Check now…” As shown in the screenshot below.

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



So you have to click on the “Check now” button to launch the disk checking utility for your external hard drive.

Step #08 – Check disk utility window will now provide you with two disk-checking check boxes. One will be for “Automatically fix file system errors” and the other check box will be for “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors”

Fix Cyclic Redundancy Check error



The first option, automatically fix file system errors, usually takes around 15 to 30 minutes to complete. Whereas the second option, scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors, is an advanced scan and can take few hours to complete.

Now, the disk checking options you should select depend on two conditions and those conditions are:

Condition A: If you are performing check disk scan on your external hard drive for the first time then it is recommended that you DO NOT select the “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” option.
Condition B: If you have already performed a check disk scan on your external hard drive and your external hard drive is still not working properly or showing the same Cyclic Redundancy Check error, then we will recommend you to rescan your drive with the “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” option enabled.
NOTE: It is important to note here that the “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” option is actually a detailed scan and could take several hours to complete.
Step #09 – Once you have decided which option you need to select then you can click on the “Start” button to begin the disk checking operation on your external hard drive.

The check disk task should start immediately and begin checking your external hard drive for potential errors.

Cyclic Redundancy Check error



Step #10 – When the utility has finished disk checking operation on your external hard drive, the finalized results will be displayed on a popup window.

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



If you want, you can click on the “See details” button to check the detailed report about the disk check.

That’s it. During this operation, the Check Disk Utility should have solved the Cyclic Redundancy Check error on your external hard drive and fixed any bad sectors. But in case, if you are still experiencing the same error message then we will suggest you to follow the Method #02 on the next section, which is basically an alternate method to check disk.

Method #02 – Check external hard drive Using Windows Command Prompt CHKDSK Command

In this method, we are going to guide you about how you can use the Windows Command Prompt application to run the check disk scan on your malfunctioning external hard drive, which will help you in troubleshooting the Cyclic Redundancy Check error message.

And to begin the scanning process, we will be using the CHKDSK command. This command will check your external hard drive for any potential damage and if there is any damage found then the utility will attempt to resolve it.

The step by step guide to check and fix your external hard drive error using the CHKDSK command is as follows.

Step #01 – On the Start menu bar, click on the “Start” button.

Step #02 – Type “cmd” to search for a cmd, which is also known as Command Prompt. Now your search results will show you cmd under the Programs tab.

Step #03 – Right click on the “cmd” and click on “Run as administrator” to start the Command Prompt with administrative privileges.

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



Step #04 – Now Windows will prompt you to confirm if you really want to launch Command Prompt with administrator privileges to make changes to the computer. Just simply click on the “Yes” button to launch command prompt as administrator.

Step #05 – You will now see a Command Prompt window. What you have to do now is to type the following commands into the command prompt window:

chkdsk x: /f /r /i

Where, “x” is the drive letter name assigned to your external hard drive by Windows and it should need to be replaced to make the command work.

For example, if you want to perform chkdsk command on the “J:” drive then here’s what your command should look like:

chkdsk j: /f /r /i

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



For those who are concerned about the switches or parameters we are using above then here are the details about what they really do:

chkdsk – This will only displays the status of your external hard drive.
/f – This switch will fix errors on the external hard drive.
/r – This switch will find and locate the bad sectors on the external hard drive and will also attempt to recover all the readable information.
/i – This switch will perform a less vigorous check of index entries.
Once you have entered the command into the command prompt then press the enter key on the keyboard to execute it.

Step #06 – Now you have to wait for the command prompt and CHKDSK to complete scanning your external hard drive. Please note that depending on the size of your external hard drive the process could take few hours to complete the whole scanning procedure.

Step #07 – Once the scanning has been completed and the report is displayed, then you will be able to know if CHKDSK command was able to fix your external hard drive or not.

Fix Cyclic Redundancy Check error



That’s it. Your external hard drive should have been fixed and back in the operational state now.

However, it is important to note here that CHKDSK is only capable of fixing small and fixable errors but if your external hard drive has serious issues then it would remain unfixed.

Method #03 – Quick Format external hard drive and Recover Data Using Software

For those of you who are unable to solve the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error using the CHKDSK command, or in case CHKDSK command is not working on your external hard drive then we will recommend you to follow the steps mentioned below.

This method #03 and the steps mentioned under this method are only recommended if you have already tried every other possible method and now you are left with no other option to fix your external hard drive.

So in this method, we will first perform a quick format on the external hard drive.

Yes! A quick format. And no, this will NOT remove your data. (Unless you store/transfer any file to it)

What quick format really does is that it quickly completes the formatting process, and after completion when you look at the external hard drive, there will not be any data.

But in reality, quick format just removes the map/table of where all of your files and folders are stored. However, all of those data still exists on your external hard drive, and the volume can be re-built to regain access to those files.

After performing quick format, we will then use a recovery software to rebuild volume and then recover all the data stored on the external hard drive.

All of this may sound senseless to you, but this is the only method that worked for me and that is how I managed to recover my precious data without spending a single penny.

 

[David_396]

Cyclic Redundancy Check error or CRC error is not an exceptional error and people came across it during those moments when they need their external hard drives the most. And irrespective of any specific reason behind the error, it is quite serious and must need to be fixed if you want to regain access to your external hard drive and to avoid potential loss of any of your precious data.

So do you want to know how I managed to fix and solve Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error on my external hard drive all by myself and recovered all the data? And all of that without spending a single penny?

Continue reading to find out each and every steps I followed which helped me fixing CRC error…

But first, we will discuss about what Cyclic Redundancy Check error really is and how it affects your external hard drive.

Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) is an error checking code used by computers running Microsoft Windows operating system, specifically to check storage devices like hard disk drives, external hard drives, and optical disks (like CDs and DVDs).

In particular, this checking technique is designed to verify and detect any unintentional changes or modifications occurred in the data (it is also known as ‘RAW data’ in geek terms) stored in the storage media (i.e. external hard drive or hard drive).

CRC error message usually pops up under numerous conditions including logical and physical damage. Some of the possible conditions are outlined in the next paragraph.

The logical damages could be caused by the conditions including power failure during the transmission of data to the external hard drive, accidentally unplugging your external hard drive during the data transmission, corruption of registry files, cluttered hard disk. Whereas, any physical damage occurred to your external hard drive may not be recoverable in most of the cases.

It’s hard to predict that whether your external hard drive is experiencing logical damage or physical damage, however there are techniques and methods that you can follow in an attempt to solve most of the logical damage that could have happened to your drive.

Here, in this article, we will show you how you can solve Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error on external hard drive. And to make the resolution easier and simpler to follow, even for an absolute beginner, we have divided this step-by-step guide into different methods/sections so that you can keep a track of which method you have to attempt next.

How to Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) Error on external hard drive

The Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error could be possibly solved in a number of ways but below we have outlined only those methods that actually work. So let’s first begin with the name of methods to make it easy for you to track yourself.

Method #01 – Check external hard drive Using Built-in Check Disk Utility
Method #02 – Check external hard drive Using Windows Command Prompt CHKDSK Command
Method #03 – Quick Format external hard drive and Recover Data Using Software
For best possible results and prompt resolution of Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error, we will recommend you to follow each and every step carefully, as well as in an orderly procedure.

Method #01 – Check external hard drive Using Built-in Check Disk Utility

Check Disk is a free utility software that is built into the Microsoft Windows operating system. You can use this utility to troubleshoot the Cyclic Redundancy Check error you are experiencing on your external hard drive, keeping you from gaining access to the precious data stored on the removable media drive.

This utility is designed to find and repair errors or corrupted files that might be causing the Cyclic Redundancy Check error message to show up.

The procedure to check your external hard drive using the check disk utility is as follows.

Step #01 – Plug in the external hard drive, in which you are experiencing Cyclic Redundancy Check error, into your computer running Windows OS.

Step #02 – On the Start menu bar, click on the “Start” button and click on “Computer” to open Windows Explorer. Or alternatively, you can directly open Windows Explorer by using the keyboard shortcut keys i.e. Windows key + E.

Step #03 – From the navigation pane on the left, click on “Computer” to access the page where you can see all the hard disk drives and removable media storage attached to your computer.

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



You will need to do this in case if you are not already on the same page as shown in the screenshot above.

Step #04 – You will find your attached external hard drive under the “Devices with Removable Storage” group.

Fix Cyclic Redundancy Check error



Step #05 – Right click on the external hard drive you want to check and click on “Properties”.

Step #06 – Once Properties page has been open, click on the “Tools” tab.

Step #07 – Under the “Tools” tab, there would be a section named “Error-checking”. This is where you are going to find a button that says, “Check now…” As shown in the screenshot below.

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



So you have to click on the “Check now” button to launch the disk checking utility for your external hard drive.

Step #08 – Check disk utility window will now provide you with two disk-checking check boxes. One will be for “Automatically fix file system errors” and the other check box will be for “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors”

Fix Cyclic Redundancy Check error



The first option, automatically fix file system errors, usually takes around 15 to 30 minutes to complete. Whereas the second option, scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors, is an advanced scan and can take few hours to complete.

Now, the disk checking options you should select depend on two conditions and those conditions are:

Condition A: If you are performing check disk scan on your external hard drive for the first time then it is recommended that you DO NOT select the “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” option.
Condition B: If you have already performed a check disk scan on your external hard drive and your external hard drive is still not working properly or showing the same Cyclic Redundancy Check error, then we will recommend you to rescan your drive with the “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” option enabled.
NOTE: It is important to note here that the “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” option is actually a detailed scan and could take several hours to complete.
Step #09 – Once you have decided which option you need to select then you can click on the “Start” button to begin the disk checking operation on your external hard drive.

The check disk task should start immediately and begin checking your external hard drive for potential errors.

Cyclic Redundancy Check error



Step #10 – When the utility has finished disk checking operation on your external hard drive, the finalized results will be displayed on a popup window.

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



If you want, you can click on the “See details” button to check the detailed report about the disk check.

That’s it. During this operation, the Check Disk Utility should have solved the Cyclic Redundancy Check error on your external hard drive and fixed any bad sectors. But in case, if you are still experiencing the same error message then we will suggest you to follow the Method #02 on the next section, which is basically an alternate method to check disk.

Method #02 – Check external hard drive Using Windows Command Prompt CHKDSK Command

In this method, we are going to guide you about how you can use the Windows Command Prompt application to run the check disk scan on your malfunctioning external hard drive, which will help you in troubleshooting the Cyclic Redundancy Check error message.

And to begin the scanning process, we will be using the CHKDSK command. This command will check your external hard drive for any potential damage and if there is any damage found then the utility will attempt to resolve it.

The step by step guide to check and fix your external hard drive error using the CHKDSK command is as follows.

Step #01 – On the Start menu bar, click on the “Start” button.

Step #02 – Type “cmd” to search for a cmd, which is also known as Command Prompt. Now your search results will show you cmd under the Programs tab.

Step #03 – Right click on the “cmd” and click on “Run as administrator” to start the Command Prompt with administrative privileges.

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



Step #04 – Now Windows will prompt you to confirm if you really want to launch Command Prompt with administrator privileges to make changes to the computer. Just simply click on the “Yes” button to launch command prompt as administrator.

Step #05 – You will now see a Command Prompt window. What you have to do now is to type the following commands into the command prompt window:

chkdsk x: /f /r /i

Where, “x” is the drive letter name assigned to your external hard drive by Windows and it should need to be replaced to make the command work.

For example, if you want to perform chkdsk command on the “J:” drive then here’s what your command should look like:

chkdsk j: /f /r /i

Solve Cyclic Redundancy Check error



For those who are concerned about the switches or parameters we are using above then here are the details about what they really do:

chkdsk – This will only displays the status of your external hard drive.
/f – This switch will fix errors on the external hard drive.
/r – This switch will find and locate the bad sectors on the external hard drive and will also attempt to recover all the readable information.
/i – This switch will perform a less vigorous check of index entries.
Once you have entered the command into the command prompt then press the enter key on the keyboard to execute it.

Step #06 – Now you have to wait for the command prompt and CHKDSK to complete scanning your external hard drive. Please note that depending on the size of your external hard drive the process could take few hours to complete the whole scanning procedure.

Step #07 – Once the scanning has been completed and the report is displayed, then you will be able to know if CHKDSK command was able to fix your external hard drive or not.

Fix Cyclic Redundancy Check error



That’s it. Your external hard drive should have been fixed and back in the operational state now.

However, it is important to note here that CHKDSK is only capable of fixing small and fixable errors but if your external hard drive has serious issues then it would remain unfixed.

Method #03 – Quick Format external hard drive and Recover Data Using Software

For those of you who are unable to solve the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error using the CHKDSK command, or in case CHKDSK command is not working on your external hard drive then we will recommend you to follow the steps mentioned below.

This method #03 and the steps mentioned under this method are only recommended if you have already tried every other possible method and now you are left with no other option to fix your external hard drive.

So in this method, we will first perform a quick format on the external hard drive.

Yes! A quick format. And no, this will NOT remove your data. (Unless you store/transfer any file to it)

What quick format really does is that it quickly completes the formatting process, and after completion when you look at the external hard drive, there will not be any data.

But in reality, quick format just removes the map/table of where all of your files and folders are stored. However, all of those data still exists on your external hard drive, and the volume can be re-built to regain access to those files.

After performing quick format, we will then use a recovery software to rebuild volume and then recover all the data stored on the external hard drive.

All of this may sound senseless to you, but this is the only method that worked for me and that is how I managed to recover my precious data without spending a single penny.

Non of this solutions can be performed in the case OS doesnt asign a drive letter the disk and since disk manager just give you the CRC error when u try to do do, you get pretty much a nice brick.

 

[Yayaie]

Yesss! This is great solution works absolutely fine! in Windows 7, go to 'Start' and the search for 'cmd'. then type in type 'chkdsk C: /f /r' ( 'C' signifies the affected Drive) and windows will do the work for you. It took me about 50 hours but then my external HD (Verbatim) works again! Note that if you run this process on your laptop, make sure your machine doesn't automatically turn off the power after x- minutes.

TQ TQ TQ!! tried your solution, mine was chkdsk I: /f (since my problem ext hdd letter was 'i'), and wait about 3 minutes for the computer to solve it. Really saved me there as my important project are inside my ext hdd..really thank you

 

[Yayaie]

Thanks a million for sharing the solution! It really works! It only took less than 5 minutes to recover the lost folder in my external hard drive. Phew!

 

[Felice_Beneduce]

Hello,
I was wondering if you could help me with my situation. I have a WD My Passport Ultra external hard drive. On Tuesday, I modified a Word file on the drive. On Wednesday, I got the cyclic redundancy error when I tried to access it again. I followed the chkdsk instructions described above, the process recovered nearly all my files, and I am very grateful for the posting. However, the folder that contained the modified Word file is missing. Since it contains hundreds of hours of work over several years, my questions are the following: is the folder still somewhere in the bowels of the hard drive and can it be recovered? Or should I just resign myself to the loss? Thanks for your time.

 

[Prashant_2390]

Thanq so much for this solution

chkdsk /f [drive letter]:

I was dead stuck in this situation as my Laptops Internal Hard Disk got corrupt, with all my project files and family photographs in it, I don't know how. All the drives went to RAW format and nothing was accessible. I was searching the internet for any possible advanced solution to get my data back. I was even planning to go for a Professional Data Recovery Service until I found this solution.

I never believed the power of Command Prompt till today. CMD has now become my 2nd love after JAVA

Thank You Tom's Hardware for this thread

 

[melvinchris]

Hello,

I was transferring files from my external hard drive (Seagate, 250gb) when the power shut off. When I use the drive again, I got this cyclic redundancy error and windows suggest to format the drive. I can't do it now since I have many important files. I tried disk check but the drive is inaccessible (even in cmd prompt). Any suggestion please?

 

[Arain125]

"chkdsk X: /f /i" (replacing X with your drive letter) bestest solution i found thanks to every one....