How to fix corrupted external hard drive

[maryglythloie]

Hello, i have a problem with my external hard drive, when i plug it in my laptop.. i takes too long to acknowledge it and when i open a file it would hung, i tried to reformat my external hard drive but it says reformat unsuccessful..

 

[RealBeast]

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

 

[Shinseina]

Hi maryglythloie,

I work at a Student IT Help Desk at my school. and from my experience if your computer is unable to interact with the HDD, or it takes a long time to respond, it's usually a lost cause.

One solution that has RARELY been seen to work is to completely pull the HDD from the external harddrive casing.

Then plug the HDD into a computer via SATA cable, or into an external docking station if you have one available.

Then if you can't see it in Windows you can try Ubuntu.

If you still can't see anything, it's not recognizing, or it's beeing very unresponsive, than it's most likely a dead/dying harddrive.

At that point there are a couple of different companies you can send the HDD off to for data recovery, but it wont be cheap.

Anyways best of luck to you and I hope you find a solution for your problem!

Regards,

Shinseina

 

[RealBeast]

Hi maryglythloie,

I work at a Student IT Help Desk at my school. and from my experience if your computer is unable to interact with the HDD, or it takes a long time to respond, it's usually a lost cause.

One solution that has RARELY been seen to work is to completely pull the HDD from the external harddrive casing.

Then plug the HDD into a computer via SATA cable, or into an external docking station if you have one available.

Then if you can't see it in Windows you can try Ubuntu.

If you still can't see anything, it's not recognizing, or it's beeing very unresponsive, than it's most likely a dead/dying harddrive.

At that point there are a couple of different companies you can send the HDD off to for data recovery, but it wont be cheap.

Anyways best of luck to you and I hope you find a solution for your problem!

Regards,

Shinseina

Nonsense -- you better get a different job, I've been building computers and networks for over 30 years and I don't just throw my hands up and say its a lost cause simply because a drive has a corrupt MBR. I suggest that you hit the books before you give any more advice on how to give up.

No wonder people complain here about the lack of knowledge from help desk people that don't seem to know anything other than the script they are given. Sad.

 

[kenny2]

Nonsense -- you better get a different job, I've been building computers and networks for over 30 years and I don't just throw my hands up and say its a lost cause simply because a drive has a corrupt MBR. I suggest that you hit the books before you give any more advice on how to give up.

No wonder people complain here about the lack of knowledge from help desk people that don't seem to know anything other than the script they are given. Sad.

Hello RealBeast. Just had cause to visit this site and saw your reply. I too,never give up trying to find an answer to any problems I have with my computer. I f you know of a way to repair a harddrive that has crashed, after me using CheckDisc, I would appreciate your input, please. The harddrive is partitioned and I can get into one half of it, by using an external drive, but accessing the damaged half has me fumbling around in the dark. Any pointers please, that would help me. Thanks, Ken

 

[kenny2]

Hello,

Due to a corruption on your hard disk you face this problem but don't worry you can fix it with the help of Data Recovery Software.There are several Tool available which can help you to fix a corrupt hard disk,you can get more information from here REDACTED - SS

Thanks for your reply,ronykk. I downloaded the Data Recovery and tried it. However, the message I am getting is. "The drive or UNC share you selected does not exist, or is not accessible. Please select another."
This fault occured after I ran Check Disc. Something I have done countless times over the years and with various computers.
The drive that I cannot open, is the one with my Windows programme on. Not the best part of the Harddrive to lose, I guess. ha ha
Thank you for trying to help me. Ken

 

[warbuck]

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

 

[warbuck]

Does this allow me to recover data from my external drive?
Thanks

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

 

[bigmushroom]

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

Hello Real Beast
I am new and trying to get hold of you.

My question
I followed your instructions, format successful. But I cannot see the external drive any more (after restart too). If I go to diskpart & list disk, I can see it. Could you or someone help please. Thanks

 

[johndex007]

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

Hello Real Beast
I am new and trying to get hold of you.

My question
I followed your instructions, format successful. But I cannot see the external drive any more (after restart too). If I go to diskpart & list disk, I can see it. Could you or someone help please. Thanks

-------------------------
correct format is:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
list volume
select volume #(where # is the number of the external drive)
assign
exit

***rock n roll!!!*

 

[Conn Hall]

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

i tried the diskpart to the T and it told me "disk part has encountered an error: the request could not be preformed because of an I/O device error."

 

[NKenvetil]

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

i tried the diskpart to the T and it told me "disk part has encountered an error: the request could not be preformed because of an I/O device error."

In my case everything just slows down. diskpart is almost unresponsive. Anything else I can try?

 

[kriegzmarine]

as I've read the thread, I guess the internal media/platter, or the read & write heads inside your hard disk is damaged. Everything becomes worse whenever you do some operations on your hard disk. I suggest, if you have important files on your hdd stop connecting it to a pc to avoid further damaging the files and the HDD itself. Any read attempts might further damage the Platter or Read/write heads. If you have the tools and knowledge to replace the Read/Write Heads, you can do that, but there's no guarantee. The best way to repair that was to have it repaired by a HDD and data recovery specialist. good luck.

 

[pahealey]

This actually worked with my drive after it stopped worked after being dropped. Pulled it out of the case and connected directly to power and sata and it work and I was able to recover data. Also it worked fine when returned to case and USB adaptor.thanks mate.

Hi maryglythloie,

I work at a Student IT Help Desk at my school. and from my experience if your computer is unable to interact with the HDD, or it takes a long time to respond, it's usually a lost cause.

One solution that has RARELY been seen to work is to completely pull the HDD from the external harddrive casing.

Then plug the HDD into a computer via SATA cable, or into an external docking station if you have one available.

Then if you can't see it in Windows you can try Ubuntu.

If you still can't see anything, it's not recognizing, or it's beeing very unresponsive, than it's most likely a dead/dying harddrive.

At that point there are a couple of different companies you can send the HDD off to for data recovery, but it wont be cheap.

Anyways best of luck to you and I hope you find a solution for your problem!

Regards,

Shinseina

 

[xzeromail]

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

I got the same problem,when I tried to format/clean it always said "the request could not be performed because of I/0 device error" and so on
any alternative?

 

[DrBill65]

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

YOU SAVED MY DRIVE, thanks, I'm 66 years old and not a 'geek' by any stretch of the imagination and your clear instructions got my disk back after I mistakenly connected it to a UBuntu system that did something to it. You are the BEST!! Thanks, Bill Kittredge

 

[GhostSpectre]

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

Hello Real Beast
I am new and trying to get hold of you.

My question
I followed your instructions, format successful. But I cannot see the external drive any more (after restart too). If I go to diskpart & list disk, I can see it. Could you or someone help please. Thanks

-------------------------
correct format is:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
list volume
select volume #(where # is the number of the external drive)
assign
exit

***rock n roll!!!*

Hi, I entered "clean" and it's taking some time (It has been an hour already). Is this normal since I have a one terabyte external drive or is this another sign that it's dying?

Thank you for the response in advance!

 

[Someone Somewhere]

A 1TB drive is big. Taking a few hours is normal.

 

[lesbunny03]

Does this set of instructions wipe the drive? Or are some files still accessible? Thank you!!

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Chkdsk won't wipe the drive.

Using diskpart's clean function will remove the partition table and make your data inaccessible, though.

 

[ColoradoRobert]

Hey RealBeast, I was hoping this would work on a corrupted ipod classic but when I went to clean it diskpart returned this message, "DiskPart has encountered an error: The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error. See the System Event Log for more information." My problem is even if I knew how to look at the event log = what then would I do with information that I don't even understand ? So either I'm dead in the water with trying to reformat this ipod because it has bad sectors or I am willing to try something else. BTW the ipod will not connect to itunes but my Win7 sees it (although it is unnamed). I've tried all kinds of format stuff but nothing has worked. Even if I could use the thing to store files (60GB) it would be worth a save even if it no longer can be used as a regular ipod.