- How To Fix A Corrupted Seagate External Hard Drive For Mac And Windows
- How To Fix A Corrupted Seagate External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
How to Restore Files from Seagate External Hard Drive A piece professional and secure Seagate data recovery software can help you get lost data back more promptly and easily, for example, Recoverit Data Recovery Software.It is an effective and reliable external hard drive data recovery tool to help you to recover lost data from Seagate hard drive.
- Aug 15, 2019 Step 2: Fix the corrupted external hard drive by reformatting. After successfully recovering data from the corrupted external hard drive, you can fix it by reformatting now. Launch Disk Utility. Select the corrupted external hard drive from the sidebar of the window. Click the Erase button on the top of Disk Utility window.
- Hard drive are also a piece of hard drive that sometimes run into problems. If you want to repair a corrupt hard drive, there are many ways. You can use built-in Windows components such as Command.
- Connect your external Seagate drive to your PC via the USB port. For the internal hard drive, remove it from your PC or laptop and then insert it into a HDD enclosure. Connect it to a different PC where the Stellar Data Recovery software is installed, and if prompted to ‘Format hard Drive’ option box, click ‘No’.
- Normally when you plug in an external hard drive to your Mac's USB port you will see it appear on the desktop (aka mount on the desktop). You can also see it in the Finder in the left column under.
Aug 20,2020 • Filed to: Hard Drive Recovery • Proven solutions
'How fix a corrupted and unreadable external hard drive and access files from it? I plugged the portable drive on my PC, and now it is showing that drive is inaccessible! Can I fix it? Can I recover my files from the disk if it still doesn't open?'
An external hard drive is undoubtedly one of the frequently used electronic gadgets in the world today. You are inclined to use it on multiple computers, which may or may not be infected with some malware.
If you boot up your computer on one of those occasions to access content from the portable hard drive and find that your computer is unable to read that disk, then you need to repair it as soon as possible to gain access to those files again.
The external hard drive becomes unreadable and corrupted due to carelessly disconnecting or powering down the drive without following the eject drive protocol. You can repair the unreadable external drive with a quick scan on the PC with the help of the disk checking utility and its drive repair function. Chip card writer software.
Worst case scenario, if you are not able to fix the disk, then there is a way to recover all the valuable data, which you can quickly learn after reading this guide.
Part 1: Situation: Hard Drive is Corrupted and Unreadable
As mentioned earlier, your portable hard drive is prone to damage daily since it is used with such doggedness that one can forget how delicate the gadget is. Because of this scenario, many problems may occur with the drive, and the standard most error that typically happens is the 'External Drive or its directory becoming corrupt or unreadable.'
Such error comes with a message which is displayed when your operating system fails to read or open the external disk. Many factors may lead to this error, and fortunately, here, you will learn to implement different available fixes to ease your mind.
Part 2: Why the Hard Drive Becomes Unreadable and corrupted?
Whenever you get the error notification upon opening the external drive: 'H: is not accessible.' It means that the file or directory of the disk either corrupted or unreadable, and you need to fix that. There might be numerous factors behind the external drive becoming unreadable, but the leading cause you should consider is that there might be some file system damage to your portable storage device.
Here we will discuss some of those causes that could lead to your disk getting corrupted:
- Virus infection:Virus infection or malware attack occurs due to casual and unsafe browsing on the internet. If you happen to download a suspicious or pirated file from a shady website and open through the file explorer, it might infect your computer and all the devices connected to it, as well. Such a mistake could convert the file system of your external hard drive into RAW and make it corrupt/unreadable. Thus the 'Drive is not accessible' notification; it is a known fact that RAW file format makes it impossible for Windows to read and access the partition or flash drive.
- Corrupted Master File Table:Corrupted Master File Table is the other culprit behind the HDD becoming unreadable and you not being able to open the contents of the disk. A partition table is mainly gets damaged due to improper handling of the hardware, such as removing the external hard drive from the PC without using the 'Safely Remove Hardware' option.
- Unexpected Power Failure:An unexpected Power Failure may also cause the drive to misbehave and corrupt. Before using the gadget, you necessarily must make sure the USB ports of the PC and the disk alike are functioning correctly.
- Physical damagesPhysical damages to the external hard drive should also be considered as the reason behind the external drive becoming unreadable. If you have accidentally dropped the device, it may cause some internal damage and making it impossible for the system to access the files. In this case, you must send the drive to an expert for a brief fix.
Part 3: How To Fix Unreadable and Corrupted Hard Disk?
If the damage to the drive is not physical, then you can repair the unreadable and corrupt device without any hassle. There are three popular methods mentioned below that will fix your external storage drive in no time.
However, before doing something drastic, you should look into the following thing to ensure the fact of whether the problem is with your disk or not.
- Try using your hard drive on another PC, if your PC can't detect it. It will solidify the fact that the disk is corrupt, and there is something wrong with the drive, and measures should be taken.
- It is essential to check the power supply of both the PC and the drive. There is a slight chance that due to over-usage, the power cable might have stopped working.
- There are multiple USB slots on the computer, and you should try changing the USB port or insert some other flash drive to check whether the port is working or not.
- In the Disk Management utility, try changing the drive letter of the storage media, which could help to restore data inside the corrupted hard drive.
1. Run the CHKDSK Command through cmd prompt Utility:
CHKDSK is used to identify the status of the drive, its file system, and the metadata of the drive's format for logical and physical errors. You can enable the command by following the guide below:
- Open Command Prompt from the Start menu by entering 'cmd' and running it as an administrator.
- Type the command in the display window with the assigned letter of the damaged hard drive: chkdsk I: /f /r /x ('I' is the assigned letter of the scanned drive).
- The command will take some time to scan the disk and fix the detected issue immediately.
It would be best if you were careful while using 'Command Prompt' as it can get pretty technical; entering a wrong command could lead to severe damage to the computer.
2. Update the driver of the USB Device:
There is a chance the driver of the external device might not be up-to-date. You can update the driver by opening Windows' Device Manager feature, and here is the step-by-step guide to help you through it.
- Open Device Manager by entering the keyword in the Windows search bar.
- Locate the driver under the 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers' section and click on it.
- Click on 'Update Driver' and pick the option 'Search automatically for updated driver software.'
- Let the manager do its work.
The manager will work its charm if it detects a faulty driver; Otherwise, check the third method to fix the issue.
3. Reformat the Corrupted Disk:
Formatting the drive is an extreme step! It should only be done if the file system of your device has become RAW. Here are the instructions to format the external hard disk.
- Open Disk Management from the Windows search bar.
- Locate your external drive from the list of disks.
- Right Click on it and pick the 'Format' option.
- If the file system is RAW, change it to NTFS and click on OK.
- You can also change the allotted letter of the drive.
This option should only be picked if you do not intend to recover the data inside.
Part 4: How to Recover Data from the Repaired Hard Drive?
Data from an unreadable hard disk is recoverable with the help of a third-party data recovery application. Recoverit - Data Recovery will help you recover items that are under threat of getting deleted. Before performing the recovery operation, it is best to understand the features of the program, which are mentioned below:
Recoverit Data Recovery
A Life Saver to Solve Your Data Loss Problems!
- Recoverit offers data recovery from a lost partition, unreadable or corrupt drives, and every other kind of inaccessible data.
- The app supports more than 1000 different file formats, which include every bit of media files.
- You can recover any amount of data from a crashed computer and external devices such as USB, portable hard disks, and memory cards.
- The software lets you preview the recovered items and allows you to save them to any location of your choice.
3,165,867 people have downloaded it
Here is the three-step guide to use the application and retrieve lost content in a matter of minutes.
Step 1Choose the Location of the Drive to Start
Launch the program on your PC and pick the damaged drive under the 'External Devices' section. Push the start button after that.
Step 2Wait for the Application to Finish the Scan
You will have to wait for a few minutes as Recoverit will scan the damaged drive and extract all data from it. The app also offers to pause or stop the process in between. The program will notify you once it completes the scan.
Step 3Save your Data
In the end, you can view through the program's preview feature, which displays the content under different categories. After checking the files, select the needed items, and click on the 'Recover' button. You can save the data to a location where you feel it will be safe.
Bottom Line
Over and careless use of any machine or biological figure would eventually result in its demise. Now you know the causes behind an external drive becoming readable and how to fix a corrupted external hard drive.
Want to learn more about recover videos in hard drive? check this article now!
There's a slight chance that the data inside the corrupt drive may get erased, you can prevent all of the issues if you use Recoverit program. Feel free to spread the word to your friends and family, who are dealing with such a problem.
Read more: How to Recover Data from Transcend External Hard Drive
An external hard drive is good to backup a lot of data. But sometimes in the process of using an external hard drive, MBR or Master boot table becomes corrupted, making it impossible to access your hard drive. For example Microsoft Window-based computer make use of Master boot record (MBR) portion of a hard drive, so in that case, the MBR portion gets corrupt the drive will be inaccessible. Learn how to fix MBR on External Drive so that you might be able to access it.
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There are a few methods to check if your hard drive has a corrupted MBR. For example, if you run CHKDSK, you might receive an error telling the drive has corrupted master boot table. When that happens to you, use a Windows installation media disk to perform a specific sets command to fix an external hard drive with inaccessible MBR. If you don’t have Windows installation disc you can create a bootable recovery USB drive using your Windows.
How to create Windows recovery bootable USB device.
1. Click on start button and type “create a recovery drive.”
2. Untick the option to backup files and data.
3. Click proceed, it will only take a minute or two, then you will be able to boot from USB and perform some specific commands.
How to Fix an MBR Inaccessible External Hard Drive
Lets face it, this method may solve your issue and your external hard drive will be accessible and act normal. If this method doesn’t fix your Hard Drive it might be a good time to get Approved letter from your Hard drive company support team and send it to 3rd party to recover data without voiding warray. read more at the bottom of the article.
How to Fix MBR on External Hard Drive
- Connect hard drive to computer.Connect your external hard drive using a USB cable to the computer.
- Boot from recovery USB or Windows installation media.Insert the Windows installation disc or the recovery USB and shutdown your computer.
Press the boot device selection button which is F9 in HP computer, recombination to access boot device can be different according to your computer. But in most cases, you can select ” external USB drive” to boot from by pressing one of these buttons “F9, Del, ESC, F12, F10. - Select recovery options.If you are using a Windows installation disc click on “Repair Your Computer.” If you are using Windows recovery bootable USB, simply choose the option.
- Select the drive.On the next window select “Command Prompt.” it will open from x/Windows. Now type the drive letter of the external hard drive, if you have multiple partition choose the drive letter accordingly. For example type “H:” without cloth and then press enter. Command prompt can take action from here.
- Fix MBR using these commands.Now type “
bootrec /fixboot ” without the quotes and press Enter key.
Enter “bootrec /fixmbr ” without the quotes and press Enter key.
This is the thing that might just save your day. This might give you a “successful message” if that happens, unplug your hard drive and plug it again to see if it works.
Type “bootrec /fixboot ” without the quotes and press Enter key.
Type “bootrec /fixmbr ” without the quotes and press Enter key.
Run CHKDSK.
If your Hard Drive is connecting to your computer and you’re unable to access it, you might want to run CHKDSK command. Start your computer and connect Hard Drive, then open Command Prompt as Admin privilege. CHKSDSK is a tool to specially fix and reapir bad sectors on disc
Run “CHKDSK /r /f /x H:” Without qu ote.
Here H: is the drive label of your Hard Drive. It will take hours if your Data happens to be in hundreds of GB. The command /x force the drive unmounted before performing any actions.
Alternatively, you can use a Recovery USB or Windows installation media to open Command Prompt and run CHKDSK form there for better results.
Checklist
Make sure to double check all the things before applying the method above.
1. Update all the drivers by going to Device manager.
2. Plug your hard drive into another computer to see if there is a port issue on your computer.
3.Wiggle the hard drive cable to fix any loose connections.
Wrapping it up.
All the spinning Hard Drives need extra safety to function properly. Try to place external hard drive on a plain surface and do not bend its cable. A connection disturbs while Hard Drive is connected results corrupt master boot record. Try both the method we’ve listed in this article, one to repair MBR/MFT and second using CHKDSK commands.
A company like Seagate, offer multi-year warranty including an approved letter which allows you to go to a 3rd party for Data Recovery and then apply for a replacement. You might want to consider recovering data at 3rd party as official componies charges more.
There can be other reasons why External Drive is inaccessible.
How To Fix A Corrupted Seagate External Hard Drive For Mac And Windows
Bad Ports, this results I/O error often.
How To Fix A Corrupted Seagate External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
MBR, MFT gone bad.