External Hard Drive Recovery



Position: How Tos - Data Recovery - Recover Data From External Hard Drive

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When your files get lost from external hard drive due to deletion, formatting, partition corruption, disk broken, etc. you can follow guides in this article to recover data from external hard disk completely and quickly. External hard drive recovery can be easily achieved with the help of effective HDD recovery software. Read through this tutorial and learn how to get back lost data.

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Recover data from external hard drive

When it comes to storing or moving large amount of data, external hard drive can be the optimal option. Many computer users get used to relying on external hard drive to store backup copies or transfer data between various machines. External hard drive is regarded as the fabulous choice for the reason that it provides ample storage space with acceptable price. It enables users to store huge amount of data and tons of huge files, such as movies, games, photos, archives, etc.

Though external hard disk brings great convenience, it is still susceptible to data loss issues. External hard drive is one of the most commonly used storage devices. It consists of a case which contains a regular hard drive with a USB interface adaptor. Thus, an external hard drive may encounter issues that related to hard drive, external enclosure and interface, for example, disk formatting, power issue. If you browse technical communities online, you can find many users are facing external HDD data loss issue, for example:

'Don't know if anyone here has experienced this. I cannot find any quick way to recover files from the damaged hard drive. I'm using a 2TB WD external hard drive without facing any problem until yesterday. The external HDD got unplugged during transferring data to computer. Now it shows up in File Explorer but I cannot access it. Always receive error message that asks me to format it. I tried two HDD recovery tools suggested by a tutorial, however, data scanning process has taken 20 hours and only part files are found. Is it possible to recover data via faster way?'

Data loss issue on external hard disk can be devastating and sad experience, for it may keep the only backup copy of your files like photos, videos, system backup and so on. In the old days, it was deemed impossible to recover lost files, and yet owing to technical advances, it is easy to recover lost data from hard drive, external disk, flash drive, etc. All you need to do is install efficient recovery software that can perform external hard drive recovery. If you are wondering how to recover data from external hard disk, then continue reading below to find answers.


External hard drive recovery software

In the majority of cases, it is easu to recover data from external hard disk. There are a lot of recovery tools that claim to recover lost files. Here are two highly recommended tools to help you achieve the results: Eassos Recovery Free and DiskGenius.

Eassos Recovery Free is free and reliable external hard drive recovery software that is capable of recovering deleted or lost files from any type of storage devices. It supports the recovery of lost files, photos, videos, documents, audio files and other formats of data from external hard disk. In addition, it can deal with other data loss situations, for example formatting, partition loss, virus attack, RAW drive, etc.

DiskGenius is professional and effective data recovery software that can help you recover lost files or partitions from formatted or corrupted disk. The recovery process is efficient and safe, for you can quickly recover what you need without doing harm to lost data. Key features on data recovery:

  • File recovery: recover deleted or lost files from external hard disk safely and completely; retrieve lost data from formatted or corrupted drive effectively.
  • Partition recovery: search for lost or deleted partitions from disk and restore lost partitions to partition table directly.
  • Support a variety of devices: hard drive, external HDD, SSD, memory card, USB flash drive, pend drive, virtual disk, etc.
  • Preview for selectively recovery: file preview is provided to help users check recoverable data and choose what you want accurately.
  • High compatibility: data recovery is available for drives formatted to NTFS, exFAT, FAT32/16/12, EXT2/3/4.
  • Hex editor: a full-featured hex editor is added to the professional edition and it helps to analyzing raw data for advanced recovery.

Guide 1: How to recover deleted files from external hard drive free?

To start recovering deleted files from external hard disk, you need to connect the drive to computer and make sure it can be recognized by Windows. Then download and install free recovery software Eassos Recovery on your computer. Afterwards, you can follow steps below to recover deleted files:

Step 1 Launch Eassos Recovery Free and choose recovery mode.

Before you start the recovery process, you need to choose recovery mode from the main interface. To recover deleted data from external disk, select 'Recover Deleted Files' option.

Step 2 Select external hard drive and scan the drive for lost data.

Now choose the external drive where you need to retrieve lost data, and click Next button to scan files. Eassos Recovery will start a complete and quick scanning and look for recoverable files from the disk. The recovery freeware allows users to preview files during and after scanning and you can find what you need easily and quickly.

Step 3 Preview and recover data from external disk.

You can preview files listed under Directory and File Type tabs to find out what you need. Select files and folders and click Recover button to get back lost files. Make sure recovered files are saved to a location which is different the drive being recovered.


Guide 2: How to recover data from formatted external hard drive?

Eassos Recovery supports to recover data from formatted external hard drive, but DiskGenius works better when deal with formatted or corrupted drive recovery. In this section, we use DiskGenius to retrieve formatted data from external hard drive.

Step 1 Download and install DiskGenius on your computer where the external hard drive is connected. Then launch the recovery software and you can view the external hard drive in the software.

Step 2 Right-click on the external drive and choose Recover Lost Files from context menu. Also, you can click File Recovery button from toolbar after selecting the external hard drive.

Step 3 Choose Complete Recovery and Search For Known File Types and click Start button.

DiskGenius will start a complete and deep scanning on the drive, and lost files will be displayed during scanning.

Step 4 Preview files before actual recovery.

Once files are listed in scanning result, you can preview files to check if files are correct. Double-click a file to open it in previewing window, as follows. Besides, you can filter files with the help of filter function, which can help you quickly find desired data.

Step 5 Recover files from the external disk.

To recover files, you need to check boxes in front of files or folders, right-click on them to choose Copy To. A window will show up and guide you to set a location to save recovered data. When selected files are copied and saved to specified location, the recovery process completes.


Guide 3: How to recover data from corrupted external hard disk?

Corrupted external hard drive is not accessible by operating system, and you cannot open it to access files in the drive. If you check the drive in Disk Management, the file system might be RAW drive. The drive in DiskGenius might be shown as Unformatted. Most of the time, corrupted drive is caused by damaged or missing file system. The positive part of the issue is that files are recoverable and you can retrieve lost files from corrupted external hard drive follow steps below:

Step 1 Launch DiskGenius from your computer and check if files in the corrupted external hard drive can be displayed in the software.

There are situations that files of RAW drive can be listed once the software is launched. If files are not listed, you can move to next step.

Step 2 Select the corrupted drive and click Tools ->Load Current Partition Intelligently.

Note: This function is designed for recovering data from inaccessible/RAW NTFS partition. If the corrupted drive from which you are trying to recover data was not NTFS or it is badly damaged, you need to move to next step.

Step 3 Select the corrupted drive and click File Recovery button from toolbar, which opens Recover Files window, as below:

Step 4 Select recovery mode and click Start button to start searching for lost data. Preview and recover files when scanning process finds out what you want to recover.


Possible causes for data loss on external hard drive

Do you already know the exact cause of your data loss issue? The method to recover lost data from external hard drive can be different based on the cause behind the issue. Problem can be caused by various factors and this section lists the most common reasons:

  • Accidental deletion: accidentally deleting important files from hard drive or USB disks is one of the major causes of data loss. Removable drives do not have Recycle Bin and you lose the file once it gets deleted.
  • Formatting drive: format external hard disk by mistake when you are attempting to format another disk. It is important to stop using the drive before files are recovered.
  • Partition corruption/RAW drive: file system on external hard drive gets damaged and turns to RAW, and you cannot open it in File Explorer. Besides, you receive error messages like 'Location is not available. H: is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable'. In this case, you need to perform RAW partition recovery before formatting the drive.
  • Malware & virus attack: if you connect external hard drive to a computer which is not protected by anti-virus software, there is a good chance of infecting virus or malware during downloading or installing files from the internet. Virus is capable of deleting and destroying data, or corrupting drive.
  • Power issue: power outage might happen when you are transferring data between computer and external hard disk. This may cause the corruption of data or even data loss.
  • Bad sectors: a disk with bad sectors may show down, freeze computer or turn to inaccessible.
  • Physical failure: removeable disk might be dropped or knocked over, which tends to cause physical damage. Then the drive may make a ticking noise when it is powered on.

Conclusion

Despite all the convenience and reliability that external hard drive brings about, it is possible to lose data due to all kinds of reasons. Fortunately, it is easy to recover data from external hard drive. Always remember to keep at least 2 copies of backup for crucial data. If you happen to lose important data, do not panic, you can follow this guide to recover deleted or lost files from external hard disk easily with the help of DiskGenius. Should you have any question on external hard drive recovery, please do not hesitate to contact our support team.

DiskGenius - The best recovery software to recover lost data from external HDD, flash drive, SD card, etc.

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Apr 12, 2021 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

Most of the systems come with an internal hard drive, but due to the need for large data, people often use the external hard drive. The hard drive acts as the brain of the computer and without it, the system will not work.

People save a lot of data on an external drive and want to save it for future use as well. However, sometimes due to any reason, the external drive can get damaged or failed which may put your data at risk. Also, like other storage devices, the hard drive is fragile to data loss as well.

You generally use external hard drives to store large files, back up data, and save important business files. But, what if your hard drive suddenly stops working or fails?

This is where you need to recover files from the hard drive. Let's find out the ways to recover deleted files from external hard drive. In this article, we will also discuss the various external hard drive recovery tools.

Take a look!

Part 1. Reasons Why You Need to Do External Hard Drive Recovery

There are many reasons why you may need external hard drive data recovery. Following are some of them:

  • Hard drive failure

Anyone can face a hard drive failure issue at any time. There are many reasons for hard drive failure, which may damage all your important data stored in that drive. Also, you may lose the data permanently when your drive gets failed. So, it is better to recover the external hard derive from time to time.

  • Accidentally formatted an external hard drive

Sometimes, you may accidentally delete important files from your hard drive. This is where you want to recover data from the external hard drive.

  • Less storage

When you want to save large data on a daily basis, you need free space in your hard drive. This is why you want to back up the data or want to recover the useful data from the drive.

Part 2. Features of Different Types of Hard Drive Failure

Whether your hard drive gets failed due to general wear and tear, human error, software bugs, or malware, it may cause you a big loss. Keep in mind that the hard drives are susceptible to failure and feature different symptoms in different failure cases.

Take a look at the different types of hard drive failures:

Mechanical failure

Hard drives are the mechanical components of a system, which is prone to wear and tear. It is especially true for old hard drives, as they get easily broken due to a hit or a little pressure. Frequent computer crashes and unusual noises can be the signs of mechanical drive failure.

Following are the symptoms of mechanical failure:

  • Complete system freeze
  • Clicking sounds from the hard drive
  • Files become invisible or corrupt
  • Black screen during the booting process

Electrical failure

To communicate, the hard drive uses electricity. And, any failure in the electronic circuit it can cause an electrical failure. This is how the PCB board of the drive can lead to loss of access to your data. The reasons for electrical failure are surge in power voltage, lightning strikes, and power lines.

Following are the symptoms of electrical failure:

  • Sudden startup failure
  • The system can't detect the hard drive
  • You are not able to sign up with the hard drive

Firmware failure

The firmware is a type of software that does the maintenance functions on a hard drive. It also allows the hard disks to communicate with the system. And, any corruption to the firmware can affect the functions of the hard drive.

Firmware failure can occur due to any reason and can cause a potential threat to your data.

Following are the symptoms of firmware failure:

  • Corrupt files
  • Inaccessible hard drive

Overheating

Most of the time, due to a faulty CPU fan, the hard drive gets overheated. It is because the ventilations gets jammed, and high voltage give rise to high temperature. And, these reasons may heat up the entire system as well, which can lead to hard drive failure.

Following are the symptoms of overheating:

  • Frequent reboots/freezes
  • Fans are slow
  • Clicking sounds in system hardware
  • The system gets heated soon

Part 3. Best Software to Recover Files from External Hard Drive

External Hard Drive Recovery And Repair

When you want to recover files from an external hard drive, then you can use the best recovery tool. There are many tools that are available, but you should consider using one which is reliable, safe, and secure.

Here is the list of our best data recovery software that you can use to recover deleted files from the external hard drive.

Wondershare Recoverit

The number one software to recover data on our list is Wondershare Recoverit. It will Backup all your data and can recover the data from an external hard drive in one click. The best part is that it is easy to use and is safe to install on any system, be it Windows or macOS.

Further, you can recover many types of data using the Recoverit tool. You can either purchase one of the Recoverit plans (available for Windows or Mac), and there's an option to download for free.

Features of Recoverit Data Recover:

  • Support all types of files, including audio, video, documents, and more
  • Easy-to-navigate interface
  • Save recovered files
  • You search file by name, date, and size for fast recovery
  • A full comprehensive recovery algorithm can recover everything you need
  • Compatible with almost all devices and system

TestDisk

Number second on our list is TestDisk. It is a free and open-source tool to recover data from a hard drive. It is specially designed for recovering memory partitions that are caused by human errors. If you want to recover data from an external drive, you can use this tool. But, while using it, you need to be careful with steps.

Features of TestDisk:

  • Support all file formats
  • Can recover files from hard drive
  • It doesn't require proper installation

R-Studio

R-STUDIO is a cost-effective disk recovery software that you can use to recover data from external hard drive. It was developed by R-Tools Technology, Inc. for data recovery professionals. This tool comes with a user-friendly interface and is all-in-one data recovery software. It is used to recover damaged data beyond readability.

External Hard Drive Recovery Software

Features of R-Studio:

  • Inbuilt file viewer
  • Support many types of data files
  • Save the recovered data
External hard drive recovery

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Part 4. How to Perform Hard Drive Data Recovery?

When you accidentally lost data from a hard drive, you want to recover it. The best tool to recover deleted files from a hard drive is Recoverit – Data Recovery.

Following are the three easy steps that you will need to follow to use Recoverit – Data Recovery tool.

Free go to the official site and download as well as install Recoverit - Data Recovery on your system. Also, connect the external hard drive to the system.

External Hard Drive Recovery Dallas Texas

Now follow the following steps:

  • Launch the Recoverit tool on your system and choose the external hard drive to get started with the recovery process.
  • Now, the software will start scanning of the selected hard drive to searching your lost or deleted files. Keep in mind that the scanning will take few minutes.
  • After the scan gets completed, you are able to preview recovered files, like photos, videos, music, Office document files.

In the end, select the files that you want to recover and click on the 'Recover' button to save them.

So simple! You are finally can recover files from the external hard drive.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed the ways to recover files from the external hard drive. If you want to recover deleted files from a hard drive, then you can use the above-mentioned method. Also, consider using Recoverit – Data Recovery tool to recover or backup deleted files from the system. Try it once!

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