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[Solved] 9 Super Efficient Solutions for External Hard Drive Repair

November 07, 2024Nicole Jones

Fix Windows Problems

An external data drive is a great data storage option for us, especially when storing large or important files. However, you must have encountered that your external hard drive stopped working for no reason. This could happen due to various causes: outdated HDD disk, corrupted file system, physical damage, etc. The worst result of it must be a complete loss of all your data on the external hard drive.

Hence, we’d better learn how to repair external hard drives by ourselves to keep our important data as much as possible under some urgent situations. This post will analyze all possible reasons why HDD is not working and offer 9 workable solutions to help you restart it. And if you’ve already lost your data, don’t worry, a powerful data recovery software is also mentioned.

Part 1. Causes of External Hard Drive Not Working
Part 2. 9 Best Fixes to Repair External Hard Drive
Part 3. Bonus: Best Data Recovery Tool for External Hard Drive

Part 1. Causes of External Hard Drive Not Working

Physical Damage

• Dropping or physically damaging the drive can cause internal damage.

• Exposure to water can severely damage the drive’s components.

• Dust and debris can accumulate and interfere with the drive’s operation.

• A faulty USB cable can also disrupt the connection between the drive and your computer.

Software and File System Issues

• The file system that organizes data on the drive can become corrupted, making it inaccessible.

• Malicious software can damage files and the file system.

• Outdated or corrupted drivers can prevent the drive from being recognized.

• Errors in the drive’s logical structure can hinder access to data.

Power Supply Problems

• The drive may not be receiving enough power, especially if it’s connected to a USB hub or a weak power source.

• A damaged power adapter can prevent the drive from functioning correctly.

Other Factors

• Excessive heat can damage the drive’s components.

• Poor ventilation can lead to overheating and damage.

• The drive's components can wear out, leading to performance issues.

Part 2. 9 Best Fixes to Repair External Hard Drive

Solution 1. Boot computer into Safe Mode

Erase Data: No

Sometimes, when an external hard drive, like a USB or SD card external hard drive, doesn't show up, the problem might exist on PC. You can put your computer into Safe Mode to avoid this problem.

Enter Safe Mode on Windows 7

Step 1.

Remove all floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs from your computer, and restart your computer.

Step 2.

Use the arrow key to highlight the OS (if you installed more than one OS) you want to start in Safe Mode, press F8 before the Windows logo appears to enter the "Advanced Boot Options" screen.

Step 3.

On the "Advanced Boot Options" screen, use the arrow keys to highlight the safe mode option you want, and then press "Enter".

Step 4.

Log on to your computer with a user account that has administrator rights.

Boot into Safe Mode on Windows 10

Step 1.

Click "Windows" button > "On/Off" > Hold on the "Shift" key and click "Restart" > Click "Troubleshoot" > "Advanced options".

Step 2.

In the pop-up option, select "Start-up Settings" > "Restart" and several boot options will be displayed. Select "Enable Safe Mode" by pressing F4 key on your keyboard. Or Safe Mode related to 5 and 6 by pressing F5 and F6.

Head to Safe Mode on Window 8

Step 1.

Right click "App Applications" on your Windows 8 > Click "Command Prompt" and right click, and then click once more Executable by system administrator.

Step 2.

If there is user account control, click "Yes".

In the pop-up window, input "Bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes" and press "Enter".

Step 3.

Once completed, restart your computer, and press F8 to enter the "Startup Settings" screen. Press F4 to enter Safe Mode on Windows 8.

Solution 2. Run a CMD disk checkup

Erase Data: No

When your external hard drive is not responding or detected by your Windows computer, you can run CMD disk checkup.

Step 1.

Open Start menu to find "Command Prompt", right click it to select to run it as administrator.

Step 2.

Type "chkdsk /f *:"

* represents the external hard drive letter that you want to repair.

Step 3.

Hit Enter to let the checking process run. When it is done, type "exit" and hit "Enter" to finish the process.

Solution 3. Check and repair external hard drive via System File Checker

Erase Data: No

System File Checker is a tool built in Windows that allows users to scan for corruptions in Windows system files and restore corrupted files.

Step 1.

Click "Start", type "Command Prompt" or "cmd" in the "Search" box, right-click "Command Prompt", and then select "Run as administrator".

Step 2.

At the command prompt, type "sfc /scannow", and then press ENTER.

Solution 4. Check Power Management for USB hub

Erase Data: No

It may be the cause by USB port. You can connect your external hard drive to another USB port. Or use this drive in another computer to check if it is not working. If the problem still appears, just check the Power Management for USB hub.

Step 1.

Click "Start" > Input "devmgmt.msc" and Enter.

Step 2.

Open "Device Manager" > "Universal Serial Bus controllers" > Right-click "USB Root Hub" > "Properties" > "Power Management" > uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device" to save power.

Solution 5. Uninstall/Update external hard driver

Erase Data: Possible data loss of incorrect or accidental disconnection.

External hard drive is not showing up on your computer? Just try to uninstall or update the drives.

Step 1.

Click on "Start" > Type "devmgmt.msc and hit "Enter" > Open "Device Manager" > Expand "Universal Serial Bus controllers" > Check out whether any device shows up as unrecognized.

Step 2.

If it shows as unrecognized, go to the drivers tab and "Uninstall the driver.

Step 3.

If it doesn't show up, reboot or restart your computer.

Step 4.

If it shows up but disappears later, repeat the above steps and go to "Disk Management" > change drive letter of your external drive only.

Solution 6. Repartition to unhide external hard drive

Erase Data: No

If your external hard drive does not show up on your computer, you just need to create a partition for this drive.

Click "Start" > Type "diskmgmt.msc" in Search box and run this utility as administrator > Right click the hidden partition, choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths" > "Add" to give a letter for this partition.

You'd better add the original letter for this partition.

Solution 7. Format inaccessible external hard drive

Erase Data: Yes

Sometimes, hard drive format can also be the magic.

Formatting hard drive will drag your external hard drive to the original state, where everything seems to be new. However, formatting hard drive will wipe all data on the drive, so you had better back up the data.

If you cannot access the hard drive data, just get format drive recovery.

Now, let's follow the steps to format your inaccessible external hard drive here.

Connect your Drive to your computer > Right click "Computer" > Select "Manage" > "Disk Management" > Right-click on the not working Drive > "Format" > Set "File System" and "Volume Label" to launch a quick format option.

Solution 8. System Restore

Erase Data: Yes

External hard drive not working always occurs suddenly. Thus, just restore your computer system to a previous point, and all your data and settings will be back to the previous point. To some extent, it sounds like a time machine to put you back in the past.

Note: System restore will wipe some newly-added data after the previous point. So you had better back up your computer data to another external hard drive.

Solution 9. Third-party apps for repairing external hard drive not responding

Erase Data: Possible data loss of some unsafe apps.

When you rack your brain to find the solutions to fix dead or not working external hard drive, and find nothing, you may need to turn to some third-party repair tools for help.

Similar external hard drive repair tools like MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro, EaseUS Partition Master, Paragon Partition Manager, TestDisk, WinDirStat, etc. can be your list for try.

Part 3. Bonus: Best Data Recovery Tool for External Hard Drive

As you can see, not all methods can ensure zero data loss during repair, some even can make you lose data. At the same time, you may also lose data after the repair finishes. With this said, a powerful data recovery tool is needed for data backup or restoration.

Aiseesoft Data Recovery is a data retrieval program, that enables you to recover lost or missing data on internal and external hard drive, even your hard drive is formatted, shifted deleted, crashed, etc. Moreover, it enables you to recover data from external hard drive like SanDisk, Seagate, Toshiba, Lacie, G-Technology, Buffalo, Apple, ADATA, Transcend, PNY, NETGEAR, EMTEC, Verbatim, Promise Technology, mophie, etc.

• Restore data from not working hard drive due to disk accident, re-partition, improper clone, system re-installation, virus attack, etc.

• Get back the lost or deleted PDF, Excel, TXT, XML, LOG, HTML, RTF, DAT, etc.

• Undelete the photos, videos, music, emails and other files.

• Compatible with Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP (SP2 or later).

• Besides external hard drive, data in internal hard drive can also be restored.

Step 1.

Free download this software to your computer. Make your external hard drive connected with your computer.

This software is capable of recovering and reparing hard drive from Toshiba, WD, Seagate, Lacie, SanDisk, G-Technology, Buffalo, Apple, ADATA, Transcend, PNY, NETGEAR, EMTEC, Verbatim, Promise Technology, mophie, etc.

Step 2.

In the main interface, you need to select your external hard drive to tick it. Click Start Scan to start scan of your external hard drive.

Step 3.

After the scan result is complete, you can click the data type to view the details on the right window. Checkmark and click "Recover" to save the missing or lost files to your computer.

Tips

1. You can view the scan result by type list or path list. Change the settings on the left sidebar.

2. If you cannot find your deleted files through the quick scan, just click "Deep Scan" to spend more time on getting a thorough scan on external hard drive.

You may need: How to Screenshot on Toshiba

Conclusion

This page collects the 9 efficient solutions to fix external hard drive not working, reading, or responding. Next time, you suffer from such issues, you can easily repair it by yourself. Without professional computer knowledge, the step-by-step guide can be enough to help you. Besides, if you lose all the data on your external hard drive, don’t forget to try Aiseesoft Data Recovery. Make data loss never a worry!

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