Lost data from your external hard drive? Don’t worry! There’s a lot you can do before you lose all your hopes. You can still recover data from an external hard drive by following the following stepwise guide on how to recover deleted files from an external hard drive.
Part 1: External Hard Drive Overview
1- Why Data Loss is so Common in External Hard Disk Drives
The data loss on external hard drives is pretty much a common thing now. Being mechanical in nature, the external hard disk drives are quite vulnerable to a number of threats. If handled carelessly, you can lose all your data stored in external hard disk drives.
Following are some of the common reasons for data loss from external HDDs.
- Accidental formatting or deletion of files.
- Improper power cut-off (shut-down)
- Damaged partition structure
- Malicious virus attack
- Accidental drop
- Careless handling
This is the reason why external hard disks are considered to be an old means of storing and transferring data. The SSD, being the most reliable and secure storage device, is dominating the market quite rapidly.
If you’re the one looking for how to recover deleted files from external hard drive, we’ve got four different methods for you to try in order to recover external hard drive data.
2- What to do when data is lost on External Hard Drive?
Once the data is lost on an external hard disk drive, you can still recover it. You can use a trusted data recovery software or you can also try some other methods (discussed below) to get your data back.
Part 2: How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
We’ve got you four different methods of data recovery and they’re all equally effective. But it depends on the nature of the reason for data loss in your case. Anyhow, follow our guide to recover deleted files from an external hard drive.
Method 1: Recover External Hard Drive Data with Tenorshare 4DDiG data recovery software
Tenorshare 4DDiG is one of the best data recovery software available online. Tenorshare 4DDiG is developed to recover any format of:
- Deleted images
- Deleted videos
- Office documents (Doc, Docx, pptx, and hundreds of other types)
- Audio files
- Raw files
- And many more.
You can get free access to the Tenorshare 4DDiG by downloading the appropriate version (Windows or Mac). The installation process of the software is very easy and convenient.
Go to Tenorshare 4DDiG website and download the appropriate type. After downloading the setup, install it on your device. Once installed, it will display an interface that’s so user-friendly that you don’t have to learn anything prior to interacting with the software.
1- Choose a Drive
Connect your external hard disk drive with your Windows or Mac device. Once your system detects and connects your external hard drive, the software will automatically detect it. You would be able to see it in the Devices and Drives section.
Select your external hard drive from which you want to recover data and click Start.
2- Scan External Hard Disk Drive
Now, the scanning will start and you will be able to see the progress bar. Once it’s completed, you can see the recovered files.
If you still can’t see your files, try Deep Scan. This algorithm takes more time and deeply scans the entire drive to look for the traces of lost data.
3- Preview and Recover
Once the software finds all your deleted files from the external drive, you preview the files and recover the ones you want. You might find some old files from your drive as well which you deleted on purpose.
Method 2: Retrieve External Hard Drive Data with CMD
If you’re a Windows user, you can also use Command Prompt (CMD) to recover your data.
Type “cmd” in the search bar and then run the program as administrator.
Then type the command “chkdsk (space) X: (space)/f”. Make sure you replace the X with the letter assigned to your external hard disk drive.
Wait for it to finish, and you’ll be able to access your lost data.
Method 3: Reinstall The Drivers
Sometimes, reinstalling the external hard disk drive’s drivers can get the job done. You can do that by going to Device Manager (which can be accessed through the search bar). Under Disk Drivers, find your external hard drive and right-click on it. You’ll be able to see the “Uninstall Device” option.
Restart your computer and connect your external hard disk again. Wait for the drivers to install automatically once again.
Method 4: First Aid in Disk Utility
For Mac users, looking for a CMD command (Method-1) might be an issue. So, they can use the First Aid feature in the Disk Utility section.
Open Finder, click on Application, then Utilities, and open Disk Utility. From there, select the external hard disk drive from which you want to recover your data, and click on the First Aid button.
Run the First Aid feature to check any partition relation issues with your external hard drive.
Part 3: How to Avoid Data Loss from External Hard Drive
Every Hard Disk Drive has a Certain Life
Once you start experiencing any unusual changes or data loss in any of your external hard disk drives, STOP using it!
Hard disk drives are mechanical and they have a certain life. You can’t use them for ages, they’ll eventually stop working.
Format in case of Malicious Attack
If you think your external hard disk drive has some malicious virus programs, format it immediately before it ruins all your data.
You can also run an antivirus program to see any potential threat in your drive.
Create Backup
It’s always recommended to have a backup of your drives. Cloud storages are best for keeping your important documents safe.
If you don’t want to keep your documents online, you can also go for Solid State Drives. SSDs are much more reliable than hard drives, so having a backup in such kinds of storage devices can be very beneficial.
Conclusion
So, this was a brief guide on how to recover data from an external hard drive. You can try any of the four methods discussed above to recover an external hard drive. However, you need to be careful when dealing with external hard disk drives since they’re fragile and the mechanical components of its parts are quite delicate.
However, the best tip for storing your data is either on the cloud storage or in the SSD, rather than being open-to-risk with external hard disk drives.
