Computer and Technology

This five minutes reading tell you how to fix a malfunctioning flash drive. For software or driver issues, you can scan and repair your flash drive using your computer’s built-in repair utility. If your drive isn’t working because of an improper formatting or corrupted data, you can reformat your drive—but keep in mind that reformatting your USB flash drive will erase all files on it. Finally, if the flash drive won’t work because of physical damage, you should take it into a tech department or data recovery professional; if that’s not possible, you may be able to fix it yourself by soldering the broken USB drive’s circuitry to a working USB cable. However, attempting repairs yourself is not recommended as there is a high risk of destroying the flash drive. Also Read : How to Repair SD Card free without any third party software Step 1:Plug your flash drive into your computer. The flash drive should fit into one of the rectangular ports on your PC’s housing. If you’re encountering errors on your flash drive or it won’t display its contents, you may need to update its drivers or software using your computer’s repair feature    Step 2: Press Window Key + E to open File Explorer  . This opens File Explorer on Windows. You can use File Explorer to navigate to your flash drive. Step 3: Right-click your flash drive’s icon. This displays a menu to the right of the drive. You may need to click > next to This PC first in order to view the flash drive.    Step 4:Click Properties. It’s at the bottom of the menu that appears when you right-click a drive. Step 5:Click the Tools tab. This option is at the top of the Properties window. Step 6:Click Check. You’ll see this button at the top of the Tools tab in the “Error checking” section. Step 7:Wait for Windows to repair your drive. You may also need to follow some on-screen instructions during the repair process. For example, you might need to confirm that you want to repair the drive by clicking Scan & Repair.               Step 8:Click Close when prompted. If your flash drive’s problems were driver- or software-based, it should work now. Also Read: Earn money online from blogging without any investment and experience.

If your external hard drive is not showing up when connected to your computer, this can happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, it’s a matter of minor corruption, which can be resolved with a quick scan. Even Chkdsk, which is built into Windows, can occasionally resolve those issues. In other cases, the drive might need to be formatted before it can be recognized again. This results in data loss – though if a quick format is used, and the right precautions are taken (such as disconnecting the drive immediately after the format is complete), there is usually a high chance of recovering that data. In more severe cases, a disk might not be recognized due to physical damage. If the disk’s controller gets damaged, this is usually not fixable without expert assistance. And if the disk plates themselves are damaged, that disk can be written off. Recovery is sometimes possible in specialized facilities, but chances are low and the cost is typically prohibitively high for ordinary consumers. Before you begin to learn how to repair a hard disk that is not detected, you need to find out what could have caused this issue. This issue may be due to a host of factors. Some of this may consist of: Making use of the incorrect system file An issue with your driver on windows Damaged USB outlets Damaged Hard-Drives Fix #1: Ensure the Drive comes on You would be surprised how easy it is to miss this obvious step. Plug in the hard drive and see if it powers on. If it does not, then there could be a problem with the Hard-Drive cable. Try using another cord or plugging it into another system. If it comes on, then your cable is the issue. If it still doesn’t show up, move to the subsequent step. Fix #2: Use Disk Management To Check The Drive Connect your hard-drive to your Windows PC. Then open the Disk Management. You can do this using: Hit Windows Key + X button. Then select disk management from the list. With this tool, you will be able to see all the drives attached to your computer. You will be able to review sizes, see the partitions, alongside other statistics about the disk. You would also be able to view your hard-drive in the included in the Disk Management window. Even if you are unable to find it in this Window because it has no partitions, you should be able to see it a Removable. If the drive comes up here, you would then be able to create another Volume and Assign a Drive Letter. Here, you will be able to format it correctly or create a partition. This will ensure you will be able to get into the hard-drive using your Windows PC. If your computer still won’t recognize the external hard drive, you need to move to the next step. You will have to find out the reason why your hard-drive is not showing up. There is a prospect that you have concerns with your driver, hardware or that your drive is bad. Fix #3: Use an Alternative Windows PC Try connecting the hard-drive to another USB port on your PC. If it comes up, your issue may be a bad USB port. If you the hard-drive does not still come up on Disk Management after doing all of these, you can use another computer if you have one close to you. If this does not still work, move to the next step. Fix #4: Use Chkdsk Chkdsk – short for CheckDisk – is a command line utility built into Windows that can help troubleshoot issues with your drives. While it often gets ignored by experts, it can occasionally help you fix an external drive that’s not getting recognized. Open Start, type in Command Prompt, and click on Run as Administrator 2. Type chkdsk /f X: , where X: is the letter of the drive that’s not getting recognized. 3. Wait until the operation is finished (the last line should read “Total duration: XX seconds”). Fix #5: Reinstall Drivers Sometimes the issue could be caused by corruption in the disk’s drivers, especially if it uses custom drivers from the manufacturer. To fix any potential driver issues, follow these steps: Open Start, type in Device Manager, and launch Device Manager from the search results. Find your drive in the following screen. It should be under Disk Drives. Right-click the drive and select  Go to the Driver tab. Click Update Driver. Click Search Automatically for Drivers and wait for the process to finish. If this didn’t fix your issue, go back to the screen from step 5, and select Uninstall Device. Once the disk’s drivers have been uninstalled, disconnect and reconnect it to your computer. If the device is recognized, this should trigger a fresh installation of drivers. Fix #6: Troubleshoot Devices and Hardware The hardware troubleshooter is a tool that comes in Windows 7 devices and above. If the flash drive is not showing up, you can utilize this tool in finding out if the device has errors. To use it you need to: Hit Windows key + R. Type in msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic and hit Enter Also Read : Learn Best Way how to earn money online Click Next to initiate the hardware and devices troubleshooter. You apply the fix right away or later. Fix #7: Format the Hard Drive This may be your next option if all else fails and windows doesn’t recognize your external hard drive. There is a possibility it is partitioned in a file system windows is unable to recognize. If the hard-drive is in a format different from FAT32 or NTFS, your Windows PC would not be unable to recognize the hard-drive. If you need to format a particular partition using the Disk Management Utility, launch it, right-click and pick Format Also Read : How to recover Data from corrupted External Hard Disk.

External hard drives should be treated with caution to avoid damaging them. Since most of them are based on regular hard disks (and not SSDs), they are very sensitive to physical damage. Even knocking the drive around a little bit can sometimes cause irreversible damage. In addition, you should always take care to disconnect the drive properly in Windows. Take care when transporting your external drive Take care when transporting your external drive. Keep it well protected, ideally in a soft cover that can take some damage. Avoid bending the USB cable Avoid bending the USB cable too much when using the drive, especially around the drive’s USB port. Otherwise, you could damage Always disconnect the drive properly in Windows Always disconnect the drive properly in Windows, using the  feature. Some time the external hard drive failure after cable disconnect from the drive side could be of a simple electro-mechanical nature. The micro-USB3.0 connectors are pretty mechanically weak, especially in shroud/shield mounting area, while the cable overmold is usually very stiff. Moving out the cable might happen in a bending manner, and solder bonds between the connector pins and internal PCB might develop cracks, preventing the USB link from proper detection of Rx termination in one or another link direction. But this kind of failure usually develops over time, and signs of “connection flakiness” should be noticeable before the final failure. Regarding electricals of disconnect from one or other end of a cable, unfortunately there are differences, but they would more likely cause a trouble with software end on the host, and unlikely kill the HDD. In general, unplugging a cable (possibly in the middle of essential directory management operation) is called “surprise disconnect”. Due to uncountable variety of conditions at the moment of disconnect, USB specifications do not regulate this event, and system protection and recovery is “implementation-specific”. In other words, all bets are off with the surprise disconnect. Since the USB cable is simply four wires with no active electronics, disconnection at either end is electrically the same result. Also Read : Learn Best Way how to earn money online However mechanically the safer method is disconnecting the USB cable at the PC side, because you are likely to move/shake the drive while disconnecting at its end. HDDs should be exposed to as little shock and vibration as possible, especially while powered on and spinning. Even after unplugging the USB cable (and the HDD is powered off), the prudent action would be to give the HDD (especially if it’s a 3.5″ HDD) a few seconds to spin down and park the head assembly. Also Read : How to recover Data from corrupted External Hard Disk.

All computers have a hard drive installed on them, which is used to store files for the operating system, software programs, and a user’s data. A computer cannot work without a hard drive whirling. To correctly work with a hard drive, or an external one, you should have some necessary know-how skills for keeping a storage device healthy, and in turn, prolonging its life. Therefore, we think you should adopt the following three habits in your life. 1. Everyday Data Backup You can back up a whole hard drive data, a certain partition, user archives, or even an operating system. This is the most guaranteed way of attempting all chances of hard drive recovery without worrying about data loss (e.g., some fixes on this page are meant to erase data, making it unrecoverable). There are native backup tools for Windows, namely Backup and Restore for Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, and File History for Windows 8. But, modern users tend to prefer third-party free backup software. They like more intuitive, user-friendly, versatile, and, more feature-packed backup plans to replace the dull and flat Windows utility. 2. Periodic Disk Cleanup and System Optimization Remove junk files, useless and extremely large files, and system/browser cache files that occupy precious disk space to avoid the risk of the computer becoming slow. Use simple disk cleanup to boost hard drive performance. In addition, the longer you use the machine in a settled location, the more dust and debris in the air will accumulate and cause the hard drive to overheat and malfunction. You may use a small piece of cotton rag and a dip of alcohol to clean it by yourself, and a cotton bud is also a good choice for the inside areas. Also Read : Learn Best Way how to earn money online 3. Take Advantage of Power Save and Sleep Modes Though there are major brands that ensure a longer lifespan, you should admit the fact that the less time your drive is running, the longer it will last. Therefore, turn the hard drive off when you’re not using it. Similarly, when your computer is idle, try to utilize the Power Save and Sleep Modes to keep it from performing certain general maintenance tasks such as defragmentation, checking Windows updates, third-party activities, and so on. Also Read : How to recover Data from corrupted External Hard Disk.

Always Keep in mind that if you’re in a data loss situation and your hard drive has become corrupted, you should stop using the drive immediately. If you continue to run the external HDD, it may cause new data to overwrite your lost files and significantly reduce your chances of retrieval. Causes of Corrupted External Hard Drive Before you repair an external hard drive or recover files from it, you must understand what causes a hard drive to become corrupted. You can experience hard drive failure at any given moment. While these reasons may be different, they can cause permanent data loss. Thus, you must identify the common reasons for hard drive failure to determine the best approach to recover a corrupted external hard drive. Software Failure – A healthy, well-functioning hard drive can become corrupted due to software bugs. In some cases, these bugs may be limited to a few corrupted files. However, you could end up in a sticky situation if the entire file system on your external HDD becomes corrupt, and it can result in permanent data loss.  Bad Sectors or blocks – Sometimes, your drive reports a number of bad sectors on your drive. These are areas on an external HDD that become unusable due to long-term use and can make the drive unreadable. Bad sectors or blocks also act as a warning that you may need to replace or format your drive immediately. Read/Write Issues – A traditional hard drive works using a spinning disk mechanism to write data to the drive. This mechanism relies on the rotating platters attached to an arm which facilitate the read/write action. Usual wear and tear or something interrupting this process can result in read/write issues and even cause the hard drive to become corrupted. Virus Attacks – Some virus or malware infections from unknown sources are programmed to corrupt file systems and cause severe data loss. Reliable antivirus software should help prevent such an attack and maintain caution. Improper Drive Usage – Any technology, if misused, will become prone to damage. If a hard drive is not ejected correctly or doesn’t have suitable operating conditions – for instance, excessive heat or unexpected power supply interruptions – the hard drive’s lifespan can reduce significantly and becomes prone to corruption. How to Recover Data from the Corrupted External Hard Drive When your storage device suddenly stops working, the most important thing that crosses our mind is how to recover data or files from it. Below, you’ll find following methods to fix this issue. Method 1. Recover Data with Another USB Cable or in Different PC / Computer If you are not sure whether the device has an issue, you can connect it to a different USB port or even a different PC to see whether it gets detected or not. If the drive can be read, then you can use your data on the external hard drive. In case the hard drive cannot be detected on the other computer, check its status in Windows Disk Management. Then, try to change the drive letter and path to make it show up. Step 1. Right-click on This PC and select Manage. Under the Storage section, click Disk Management. Or, use an alternative way to open Disk Management in Windows 10/8.1/8/7: Press Windows + R keys, type diskmgmt.msc in the Run box, and hit Enter. Step 2. Right-click on the SSD partition and select “Change Drive Letter and Paths…”. Step 3. Among the Add, Change, and Remove options, click the “Change” button, and then select a drive letter from the list. Click “OK” to assign a new drive letter to the problematic hard drive. How to Restore Corrupted System Files from the External Hard Drive Missing or corrupted system files are sometimes the reason for a hard drive with unusual symptoms. This usually occurs when there is a problem during the file save process. So, when your hard drive seems to be damaged and you cannot open it, you might need to repair the crashed system files first. Open Start, type  cmd, and hit Enter to launch a Command Prompt Window. Type chkdsk g:/f (if the external hard drive is drive g) and press Enter. Type sfc /scannow and hit Enter. When the repair process has finished, you’ll see a “Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations” message if no corruption has been found. Otherwise, it’ll fix it automatically. How to Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive In this part, we’ll show you following methods to format a corrupted external hard drive and get it back to normal condition again. Before you proceed, it’s necessary to know the kind of hard drive problems that you can use the disk formatting method to resolve. Theoretically speaking, disk formatting should be done with caution because it erases data and removes installed programs. It’s extremely useful, though. Disk formatting is the configuring process of data storage media for initial, so it can solve most common hard drive issues like “Disk is not fomatted, do you want to format it now?”, or hard drive is not showing up and displaying itself as RAW. Moreover, it can scan and repair bad sectors, and sometimes remove sophisticated viruses. Method 2. Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive with Manual Repair Sometimes data storage devices, HDDs, memory cards, or USB sticks are not recognized by the operating system, making it impossible to access professional or personal data. EaseUS provides a 100% working solution – a manual disk repair service. You can repair your external hard drives with the help of experts. Consult with data recovery experts for one-on-one manual recovery service in your City. Repair corrupted RAID structure, unbootable Windows OS, and corrupted virtual disk file Recover/repair lost partition and re-partitioned drive Unformat hard drive and repair raw drive (BitLocker encrypted drive) Fix disks that become GPT protected partitions Method 3. Quickly Fix Corrupted External Hard Drive by Formatting It Step 1. Connect the problematic external hard drive to the PC. Step 2. Right-click the device and select Format. Step 3. Set a new file system, NTFS or FAT, for