Repair Hard Drive and Hard Drive Data Recovery | Guide

Why Does the Hard Dive Fail to Work?

Hard drive failures can be frustrating and disruptive, leading to potential data loss and system downtime. Understanding the reasons behind hard drive failures is essential for carrying out the hard drive repair and preventing further issues. Here are some possible factors that can contribute to your hard drive failing to work properly.

• File system corruption: If the hard drive’s file system is corrupted, then the operating system will not recognize the hard drive partitions or will encounter errors while trying to access data. File system corruption can be caused by a sudden power outage, software bug, or malware infection.
• Physical damage: Physical damage to the hard drive’s components, such as the read/write heads, platters, or spindle motor, can prevent the disk from functioning properly. Drops, bumps, or wear and tear may cause physical damage to the internal components of the hard drive, leading to mechanical failure. In this case, you need to replace the physically corrupted hard drive in time to avoid future data loss.
• Malware and virus infection: Malware and viruses can infect your hard drive, causing it to malfunction or become unresponsive. They can corrupt files, modify system settings, or even render the entire drive inaccessible. Regularly performing virus scans can help reduce the risk of virus-related hard drive failures.
• Bad sectors: Over time, sectors on the hard drive may become damaged, making it difficult to read or write new data to those bad sectors. This can result in data loss or system instability.
• Loose connection: An unexpected impact or movement can loosen the already unstable hard drive connection on the computer, causing the hard drive to disconnect from the computer.
• Driver issues: Outdated or incompatible drivers may cause the hard drive to work incorrectly because they can lead to communication errors between the operating system and the hardware. This can result in the operating system being unable to recognize or properly interact with the hard drive, leading to issues such as the drive not being detected or data transfer errors.

If your hard drive is failing to work, it’s essential to diagnose the problem accurately to determine whether it can be repaired or if you need to replace it. In the next part, we’ll tell you how to repair hard drive with several methods.

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How to Recover Hard Drive Data?

It is recommended you recover hard drive data in advance because some hard drive repair methods can erase all the data on the hard drive. Restoring your hard drive data can effectively avoid further data loss.

To recover hard drive data efficiently, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery, a robust data recovery software renowned for its simple and user-friendly interface that makes data retrieval accessible to users of all technical levels. Whether you are a computer geek or a novice, you can easily use this powerful data recovery software.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery features a wide range of secure data recovery solutions. From accidentally deleted files to formatted partitions and even damaged drives, the software offers versatile recovery options to address various data loss scenarios. This data recovery software can perform thorough scans of storage devices, effectively locating and recovering lost data.

With this free data recovery software, you can recover your data from hard drives, SSDs, USB flash drives, and other storage devices. The free edition permits you to recover up to 1GB of data, offering a valuable opportunity for data recovery in minor loss incidents. This enables you to assess the software’s capabilities and verify its suitability for your requirements before considering the purchase of the paid edition.

Get this data recovery tool now and follow the guide to recover your data.

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Step 1: Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

Step 2: When you enter the home page of the software, the Logical Drives interface will be displayed by default, allowing you to view all the partitions on your computer. Simply hover your cursor over the partition from which you wish to recover data, and the Scan button will appear. Click on it to initiate the scanning process.

To recover files from an entire disk containing multiple partitions, navigate to the Devices tab where all connected hard drives, SSDs, flash drives, etc. are listed. Place your cursor on the disk you wish to scan, then click the Scan button to commence the scanning process.

Step 3: When the scan process is done, you can start to select which files you want to restore. To find the needed files more quickly, you can go to the Type tab where the scan results will be classified according to the file type.

If you’re looking to recover a specific file, you can simply type its name into the search box located in the upper right corner and hit Enter to search for it. This feature is particularly useful for quickly locating particular files amidst huge volumes of data.

Furthermore, once you’ve selected a file, you can utilize the Preview button to verify its content. This function allows you to preview files of up to 2GB in size, providing reassurance before proceeding with the recovery process.

Step 4: After you’ve chosen the files you wish to recover, click the Save button and designate a location to store them. To prevent the potential secondary loss of the recovered data during the hard drive repair process, it’s advisable to save the recovered files to another reliable disk. This precaution ensures the safety and integrity of your recovered data.

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How to Repair Hard Drive?

Is it possible to repair disk when it malfunctions? Sometimes, a hard drive may fail due to minor factors, and you can fix it with simple solutions.

If the hard drive does not show up in This PC and Disk Management, you need to check the physical connection between the hard drive and the computer. Turn off the computer power, then remove the disk from the computer and reconnect it to the computer correctly. Next, restart the computer to see if the hard drive can be recognized.

If the disk does not appear, refer to this article: How to Fix Hard Drive Not Showing Up Without Data Loss. If it is displayed, you can use the following methods to repair the hard drive.

Method 1: Scan for Malware or Viruses

Malware or virus infection can always be one of the reasons for various system and hard drive issues. You need to pay extra attention to malware or viruses if you frequently download software or files from third parties.

In order to confirm whether the hard drive problem is caused by malware or viruses, you can use antivirus software to perform a scan. You can simply use the built-in antivirus Windows Defender to do this.

Step 1: Press Win + I to open Settings and go to Update & Security > Windows Security.

Step 2: Click Open Windows Security, then click Virus & threat protection and the Quick scan button.

If you want to carry out a full scan, choose Scan options and select Full scan, then click Scan now.

Method 2: Use the Drive Error-Checking Tool

The Windows drive error-checking tool is a built-in utility in Windows operating systems used to scan and repair errors on hard drives and external storage devices. It helps you identify and fix disk-related issues, enhancing the overall stability and performance of your system.

As a built-in utility, it is easy to use.

1. Open This PC and right-click on the failed hard drive, then choose Properties from the list.
2. Go to the Tools tab and click Check in the Error checking area. If the Error checking window appears, choose Scan drive to continue to scan the drive.

Method 3: Repair the Hard Drive With the CHKDSK

CHKDSK (Check Disk) is a command-line tool in Windows used to scan, detect, and repair file system errors and bad sectors on hard drives and other storage devices. It helps maintain the health of your disk, ensuring optimal performance and data reliability.

Here is how to use it to perform a hard disk repair.

Step 1: Press Win + X and choose Run in the list. Then input cmd into the Run box and hit Enter.

Step 2: Copy the command chkdsk *: /f and paste it to the Command Prompt window, then press Enter to repair the hard drive.

If you have any issues with Command Prompt, you can try to run it in Safe Mode.

1. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery, click Restart now.
2. When restarting the computer, a screen will appear and ask you to choose an option. Click Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart.
3. Then your computer will restart again and show you a list of options. Press 5 or F5 to enter Safe Mode with the internet. Now you can repeat the above steps to use CHKDSK to repair the failed hard drive.

Besides using CHKDSK, you can also use MiniTool Partition Wizard to check the file system of the failed hard drive.

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a comprehensive disk management software designed to optimize disk usage and protect data on Windows computers. With its intuitive interface and powerful features, you can not only check file systems but also resize, move, merge, split, format drives, and so on. Additionally, it offers advanced functionalities such as disk cloning, OS migration, and partition recovery, providing a complete solution for disk-related tasks.

The Check File System feature is free to use. Now download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free and start to repair the file system.

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Step 1: Launch Minitool Partition Wizard. Right-click on the partition you want to check and select Check File System.

Step 2: When a window pops up, choose Check & fix detected errors and click Start. When the Question window appears, select Yes to continue the process.

After the process is complete, the file system of the hard drive should be repaired.

Method 4: Update or Reinstall the Disk Driver

Sometimes, corrupted or incompatible disk drivers may cause your hard drive to work improperly. In this case, you can update them or reinstall them to fix this issue.

To update the disk driver:

1. Right-click on Start and choose Device Manager.
2. Expand Disk drives by double-clicking it. Then right-click on the failed hard drive and choose Update driver.
3. Next, click Search automatically for drivers and follow the on-screen instructions to finish the update. After updating, reboot your system to ensure the new driver goes normally.

To reinstall the disk driver:

1. Open Device Manager and expand Disk drives.
2. Right-click on the failed hard drive and select Uninstall device, then click Uninstall.
3. After that, restart your computer, and Windows will automatically search for a suitable disk driver for your computer and install it.

Method 5: Format Your Hard Drive

Formatting the hard drive can repair it by eliminating corruption and errors within the file system, removing malware and viruses, and resolving issues related to bad sectors. It allows for a fresh start and restores the hard drive to a functional state.

Note: Formatting the hard drive will delete all the data on it. To avoid data loss, make sure you have recovered your files by using MiniTool Power Data Recovery in advance.

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Step 1: Press Win + X and select Disk Management.

Step 2: Right-click on the failed hard drive and choose Format. Then choose a proper file system for the hard drive in the format window. Next, click OK in the pop-up window to confirm.

Conclusion

We have provided you with several methods to repair your hard drive, and you can try them to see if they work. To recover hard drive data, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery. If you encounter any problems using MiniTool Software, contact the support team for help via [email protected].