How to fix corrupted external hard drive

I would try a couple of things. First I would run chkdsk on it with the /r option (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK ).

If that doesn't work open the command prompt window and use diskpart ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877%28v... ):

type these commands one at a time:
diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the number of the external drive)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (or fs=fat32 if you want to use on PC and Mac)

Hi maryglythloie,

I work at a Student IT Help Desk at my school. and from my experience if your computer is unable to interact with the HDD, or it takes a long time to respond, it's usually a lost cause.

One solution that has RARELY been seen to work is to completely pull the HDD from the external harddrive casing.

Then plug the HDD into a computer via SATA cable, or into an external docking station if you have one available.

Then if you can't see it in Windows you can try Ubuntu.

If you still can't see anything, it's not recognizing, or it's beeing very unresponsive, than it's most likely a dead/dying harddrive.

At that point there are a couple of different companies you can send the HDD off to for data recovery, but it wont be cheap.

Anyways best of luck to you and I hope you find a solution for your problem!

Regards,

Shinseina

Nonsense -- you better get a different job, I've been building computers and networks for over 30 years and I don't just throw my hands up and say its a lost cause simply because a drive has a corrupt MBR. I suggest that you hit the books before you give any more advice on how to give up.

No wonder people complain here about the lack of knowledge from help desk people that don't seem to know anything other than the script they are given. Sad.

Hello RealBeast. Just had cause to visit this site and saw your reply. I too,never give up trying to find an answer to any problems I have with my computer. I f you know of a way to repair a harddrive that has crashed, after me using CheckDisc, I would appreciate your input, please. The harddrive is partitioned and I can get into one half of it, by using an external drive, but accessing the damaged half has me fumbling around in the dark. Any pointers please, that would help me. Thanks, Ken

Thanks for your reply,ronykk. I downloaded the Data Recovery and tried it. However, the message I am getting is. "The drive or UNC share you selected does not exist, or is not accessible. Please select another."
This fault occured after I ran Check Disc. Something I have done countless times over the years and with various computers.
The drive that I cannot open, is the one with my Windows programme on. Not the best part of the Harddrive to lose, I guess. ha ha
Thank you for trying to help me. Ken