Repair or Fix Corrupted Hard Disk Without Formatting in Windows 10/8/7

Summary

How to repair corrupted hard disk? There are 7 effective ways to fix a corrupted hard drive in Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7. You can follow any one of them to repair and access the corrupted hard drive. And EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can access your corrupted hard drive and get back lost data.

Top 7 Ways to Repair Corrupted Internal & External Hard Disk 

Hard drive corruption is a logical issue caused by bad sectors, file system errors, physical damage, and more. Today, we are going to walk you through the solutions on how to fix a corrupted hard drive. And here is the overview of these hard drive repairing fixes.

Workable Solutions	Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Fix 1. Check the hard disk	Open This PC or Computer, right-click the hard drive and select "Properties"...Full steps
Fix 2. Run antivirus	Go to "Settings" > "Update & Security" > "Windows Security"....Full steps
Fix 3. Run SFC scan	Type Command Prompt in the search bar, right-click it, and choose "Run as administrator"...Full steps
Fix 4. Use CMD command	Next to the Windows Start menu, in the "Search Windows" box, type cmd...Full steps
Fix 5. Try CMD alternative	Download EaseUS Tools M for Free and install it. Open the software and...Full steps
Other HDD repair solutions	Update the Disk Driver to Fix HDD Without Formatting > Use a Data Recovery Tool...Full steps

Causes and Symptoms of Hard Disk Drive Corruption

Sometimes, your hard drive can be damaged and become unrecognized or inaccessible in Windows 10/8/7 due to various reasons. No matter it is an internal hard disk or an external hard drive, you can find solutions. Here are some common causes and symptoms of hard drive corruption.

Hard Drive Corruption Causes

Corrupted Hard Drive Symptoms

Power supply and connection errors Virus issues File system errors Bad sectors Software or hardware issues Physical damage and more

External hard drive not recognized, reading, or showing up while plugging into PC. Get "X:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable" error message. The hard drive has a drive letter in My Computer but becomes inaccessible and says: "You need to format the disk in the drive before you can use it". The hard drive becomes RAW and prompts 'disk needs to be formatted' error. Hard disk shows 0 bytes and more.

When you encounter one of the situations, you have to repair a corrupted hard disk to make it work. Here are seven ways to repair your corrupted hard drive. Before you try any of them, you should try the simple fixes first:

• Check the power supply.
• Change the USB port.
• Try the hard drive on another PC, if your PC can’t detect it.
• Change the drive letter assigned to the storage media to restore the corrupted hard drive. 

Also read: Fix/Repair Corrupted USB Drive Without Formatting

Fix 1. Check the Hard Disk to Repair Corrupted Hard Drive

Applies to: Power Supply and Connection Errors）

If you are using an external hard drive, you should check the connection. It's possible that the storage media is taking the power from the USB port itself. Try to unplug it and connect it to your PC again. Try another USB port or another computer. It is possible that only your PC can't read your device. Then check the power supply. Some external hard drive has a separate power supply. So you must check if it works properly. Also, run a thorough check:

Step 1. Open This PC or Computer, right-click the hard drive and select "Properties".

Step 2. Click "Tools > Tab Error checking > Check".

Step 3. Select "Check local disk" and click "Start".

Close all running and open programs, select the option to let the system check upon the next boot. After this, restart PC. You can check your disk again to see if it works.

Fix 2. Run Antivirus Software to Repair Damaged Hard Disk

Applies to: HDD Virus Infection Errors

As we know, viruses and malware can cause hard drive corruption. Therefore, an antivirus scan may repair the corrupt hard drive and make the drive accessible again. You can connect the hard drive to a Windows PC. Then, use a reliable antivirus/malware tool to scan the drive or the system. Bitdefender, Norton, Kaspersky, Avast, or AVG, any one of them is my suggestion. Here is an example of using Windows Defender:

Step 1. Go to "Settings" > "Update & Security" > "Windows Security".

Step 2. Click "Virus & threat protection".

Step 3. In the "Threat history" section, click "Scan now" to scan for viruses on your computer.

Fix 3. Run SFC Scan to Fix Damaged HDD

Applies to: File System Errors

SFC checks system file integrity and replaces a corrupt or damaged system file with a cached copy. It helps fix the damaged or missing Windows system files that may cause drive corruption. Follow the steps below:

Step 1. Type Command Prompt in the search bar, right-click it, and choose "Run as administrator".

Step 2. Type the following cmd and hit "Enter".

If the drive is an external device, follow this command:

Replace letter c: with your hard drive letter. Wait for the scan to finish and then restart the system. Check if you can access the drive.

Fix 4. Repair Damaged Hard Disk with CMD Command

Applies to: File System & Bad Sector Errors

CHKDSK command prompt checks the file system and file system metadata of a volume for logical and physical errors. If used without parameters, CHKDSK displays only the status of the volume and does not fix any errors. If used with the /f, /r, /x, or /b parameters, it fixes errors on the volume. 

The "/f" parameter tells CHKDSK to fix any errors it finds. "/r" tells it to locate the bad sectors on the drive and recover readable information. "/x" forces the drive to dismount before the process starts. 

Step 1. Next to the Windows Start menu, in the "Search Windows" box, type cmd.

Step 2. On the search result, right-click on the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Step 3. Type the command:

Here you should replace E with your drive letter. 

Fix 5. Try CMD Alternative to Repair HDD

If you don't have any technical know-how and want to minimize data risks, using third-party software could be a better choice. The Command line is suitable for computer professionals since wrong commands can cause severe problems. Therefore, we strongly recommend you try an automatic command line alternative.

EaseUS Tools M is a practical computer fixing tool that is safe and light-weighted. It's a perfect alternative to CHKDSK command. Use this one-click tool to solve your computer issues.

To fix file system error or disk error:

Step 1:  DOWNLOAD EaseUS Tools M for Free and install it.

Step 2: Open the software and select the "File showing" option. 

Step 3: Choose the drive and wait for repairing. After the operation completes, click the "View" button to check the drive. 

Fix 6. Update the Disk Driver to Fix HDD Without Formatting

Applies to: Driver Issue

If you try another computer and it works, you need to update the disk driver. There might be some issues with your device driver installed on your PC. Follow the details below:

Step 1. Right-click on This PC/My Computer and choose "Properties".

Step 2. In the taskbar on the left, click Device Manager and expand "Universal Serial Bus controllers". Then you'll see a yellow exclamation mark if your disk driver is out of date.

Step 3. Right-click and choose "Update driver".

Step 4. Choose "Search automatically for updated driver software..."

Fix 7. Access and Recover Files from Corrupted Internal & External Hard Drive 

If you have important data on the corrupted device, the best choice is to access the device and get the data to another place. To access hard drive without formatting, there is no other way but to ask a data recovery program for help. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is able to read the device and recovers data even the drive becomes RAW. You can download the demo version of the hard drive recovery software and give it a try.

Step 1. Choose the external hard drive

Since you're going to recover data from the external hard drive, run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and under the External Devices tab, choose the exact drive where you lost data. Click Scan.

Step 2. Scan for lost data

The software will start immediately to scan all over the selected drive for all lost data. During the scan, you could see more and more data showing up in the results.

Step 3. Preview and recover data

After the scan is over, check the scan results for the desired data. You can preview the file by double-clicking on it. Click Recover and choose another location to save the recovered data.

EaseUS has a success rate of 99.75%. If you need a manual service, you can also contact the support team through live chat.

Hard Disk Data Protection Tips - Back Up Your Data Frequently 

Recovery or repair is not the perfect way to prevent data loss. It just can reduce data loss. If you want to completely recover your files, you need to create a backup for your files and save it to a safe place.

To back up files and folders, I recommend you try file backup software - EaseUS Todo Backup. With this software, all things become easier. And you can back up files with a schedule or a password. Besides, this software can back up the system, any type of file, or the whole disk or partition.

Details: Back up Files before Formatting

Conclusion

These seven solutions above could do you a great favor. If you want to repair and access hard drive easily, EaseUS data recovery software could help. What's more, this software comes with lots of advanced features like repairing corrupted MP4 or MOV files, recover formatted hard drive, and more.

How to Fix Corrupted Hard Drive FAQs

Here are some corrupted hard drive related questions and answers, read on to get additional help on a corrupted external hard drive or hard drive repair.

Why is my hard drive corrupted? 

Hard drive data corruption occurs when a system cannot finish writing data to a file or when segments of the file become inaccessible. The physical hard disk issues that contribute to corruption are often caused by poor operating conditions, but all hard drives eventually fail due to mechanical stress. You can get more information in the cause and symptom part.

How do you fix a corrupted hard drive?

To fix a corrupted hard drive:

• Check the Hard Disk
• Run Antivirus
• Run SFC Scan
• Use CMD Command
• Try CMD Alternative
• Update the Disk Driver
• Use Data Recovery Tool

Can a virus corrupt a hard drive?

Viruses can and have turned hard drives into seemingly useless bricks. But the only thing they can damage is the data stored there.

Will formatting fix a corrupted hard drive?

Yes, it's one of the ways to try. A Full format will truly scrub through the hard drive from scratch, rebuild all of its file structures, and scans the drive to make sure that everything is on a satisfactory level. But this operation causes data loss.