Files Missing from External Hard Drive but Still Taking Space

Summary

When you find folders and files missing from an external hard drive but still taking space, please note that there might be problems with your external hard drive. Try solutions here to fix the weird issue and use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover mysteriously disappeared files and folders without making an effort.

For the case that many people find their files and folders missing from an external hard drive but the hard disk space is still taken up, we have some simple solutions that everybody could apply to rectify the problem without necessarily losing their important files on the drive. 

3 ways to fix your files missing from external hard drives but still taking up space

Before getting your hands on, first of all, download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to find all the missing contents on the external hard drive. It's a hard drive recovery software that helps millions of customers restore pictures, documents, videos, music and many other types of files from all kinds of storage devices. As long as your hard disk space is showing used space, your files are not really missing.

To easily restore the unseen files, follow the three steps to have them all back:

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.

Now, you can officially start the troubleshooting methods to solve the problem of files missing from an external hard drive but still taking space with the detailed guide in each introduced fix.

Fix 1. Show hidden files on Windows 10, 8 or 7

You can show hidden files using cmd, control panel, and software. Here, we offer the cmd approach for you.

• Type cmd in the Windows search box, right click on Command Prompt program and choose Run as administrator.
• Determine the drive on which files are hidden and you want to recover.
• If it's drive D, then Type attrib -s -h -r /s /d *.* and hit Enter.

Fix 2. Take ownership of the drive in permission settings

• In Windows Explorer, right-click on the drive you want to take ownership of, then select "Properties" from the drop-down menu.
• Click on the "Security" tab.
• Click on the "Advanced" button.
• Click on the "Owner" tab in "Advanced Security Settings".
• Click on the "Edit" Button.
• Click on the "Other users or groups" button.
• Under "Object Types", uncheck everything except "Users", then click on "OK". 
• Click on the "Advanced" button.
• Click on the "Find Now" button.
• Under "Search Results", click the "username" that you log into windows with, then click "OK".
• Verify the correct username in the object window, then press "OK".
• Place a checkmark in front of "Replace owner on sub containers and objects".
• You will see a warning message stating that "All permissions will be replaced…". This is normal. Click on "Yes".
• A status window will show file permissions being rapidly replaced.
• If you see an error message saying "Access is denied", it's not a problem. That message only refers to a specific system file that's currently in use. You don't need access to it anyway. Just click the "Continue" button.
• Click "OK" on the final Windows Security message.

Fix 3. Check disk errors and repair

• Type cmd in the Windows search box, right click on "Command Prompt" program and choose "Run as administrator".
• On the command window, type chkdsk g: /f (g is the drive letter of your external hard drive, so please replace the drive letter with the corresponding drive letter of yours).
• Press Enter and chkdsk will start checking your corrupted HDD and then fix any corruption on the drive.