Hard Drive Data Recovery Software

Download and install Disk Drill. Do not use the disk that experienced that data loss for the download to avoid overwriting files you wish to restore. Use a USB drive for the download and install if your main hard drive has lost data. You will need to provide Administrators credentials during the install process.

Connect the hard drive to your computer and launch Disk Drill. Select the entire hard drive or a specific partition (if you’re not sure, select the entire hard drive). You can see detailed information about the selected hard drive in the right pane.

Click the Search for lost data button to start the scanning process. A progress bar at the top of the application will display the scan's status. You can pause and resume scanning anytime you want, and you can also click the Review found items button before the scan completes to preview recoverable files.

You can stop the scan at any point, but you will get the best results by letting complete. If you pause the scan, you can restore any files the software has already identified as being recoverable. This can be helpful if you are in a hurry and don’t want to let the process finish. Check the box to the left of a file or folder to make your recovery selections.

Click the Recover or Recover all button to perform the recovery. You will be prompted to provide a safe storage location where you want the data to be restored. Stay clear of the device which lost data so you don’t overwrite files before they can be recovered. When recovery is complete you can go to the designated folder and move the files wherever you want. Some reconstructed files may need to be renamed.

The CHKDSK command can be used to scan any storage device for logical errors. If CHKDSK finds any problems, it will attempt to repair them:

1. Press Win + X.
2. Select Windows Terminal (Admin) if you’re using Windows 11 or Windows PowerShell (Admin) if you’re using Windows 10.
3. Enter the following command and press enter (replace “X” with the letter assigned to your storage device): chkdsk X: /r

If you're not a fan of command-line tools, Windows offers a visual alternative to CHKDSK. To check your storage devices for errors and fix them without having to type commands, you can:

1. Right-click on the device you want to check for errors and choose Properties.
2. In the new Properties window that shows up, move to the Tools tab.
3. Click on Check in the Error checking section.
4. Choose Scan drive from the requester that pops up.
5. If errors are found, you can have them fixed.

Does your hard drive suddenly seem to be completely empty even though the amount of free storage space is still the same? Then it’s possible that malware or some logical error has messed up your file attributes. Fortunately, you can fix them using the ATTRIB command:

1. Press Win + X.
2. Select Windows Terminal (Admin) if you’re using Windows 11 or Windows PowerShell (Admin) if you’re using Windows 10.
3. Enter the following command and press Enter (replace “X” with the letter assigned to your storage device): attrib -h -r -s /s /d X:*.*

Outdated or malfunctioning drivers can lead to all kinds of hard drive problems, such as unreliable data transfers or file system corruption. The solution? Force Windows to update them by following these instructions:

1. Press Win + X.
2. Select Device Manager.
3. Go to Disk drives and right-click your hard drive.
4. Select the Update drivers option.
5. Choose to “Search automatically for updated driver software”.

It’s possible for a logical error to cause the affected drive to lose the letter that was assigned to it and become impossible to access from File E

1. Press Win + X.
2. Select Disk Management.
3. Right-click the hard drive that has become inaccessible and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
4. Click Add and select the new drive letter.
5. Press OK to confirm.

Windows checks storage devices for problems during its automatic maintenance activities. However, this maintenance happens without user interference, automatically, based on a pre-defined schedule. You can start a maintenance scan manually, though, with the following steps:

1. Open the Start menu and search for Security and Maintenance. Select and open that entry when it shows up.
2. At the Security and Maintenance window, expand the Maintenance drop-down section.
3. Click on Start maintenance under Automatic Maintenance to manually start a checkup.
4. If you change your mind, you can cut the scan short by clicking on Stop maintenance.

All modern SSDs and HDDs incorporate S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) capabilities that make it possible for users to monitor their health directly through Windows Settings. While knowing whether your drive is or isn't healthy won't fix your problem on its own, it can point you in the right direction. To check S.M.A.R.T. in Windows:

1. Open the Settings app by pressing Win + I on your keyboard.
2. Navigate to System on the left panel, then click on Storage on the right.
3. Expand Advanced storage settings and click on Disks & volumes. This section will list all the storage devices connected to your system and display a status message saying "Healthy" if there are no issues.
4. You can click the Properties button next to each device to see additional details.
5. Within the drive's properties, you will find the Drive health status. This area provides critical information about your disk's health, including its estimated remaining life, which shows the approximate percentage of the drive's life used, based on the manufacturer's predictions.

All storage device manufacturers offer official tools for checking their condition and testing them. Since each of them works somewhat differently, we won't dive into the details of how to use them. You can find them by looking at your device manufacturer's official site, usually in a "support" section. For four of the most popular brands, take a look at:

• Hitachi
• Samsung
• Seagate
• Western Digital

Even if you're using Windows, you can temporarily use Linux to check your disks for problems and attempt to fix them. All without changing or affecting in any way your current operating system. Windows users will feel right at home with GParted. The app accompanies most Linux distributions and is straightforward in its use. To check your disks with it:

1. Download one of the more Windows-friendly Linux distributions, like Linux Mint.
2. Make a bootable USB with it. Check this guide if you don't know how to do that.
3. Boot your PC from your bootable Linux media. Check your PC motherboard's manual to see how you can boot from a secondary device.
4. When you reach the Linux distribution's desktop, expand its Start menu equivalent, and search for Gparted. Run the application.
5. Choose your storage device from the drop-down menu on the top-right.
6. Right-click on your device and select Check from the menu that pops up.

TestDisk is a powerful open-source data recovery software that can fix partition tables to recover lost partitions. While it doesn't have a graphical user interface, the steps you need to follow in order to fix logical disk errors and recover your data are fairly straightforward:

1. Download and install TestDisk.
2. Launch TestDisk and decide if you want to create a log file.
3. Select the disk that has the lost partition you want to recover.
4. Tell TestDisk which partition table type it should look for.
5. Analyze the current partition structure.
6. Use the Quick Search option to look for recoverable partitions.
7. Select a found partition and press Enter to recover it.
8. Write the new partition table.
9. Confirm your decision.
10. Exit TestDisk.

Windows includes a useful Disk Management utility that allows you to format hard drives that are not accessible from File Explorer, which can happen when the drive is corrupted, has an unsupported file system, or becomes RAW. It's important to note that formatting a disk will erase all existing data on the drive, so it's best to create a complete hard drive image backup beforehand. Here’s how to format a disk using the Disk Management utility:

1. Press Win + X.
2. Select Disk Management.
3. Right-click the problematic hard drive and select the Format option.
4. Choose the NTFS file system and confirm.
5. Click OK to complete disk formatting.