External hard drives are widely used as devices for backing up and transferring information from one computer to another. Such disks are quite reliable, however, they sometimes fail. If the malfunction is not related to mechanical failures, you can try to bring the disk back to life.
It is necessary
- - recovery utilities;
- - a bootable floppy disk for DOS.
Instructions
Step 1
External hard drive failures can be divided into two categories. The first, the most serious, includes mechanical breakdowns and failure of the control board elements. It is almost impossible to repair such faults on your own. For repairs, you will have to open the sealed disk case, and this should be done in specially equipped rooms of high cleanliness class. The dust in the air of an ordinary apartment is enough to damage the disk. Therefore, you can only fix faults associated with software failures on your own.
Step 2
Software glitches are more common than mechanical failures and are usually associated with power outages. In the event of a failure, service information may be lost, as a result, the hard drive refuses to work. In a situation where the disk worked properly, but at some point began to malfunction, first try to format it. To do this, it is best to use not the standard operating system tools, but the Acronis Disk Director program. Use full formatting, not fast formatting. The swift removes only the file headers, but not the headers themselves. Format with NTFS, it is more crash resistant.
Step 3
If normal formatting doesn't work, you should try low-level formatting. For example, treat the disk with Diskedit. The complexity of this operation lies in the fact that it must be carried out from under DOS. To boot your computer, in this case, you need a special bootable floppy disk or USB flash drive, you can find its image on the Internet. Working with Diskedit has its own nuances, so it is better to read the relevant articles on this topic.
Step 4
A good option for recovering a disk after a serious failure is to use special utilities from the site of the hard drive manufacturer. They allow you to carry out low-level formatting, restore service information. These utilities are also launched from under DOS. After running the utility, find the line low level format, zero writes or something similar in its menu. These lines start formatting, after its completion the disk will most likely start working normally.
Step 5
Do not forget to check the serviceability of the cable that connects the drive to the computer. Try connecting the hard drive to a different USB connector. The chances of a faulty connector are low enough, but still exist.
