How to Recover Files from an External Hard Drive that Won’t Boot?
Are you also struggling with this problem and want to know how to recover files from an external hard drive that won’t boot? An external hard drive that suddenly stops responding can put years of important documents, photos, videos and your project files at risk. In actual recovery lab cases we often see that many users lose their recovery data not just because the drive failed completely but it is because they ran aggressive repair commands, formatted the disk or continued using their physically unstable drive. You can check below user query and problem related to get files off a hard drive that won’t boot.
If your external hard drive is not recognized, showing a RAW file system, asking to format the disk or if refusing to mount well your first priority should be to protect the remaining readable data. The right recovery path depends entirely on whether the issue is a hardware failure or a logical corruption problem.
In this guide you will exactly know how to recover data from hard drive that won’t boot safely without making the damage worse.
Common Signs of an External Hard Drive Failure
Before you plan to start the recovery process you need to check how the external hard drive behaves after connecting it to your computer. In most of the cases your drive powers on but Windows or macOS cannot read the data properly. You may see errors like “Drive is not accessible,” missing drive letters, RAW file system or the external drive not recognized in File Explorer.
Sometimes your drive appears as Unallocated in Disk Management or loads folders very slowly and If you are searching for how to recover files from external hard drive not detected then these are common warning signs of logical drive failure you can check below.
- Clicking or grinding noises
- Burning smell from the enclosure
- Drive not spinning at all
- Repeated disconnect/reconnect sounds
- USB port overheating
- External enclosure failure
- Drive disappears randomly during access
Read More: Change Format of External Hard Drive Without Deleting Files
A physically failing drive can be permanently damaged in a matter of minutes. Every additional power cycle can reduce the chances of successful data retrieval.
Do NOT:
- Run CHKDSK
- Format the drive
- Open the hard disk enclosure
- Continue reconnecting the drive repeatedly
At this stage only professional recovery lab help is the safest option for you.
Manual Method to Recover Files from an External Hard Drive that Won’t Boot
If an internal or external hard drive won’t boot, there are some manual techniques you can use to recover file from hard drive that won’t boot. Here’s a stepwise way to help you through the process:
Users have to follow this set of instructions to get back the files from the hard disk that cannot boot:
1# Powser off the System
- Turn off the system power, remove the battery and unplug the computer or laptop from the power switch.
- Open the laptop case and search for the hard drive that cannot boot. Disconnect all the cables of the hard disk, detach it and get it out of the case.
- Insert the hard disk into another hard drive case and establish its connection with a new computer. Alternatively, you can insert the drive into another system, which is working in good condition.
- Reboot the new system using the standard operating system on the main disk. Then the data can be read and accessed here.
- In the final step, copy files and extract data from the hard disk that is not booting to another storage device.
2# Check Basic Connections and Power
- Ensure the USB cable is properly connected to your computer and the external hard drive. If you have a different USB cable, try using that.
3# Try a different Port or Computer
- Attach the external hard drive to a different USB port on your PC or computer. Occasionally, the issue can be with the port itself.
- If feasible, connect the hard drive to another computer to see if it’s recognized.
4# Be Aware of Unusual Noises
- If your hard drive or disk is making pressing, grinding or squealing sounds, it could be a sign of a hardware issue, so you need expert data recovery services.
5# Examine the Disk Management (Windows) or Disk Utility (Mac)
- Right-select the start button and choose Disk Management.
- Discover your hard drive in the list.
- If it displays yet does not have a drive letter assigned to it, right-click it and choose the Change Drive Letter and Paths to assign it.
- If it is “RAW” or throws an error, you may need to use the best formatted data recovery software.
- Open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities).
- Check if your external hard drive is listed.
- If it appears but is not connected, try selecting it and clicking Connect.
- If that does not work, use the First Aid option to try to recover it.
6# Use the Command Line for Further Analysis
On Windows (CHKDSK):
- Open a command prompt (press Windows + R, type cmd, then press Enter).
- Type chkdsk X: /f (replace X with the drive letter assigned to your external drive).
- This direction will attempt to solve file system errors.
On Mac (fsck):
- Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities).
- Type sudo fsck_hfs -fy /dev/diskX (replace X with the drive letter of your external hard drive).
- Press Enter and let the system check and repair the drive.
Other than the automated solution discussed below, users can use manual solutions also.
Also Read: Hard Drive Not Reading
7# Professional Way to Recover Files from an External Hard Drive that Won’t Boot
When the files saved in the external storage device are inaccessible, users can use a utility like Professional Hard Disk Recovery Wizard. According to the technical experts, it is the master solution to open the files saved in the exterior hard disk.
Hard Drive Recovery Tool is able to recover files after formatting a hard drive in a computer or laptop. The application is also capable of retrieving files from computer in-built and external and internal hard drives. You need to just download the software on your computer.
Steps to Recover Files from An External / Internal Hard Drive That Won’t Boot
Users have to follow these steps to recover file from hard drive that won’t boot:
- Navigate to the Start option. Click on All Programs and choose Hard Drive Recovery software
- There are two types of scanning alternatives: Scan and Formatted Scan.
- Choose the desired partition and hit on Scan.
- Once the scanning procedure is done, a complete status report will be generated.
- All the folders will be displayed in the left panel.
- Choose any folder from the left panel and the complete data will be shown in the right panel. Item count will also be shown.
- You can view the overall data of the chosen folder. The deleted files will be highlighted by a red color.
- In the next step, choose those files and folders that you want to recover. Hit on the option Save to recover files from An external / internal Hard Drive that won’t boot
- To specify the destination location, a Browse for Folder window will launch on the screen. Choose a location and hit save.
- Once the entire procedure is complete, a dialog box will appear on the screen showing the successful completion message. Hit on OK.
- The exported files will be seen at the destination location.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Why is my external hard drive light blinking but not working?
A blinking LED usually means the drive is receiving power but cannot complete communication properly. This may happen due to Insufficient USB power, Enclosure failure, Corrupted firmware and due to Physical bad sectors.
Q2. Can I recover files from a RAW external hard drive?
Yes you can recover only If the drive still appears in Disk Management that too using professional recovery software. You can often recover files from a RAW file system before formatting.
Q3. Should I initialize an external hard drive that won’t boot?
No. Initialization overwrites partition metadata and this can reduce the chances of a successful recovery. First you need to recover all your important files.
Q4. Why does my external hard drive appear as Unallocated?
An external hard drive usually appears as Unallocated because of partition table corruption, accidental deletion, MBR/GPT damage or due to file system errors. In the maximum event your data still physically exists on the disk and you can recover it safely.
Q5. Can bad sectors cause an external hard drive to stop responding?
Yes it can as severe bad sectors can make the drive freeze, disconnect randomly or it become unreadable during access attempts.
Q6. Is CHKDSK safe for a corrupted external hard drive?
No not always. On unstable or physically degrading drives running CHKDSK can permanently damage your recoverable data.
The Bottom Line
At any point, technology can fail us. So, we should always be prepared with backup strategies. A similar problem has been observed in the case of the hard disk. The hard drive is unable to boot and this results in the unavailability of the files. This can be an annoying case because the file cannot be accessed at this stage. So, at this point, users need not worry. The post explains multiple solutions on how to recover files from an external hard drive that won’t boot.
