• Find External Hard Drive Mac

Jun 23, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

Mac OS Diagnostics The MacOS has great tools for testing hard drives. This program is called First Aid. Always backup your data before running First Aid scans of your hard drive. If there is a bad sector, any data that may have been accessible before running “Repair Disk” will likely become inaccessible once the bad sector is re-allocated.

The top five Mac disk repair software presented in this blog can be used to repair your hard disk drive for errors, inaccessibility, or system corruption. This 5 software is either free or can be availed as a trial. So, download the trial version of any repair software to recover your hard disk drive. Oct 30, 2019  Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive with Partition Manager Software The other applicable disk formatting tool is from a third-party application called EaseUS Partition Master Free. It does the same work as the Windows File Explorer, but at times when you cannot see the hard drive's drive letter there, you can download this piece of software. Here, you can follow these steps to repair your external hard drive on Mac. Step 1: Open Disk Utility application. Step 2: Select the external hard drive and erase it with Disk Utility. Disk Utility will format and erase the external hard drive under Mac OS. Then your external hard drive is able to be reused, recycled, or resold. It is very simple. The best Mac disk repair, diagnostic tools & more! I have put together a list of what are, in my opinion, the ten best Mac disk repair software and other excellent Mac tools for troubleshooting, diagnosing, and repairing a Mac. Many of them are free or offer a free trial.

There are several times when our system works in a strange manner, making us wonder about the consequences, the major of them being data loss. To overcome this issue, the hard drive was widely used by people for backing up their data in a secure place. However, the hard drive is an electronic device itself is prone to physical compromise that may result in data loss that might be impossible to recover until you search for ways to do so.

This question can puzzle you. But here, you can get the answer. This article will walk you through how to recover data from an external hard drive and repair external hard drive not working.

• Part 1. How to Repair External Hard Disk Not Detected?
• Part 2. How to Recover Files from External Hard Drive Without Formatting
• Part 3. How to Fix External Hard Drive with Error Messages

Part 1 How to Repair External Hard Disk Not Detected?

If your external hard drive isn't recognized, you can take the following different solutions and steps to get the external hard disk error fixed.

Way 1 Check IDE / SATA to USB Connection:

1. Ground Yourself:
   It is important that before you open up any hardware, make sure you ground yourself for obvious reasons that include being shock resistant.
2. Install the Drive:
   Use an IDE / SATA data cable and a power connector to install the hard drive internally on your system. You can also try connecting the drive externally via USB.
3. Conclude the observations:
   The above two steps will help you determine whether or not the enclosure was the reason that you were not able to recognize your hard drive in the system. By this reconnecting technique, you will figure out if you need to narrow down the issue further.

If the external hard disk enclosure is not the issue, you need to dig further to find out the culprit by following up on another series of steps.

Way 2 Check the sound the hard drive is making:

Listen up to the sound that your connected hard drive is making. Are you able to hear it? If it is spinning you'll possibly know the sound.

• Compare the sound with failing hard drive sounds listed by Data Cent.
• Try figuring out the possible scenarios which cause the sound you hear.
• However, if there is no sound made by the hard drive, it is dead in all probability.
• This damage can be internal, due to the faulty printed circuit board (PCB).

If your drive is spinning but the system doesn't recognize your hard drive, follow the next series of steps to manually check the settings on your computer.

Way 3 Enter into BIOS:

Press the trigger key that could be [DEL], [ESC], [F2], [F10] or [F12], depending upon your system. Check out the list of the types of devices that are connected with your system. You can fetch this information under the BOOT menu or Advance menu of the system.

On Windows: If you are working on windows, here are the steps to check the devices connected:

1. Click the key combination [Windows] + [R] to launch 'Run'.
2. Open the Command Prompt by inputting cmd in the field, and then hit Enter.
3. Type 'diskpart' and press Enter to launch the diskpart.exe.
4. Type list volume in the diskpart menu to see the connected drive.

Way 4 Fix external hard drive by formatting

You can also directly use the diskpart.exe to repair external hard drive not detected. Here are the steps:

1. Once the diskpart.exe is launched, type 'select disk 0' and press Enter.
2. Type 'clean' and hit Enter. This input will entirely erase all data on the external hard drive.
3. Input 'create partition primary' and also the same, Enter.
4. Finally, click the 'x' icon at the upper right corner.

Notes: 0 means the drive letter of the external hard disk to be repaired. It can be also 1 or 2.

As we can see, to learn how to repair an external hard drive is handy as it helps in avoiding unprecedented circumstances about your data. For the ones keen to repair an external hard drive, we have multiple options, each catering to different issues and users. Therefore, you no longer need to worry if your Seagate or WD external hard drive not recognized.

Find External Hard Drive Mac

Part 2 How to Recover Files from External Hard Drive Without Formatting

1. Recover External Hard Drive with Recoverit

A corrupted external hard drive can always bring about data loss, even if sometimes you repair it successfully. If you lost data on your external hard drive, unfortunately, don't worry! You still have the chance to get lost data back. To recover files from external hard drive, you can have a try Recoverit Data Recovery.

This external hard drive recovery software can help you recover data from an external hard drive no matter it is corrupted, dead, crashed, damaged, or not detected. Before external hard drive data recovery, Recoverit also allows you to preview the scanned files to make a selective recovery.

2. Watch the Video for External Hard Drive Recovery

This video can instruct you how to recover files from external hard drive without formatting. Just take one minute, and you can get the surefire way to retrieve data from hard disk on Windows or Mac.

3. How to Retrieve Data from External Hard Drive

To start external hard drive recovery, you should firstly get Recoverit Data Recovery free downloaded and installed on your computer. After the installation, connect the external hard drive to your Windows computer and then follow the next steps to regain the lost data from an external hard drive.

Step 1. Select external hard drive

Among all the hard drives which have been shown on the screen, please select the corrupted external hard drive and click the “Start” button to move forward.

Note: Please ensure that the selected external hard drive has been connected and can be recognized by the computer.

Step 2. Scan the external hard drive

Recoverit will start a quick scan on the undetected external hard drive. If the quick scan can't help you get the lost data, turn to the “All-around Recovery” mode. It can search for more files for you on the external disk.

Step 3. Recover data from external hard drive

Once the scan finishes, you can preview all the found data, select the wanted ones, and click “Recover” to restore the files from the external disk.

Part 3 How to Fix External Hard Drive with Error Messages?

While using your external hard drive, there has been observed an error message, which asks the user to format the hard drive. In these cases, it is recommended not to follow the instructions blindly and do some researches on your own. Some of the error messages are:

While accessing the file:

While attempting to run chkdsk:

Commonly, a user will not able to understand what a RAW file system means, therefore, they may follow the critical step of formatting the data to solve the issue. However, if you understand the requirements of the system, you might solve without the loss of any data. A RAW file system is a file that the Windows cannot recognize. As a result, available drivers could not mount the file system to a drive. Maybe, the filesystem type or location on the disk is corrupted. When the Windows are unable to find these files, it prompts the user to format the data.

This usually happens because many users disconnect their hard drives without choosing the 'Safely Remove Hardware?' option. Here is a way to fix this issue without formatting your hard drive.

1. Use CMD for external hard disk check

• Press and hold Windows icon and R keys.
• Input 'cmd' and hit Enter in the pop-up window.
• Type 'chkdsk f: /f ' and hit Enter to begin the scan process.
• Upon completion, you can usually find the external hard disk errors fixed.

Generally speaking, the external hard drive errors can be repaired using CMD. What you should note is that regarding 'chkdsk f: /f ', the first f should be replaced with the drive letter of the external hard drive.

2. Access S.M.A.R.T Data

If there is any physical damage to your hard disk, S.M.A.R.T Data will help you quickly figure out the problems that are being faced. S.M.A.R.T stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology and is used to alert the impending failure of the drive. This technology gives the user a deadline that they require to save the data.

Functions of S.M.A.R.T:

• S.M.A.R.T helps the user to retrieve the data from the drive.
• Save your data and prevents the user from attempting absurd mistakes that make the situations worse.
• S.M.A.R.T Data also helps in determining whether the damage is physical or logical. In case of physical damage, save the important data at another safe location and replace your hard drive. However, if the damage is logical, you can trust the drive and use Recoverit Data Recovery to retrieve corrupted files after the repair.

If at any point in time, your hard drive reports that S.M.A.R.T health is not able to access the search or in anyways, FAILED, the primary step one must take is to save the data immediately as the drive is of no longer use.

3. Youtube Video Tutorial on How to Repair External Hard Drive

Follow these steps if you are wondering how to fix the external hard drive. However, if your problem is still not solved, there are chances that the PCB of your external hard drive is damaged. There are ways to replace your hard drive's PCB, but for your record, these methods are not recommended as they may cause further damage to the device.

Closing Words

Before looking for professional repairs, it is recommended that you repair the external hard drive on your own. And his detailed external hard drive repair tutorial must help you, which is aimed at smoothing the way for you to fix a corrupted external hard drive. Another advice is that you should take good care of the data stored on it during or after external hard drive repair. If unfortunately, you find them lost, please turn to Recoverit Data Recovery in less than no time so that you can promptly recover data from external hard drive not detected or not working.

What's Wrong with Drive

Recover Your Drive

Fix Your Drive

Format/Wipe Drive

Know Your Drive

Bad sector is one of the biggest threats to hard disk and the data inside. Even new hard disks from trustworthy brands and sources could come with defects, let alone to say if your internal or external hard drive has served you over years. Don’t be surprised when you realize that your PC is running slow or with errors, like blue screen and random crash. They are just saying it is time to check and repair bad sectors on your hard disks.

Why You Need to Fix Hard Disk Bad Sectors

Bad sectors are usually caused due to the overloading of system files, or virus and spyware which creates troubles for the hard drive. This issue has evolved out to be a big nightmare for owners of computer or external hard drive.

The bad sectors of hard drive are responsible for the low-level performance and overheating issues for the PC because it is very hard to read the data from a corrupted hard drive with bad sectors in it. Some users have also reported that they are facing the issue of Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) error in their PC. This is really annoying and irritating for the users because they can even lose their whole data if those bad sectors present in the hard drive is not removed.

If your hard drive bears any physical damage, then for a complete solution of this issue, you need to replace the whole hard drive with a new one after backing up of data present in the previous hard drive.

Troubleshoot Hard Disk Issue Manually

There is an in-built disk check & repair tool in Windows 10/8/7. But that tool is only capable of recovering data up to some extent. At any point of time, if you feel that your PC is creating some real issues with the performance, then you have to check the whole hard drive instantly.

• Open This PC on Windows 10.
• Right click on the partition that may have bad sectors. If you’re not sure, just repeat the steps on each partition one by one.
• Choose Properties on the right-click menu, then navigate to Tools tab.
• Deploy hard disk checking and repairing on Error checking and Optimize and defragment drive.

The in-built tool is quite handy, but more often than not it can only boost computer performance slightly. If the issues are not resolved by your PC itself, then you are supposed to take the help of external software which will help you out in this task.

We have prepared a list of top 7 freeware which will help you check and repair your hard drive effectively. Compatibility may be an issue with a particular freeware, but we assure you that all of them are really very good to resolve this big issue. So, let’s have a quick look on all of them.

Important: Repairing bad sectors with the following tools will remove the data stored on the bad sectors. You’re highly suggested use Jihosoft File Recovery to recover data from hard disk drive that are missing or inaccessible before trying any of them.

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Best 7 Bad Sector Repair Software for Free

1) Disk Genius

Disk Genius is one of the most popular hard disk management tools among IT professionals, but not everyone knows that it also features with bad sector checking and repairing functions. The feature is hidden in Disk menu on the top bar where you can see and open Verify Or Repair Bad Sectors.

Though it is just a sub-function, Disk Genius is still qualified as the top 1 free back sector check & repair tool. The conditions of hard disk sectors will be presented by blocks in various colors presenting a straightforward report, then you just need to click Repair button to start the automatic repairing of hard disk bad sectors.

2) Data Lifeguard Diagnostic by WD

This software tool is probably one of the best software you will find to check and repair WD hard drives. Compatible with both Windows and Mac, Data Lifeguard will help you out to check all the sectors of your hard drive. Whether it is good or bad sectors, it will detect all the issues and create a detailed report. You can analyze the full report and take necessary measures to avoid data loss or other accidents.

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic supports WD Blue SSHD, WD Blue, WD Green, WD Desktop performance, WD S25, WD Xe, WD Black, WD Black SSHD, WD VelociRaptor, WD Purple, WD Ae, WD Red, WD Red Pro and much more to be listed. Check on the official website if your hard disk is not on the list.

3) SeaTools by Seagate

This tool developed by Seagate is a diagnostic tool that helps users determine the condition of your hard disk drive. SeaTools is from the well-known company in the industry of hard disk manufacture, but it also supports some non-Seagate hard disks. This software can be used in both Windows and Mac.

The user-interface is up to date which makes the job of the users very easy. That’s why Seatools is a pro to check the bad sectors of hard disk. In the whole PC scan, it will check all the files and sectors of hard disk whether it is internal or external,

4) Check Disk

Check Disk by Paehl is another powerful tool which can detect and fix the bad sectors of hard disk with an ease. This software comes with multi-language support system and that’s why users from all around the world choose this software for their personal use. The only drawback of this software is that it is exclusively available for the Windows users and not for Mac users. Otherwise, it is so called beast in this section to check the bad sectors of hard drive.

The full disk scan check will never let an issue to be left undetected. That’s why the name Check Disk really suits this software for sure. Almost all types of hard disks are compatible with this software. You can easily check on the website of Check Disk whose link is given above.

5) HDD Scan

Almost every type of SSD and HHD are compatible with this awesome software tool which is only compatible with Windows operating system. All types of defected and bad sectors present on the hard drives are fixed by this software automatically. You just have to give the command to run the full PC scan and the scan reports will get displayed in front of you within a few minutes depending on the size of the hard drive. All the reports can be saved in MHT format in the PC for the analyzation. This software is also well capable of changing some of the HDD parameter to fix the issues. If you use this software on your PC, then you will hardly suffer from any bad sector of hard disk at all.

6) Macrorit Disk Scanner

The real-time whole disk scan available in this software scanner will let you to find all the issues regarding the bad sectors. You can also track the status of the running scan process in a pop-up window. And as like other software tools, this software will also let you to download the file of scan process on your PC. PCs running on Windows OS are compatible with this software and moreover, almost every type of HDD and SDD is supported. So, at least try this software once.

7) Abelssoft Check Drive

This is our last pick in this list but the results which you can extract from this software are very helpful for users. As like other software tools we have mentioned, this tool will also serve you in the best possible manner. The real-time hard disk scan will let you to analyze all the bad sectors of hard disk very easily. This software will surely provide you the easiest way in which you can resolve all the issues and bad sectors present in the hard drive of your PC. Abelssoft check drive software is available in both paid and free versions. So, it is up to you that which subscription do you want for your PC.

Conclusion

This article concludes that bad sectors present in the hard drives need to be fixed as soon as possible because the consequence can cost your whole data. These bad sector repair tools will definitely help you in this task in the right direction. If you use any other software which can replace the software present in this list, then please inform us in the comments section.