How to Recover Data from a Damaged Hard Drive for Free

How to recover data from a damaged hard drive for free?

You can use the top-notch tools Data Recovery Wizard to retrieve data from your hard drive or external hard disk. Additionally, you can get a complete guide on how to fix a damaged hard drive without formatting it.

Have you ever encountered a problem with a damaged hard drive? When a hard drive is damaged, it may still show up as a disk, but you can no longer use it. You might encounter the following typical symptoms:

< li >Invalid media type reading drive. < li >Abort, Retry, Fail? < li >You might receive a Windows warning asking if you want to format the drive, with a message such as "The disk is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?" < li >File names contain "funny" characters. < li>"Sector not found" messages.

How to Recover Data from a Damaged Hard Drive for Free in 3 Steps Part 1: Three-Step Free Data Recovery from a Damaged Hard Drive 1. **Step 1: Connect the Damaged Hard Drive** First, connect the damaged hard drive to a functioning computer. You can do this using a USB-to-SATA adapter or by placing it in an external hard drive enclosure. 2. **Step 2: Run Data Recovery Software** Download and install a reliable data recovery tool, such as tools Data Recovery Wizard. Make sure you choose the free version and that it's compatible with your operating system. Launch the software, and it will automatically scan the connected hard drive. 3. **Step 3: Scan and Recover Data** - **Deep Scan**: If the quick scan doesn't find your lost files, opt for the deep scan mode. This may take longer but will search more thoroughly for data on the damaged hard drive. - **Preview and Recovery**: After the scan is complete, the software will list the found files. Preview recoverable files and select the items you want to restore. Click the "Recover" button to save the files to a secure location, avoiding overwriting any other potentially lost data. Please note that while these steps provide a general guideline, the actual data recovery process may vary depending on the extent of the hard drive damage and the type of data. Always ensure you have professional technical support or backup important data before attempting any recovery methods.

Data Recovery Wizard tools boast a user-friendly interface that enables users to effortlessly recover files from damaged and external hard drives. This hard drive data recovery software allows you to retrieve lost data from your hard drive in various scenarios.

Note: If your system drive fails to boot, you can create a WinPE bootable CD/DVD for Data Recovery Wizard to recover the damaged hard drive.

Step 1: Scan the Damaged Hard Drive

Select the damaged drive from your hard disk where you have lost or deleted files. Click on “Scan” to let the Data Recovery Tool scan all lost data and files from the selected drive.

Select the location and scan the hard drive

Step 2: Check the results

After the scan is complete, use the “Filter” feature or click on the “Search for a file or folder” option to look for the lost files on the hard drive.

Step 3: Recover Lost Hard Drive Data

Select the files you need from the drive from which they were lost, and click “Recover” to save them to another location.

If you still have trouble using free data recovery software to retrieve data from a damaged hard drive, watch this video for assistance. It will provide you with more detailed information on hard drive recovery.

How to Repair a Damaged Hard Drive Without Formatting

After recovering lost files from a damaged hard drive, how can you fix the hard drive? Here are some tips.

Tip 1: Utilize Data Recovery Services to repair the damaged hard drive

The first option to fix and recover from a damaged hard drive is to use a data recovery service, where experts can help you online to check and fix a corrupted file system and bad sectors.

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tools Data Recovery Service

Contact our experts for a free assessment.

Consult with our tools Data Recovery specialists for one-on-one manual recovery assistance. After a free diagnosis, we offer the following services:

• Repair damaged RAID configurations, unbootable Windows OS, and corrupted virtual disk files
• Recover/repair lost partitions and repartitioned drives
• Undo formatted hard drives and fix RAW drives (including Bitlocker-encrypted drives)
• Fix disks turned into GPT protected partitions

Tip 2: Use CMD to fix a damaged hard drive

If your hard drive has bad sectors or internal errors, it can become damaged easily. If you know how to run the CHKDSK command on your computer, then recovering data from it becomes very simple. Learn how to recover data from a hard drive if you need to. Now let's look at how to run CHKDSK and fix a corrupted hard drive:

1. Press Win + X, then choose "Command Prompt (Admin)". 2. Click "Yes" to launch the Command Prompt as an administrator. 3. Type **chkdsk** and press "Enter" to check for errors on the damaged hard drive. 4. Input **chkdsk C: /f /r /x** to have CHKDSK repair the hard drive. (Replace "C" with the letter of your damaged hard drive.) Please make sure to replace "C" in step 4 with the actual drive letter of your damaged hard drive. This will instruct CHKDSK to use the repair option `/f` to fix errors, `/r` to find and recover readable data, and `/x` to forcibly dismount the volume and take it offline before repairing.

If the target disk is your boot drive, you'll be prompted to run the command before you can restart. Type yes and press "Enter" to reboot your computer. The command will run before your operating system loads, allowing it to access the disk and fully fix the corrupted drive.

Tip 3: Run a disk check to fix a damaged hard drive

1. Open "This PC" or "My Computer," right-click on the hard drive, and select "Properties." 2. Click on "Tools," then click on "Check." 3. Choose "Scan local disk" and click "Start." 4. Close all running and open programs. Opt to have the system check during the next startup. 5. After it's done, restart your computer.

If you see mention of “bad sectors or clusters” on your disk, don't panic; the CHKDSK command from Tip 1 should fix that.

Tip 4: Repair a corrupted system drive from Control Panel

1. Press Win + X and select “Control Panel.” 2. Click “System and Security” > “Action Center” > expand “Maintenance” > click “Run maintenance tasks.” 3. Click “Restart.”

Easily Recover Damaged Hard Drive

With these steps, you can successfully recover data from a corrupted hard drive and fix the issues with your damaged hard drive in an effective manner. Now, you can reuse your hard drive to store and save data. If your corrupted hard drive, external hard drive, or USB storage device is giving you similar issues, don't worry. Just follow this article, and you can fix the problem without losing any data.

Frequently Asked Questions About Damaged Hard Drive Recovery

Here are four additional questions on how to recover data from a damaged hard drive. Click here for the answers.

< strong > 1. How can I fix a damaged hard drive on my own?

1. You can use an antivirus to fix a corrupted Windows hard drive. Windows Defender or a third-party solution can clear the infection and repair your hard disk.
2. Repair a corrupted Windows hard drive through the Command Prompt, and use the CHKDSK command to scan and fix the disk.
3. Select a file system repair tool to fix a corrupted Windows hard drive.

2. Can a damaged hard drive be recovered?

A damaged hard drive can be recovered using free data recovery software like tools Data Recovery Wizard. First, install the software on your computer, launch it, and select the damaged hard drive to scan for lost files.

3. How to recover data from a damaged hard drive for free?

Steps to perform free data recovery from a damaged hard drive:

< li > Download and install the tools Data Recovery Wizard for free. < /li >< li > Launch the data recovery software, and select the failed hard drive to scan. < /li >< li > Preview and recover files from the corrupted hard drive. < /li >

**4. Can formatting HDD repair a damaged hard drive?**

Yes, that's an option. A full format would clean the hard drive thoroughly, rebuild all file structures, and scan the disk to ensure everything is fine. However, this process will result in data loss.