How to recover lost partitions on an external hard drive using CMD

Step 1: Press the "Windows + R" keys to open the "Run" window.

Step 2: Type cmd, then press "Enter."

Step 3: Once the Command Prompt is open, you should head over to the “Start” menu and type “cmd” once again.

4. Right-click the first entry and select “Run as administrator.” This will open a Command Prompt window.

Partitions are crucial to your PC, and it's undeniable that they might not always be in an ideal state and can sometimes become vulnerable. Hence, the primary reason you're here could be that you accidentally deleted a partition and now want to recover it.

For example, if your external HDD consists of two partitions and one of them gets deleted accidentally, you will now be able to access only the other partition. The lost partition must have contained lots of important documents, photos, videos, and whatnot. Are you wondering how to recover a lost partition from an external hard drive?

Fortunately, there are some marvelous ways to fix the external hard drive partitioning issues, and one of the best is learning how to recover lost partitions using CMD. As absurd as it might sound to some, it's worth giving a try! Let's discuss right away the best ways to retrieve lost partitions from an external HDD without any delay using CMD!

How to recover lost partitions on an external hard drive using CMD

CMD, also known as the Command Prompt, is an input field displayed in a text-oriented operating system (OS) or program user interface. Its purpose is to invoke actions. When a user enters a command at the command prompt, a blinking cursor appears, following a brief text sequence.

The CHKDSK command in Command Prompt can be used to check the logical consistency of the file system. Actually, CHKDSK stands for "check disk", and as the name implies, its main purpose is to first detect and then fix a corrupted external hard drive.

CHKDSK creates and displays disk information based on the file system of the volume. If you type CHKDSK with no parameters, you see the disk status on the current drive.

How to Recover Formatted Data from HDD/SD Card/USB Using CMD

If you accidentally formatted your hard drive, SD memory card, or USB flash drive in Windows 10/8/7, don't worry.

The steps to recover deleted partition on external HDD using CMD are as follows:

Step 1: Locate the deleted partition

Press the "Windows + R" keys on your keyboard to open the "Run" command. Type in diskmgmt.msc, then click "OK".

In the “Disk Management” window, look for an area labeled “Unallocated.” This is the deleted partition you're looking for.

Step 2: Open the Command Prompt

Once you have identified the partition to be recovered, you need to access a tool from the CMD to help you in recover lost partition. This tool is the Command Prompt.

• Press the "Windows + R" keys to open the "Run" window.
• Type in cmd, then hit "Enter."
• When the Command Prompt opens, go to your Start menu and type in "cmd" again.
• Right-click the first option and select "Run as administrator" to launch Command Prompt.

Click “Command Prompt”.

Third step: Enter the correct command.

• You can perform certain tasks by entering commands in the Command Prompt.
• Type diskpart and press "Enter" to enter "Disk Management" mode.
• You will need to enter the following commands: list disk - select disk - list volume - select volume - assign letter=?.

Please enter the command mentioned.

Make sure you don't forget to remove the "-" symbol. The letter should correspond to the location of the hard drive where you're deleting the partition. After the recovery process, you'll assign this drive letter to the lost partition, so it should match the deleted partition's letter. Once you've done this, the recovery process should begin. Finally, close the Command Prompt window to finish the entire process.

An Alternative Way to Recover Lost Partitions from External Hard Drive via Command Prompt

Aside from using CMD to recover lost partitions from an external hard drive, there are two more flawless alternatives. Here are the two major substitute methods: An example of how to recover files from USB using cmd attrib is as follows:

Solution 1: Recover the lost partition with a utility program

If your device is damaged, cease writing more data to it and avoid using the hard drive altogether. Continual usage of an external hard drive decreases the likelihood of recovering deleted files since newly acquired information might overwrite the lost files. In such a scenario, you should first back up your data and then utilize professional file recovery software to retrieve your files before repairing the external hard drive.

Data Recovery Wizard is an all-in-one lost partition recovery tool. This professional utility can accomplish many tasks, including moving partitions to the end of a disk, managing EFI system partitions, and converting GPT disks to MBR. Its main highlights are:

• Support for various types and brands of hard drive recovery software.
• Recover lost or deleted partition files from over 2,000 storage devices, including videos, photos, emails, audio, and over 1,000 other file types.
• Compatibility with all major file systems, such as FAT32, NTFS, HFS+, APFS, EXT4, and more.
• Requirements for 3DS in general

Step 1: Select and scan the external hard drive

• Download and install the Data Recovery tool on your desktop or laptop.
• Connect the external hard drive to your computer.
• Run the Data Recovery Wizard, and select the external hard drive from the list of external drives. Then, click to scan for lost data.

Step 2: Review the scan results

• Data recovery software will immediately scan all data on the selected drive, including deleted, corrupted, and existing files.
• You can use the filtering feature to quickly locate a specific type of file, such as images, Word documents, Excel sheets, PDFs, videos, emails, and more.

Step 3: Preview and recover the data

• Double-click a file from the scan results to preview it. • Select the files you need, and then click “Recover”. • Choose a location different from the original drive to save your recovered files.

Download this data recovery tool right now! If you like this page, don't forget to share it with your friends on social media.

Solution 2: Use TestDisk to recover deleted partitions

When partitions are deleted or damaged, the file system remains on the disk, but its location is unknown, as such data cannot be read. TestDisk can search for partitions and rewrite the partition table with the selected one. Here's how:

Step 1: Create a location to save the recovered data, for instance, a folder named "Recovery" on the "D:\" drive, which will serve as the destination for the recovered files.

Step 2. Run the "testdisk_win.exe" file that you extracted from the TestDisk folder.

Step 3: We need to create a log file for the program first. Press the “Enter” key to select the first option, which generates a log file.

Create a log file for the program

Step 4. On the next screen, select the hard drive from which you want to recover your partition. Use the up and down arrow keys to make your selection. In this program, you will need to use the arrow keys four times for each selection.

TestDisk will display all connected HDDs and their partitions. If you intend to use the CMD to recover deleted files, proceed to the drive and hit "Enter" to continue. However, if you want to recover data from the entire disk, you'll have to use the "Disk Options."

Step 5: TestDisk will quickly find your partition type. Press "Enter."

Step 6: Check the first option on the next screen, and press Enter to begin verifying the disk.

Analyze the first option and hit the Enter key

Step 7. When the scan is finished, TestDisk will display any errors found on the drive in the next window. The default selection is "Quick Search." Press "Enter."

Select “Quick Search” and press Enter:

Step 8. Select the files and folders you wish to recover. Press 'P' to preview the contents of the disk.

Step 9. TestDisk will now display the “Select a Partition Type” option at the bottom of the window.

Step 10: Press ':' to select the most recently added file, 'a' to toggle a file's selection, and 'c' to copy the current file, or 'C' to copy all selected files.

Step 11. After you select the file or folder you want to recover, TestDisk will automatically navigate to the directory where it started.

Step 12: Use the arrow keys, like Forward and Back, to move to where you want to put something.

Step 13: Press the "C" key to search for the selected file in this directory.

Step 14: Navigate to the “Recovery” folder that you created in Step 1.

Step 15: Click on “Quit” to exit the TestDisk program.

Bottom line

Though losing partitions on an external hard drive might seem catastrophic, you can easily recover your important files. You can use the Data Recovery Wizard tool to easily get back your lost files.

Frequently Asked Questions on Using CMD to Recover Lost Partition from External Hard Drive

Please refer to the following FAQ for instructions on how to use CMD to recover lost partitions from an external hard drive:

1. How to fix a missing external hard drive partition?

You must follow the steps mentioned in Part 2 to fix the external HDD partition using CMD.

How can I use the Command Prompt to recover an external hard drive?

Please follow these steps:

Connect the HDD to the system. Type command prompt in the search bar and run it as an administrator. Type chkdsk F: /f in the command prompt, then hit "Enter". Type Y, then hit "Enter" again. Type F and press "Enter" once more.

How to recover lost hard drive partitions?

In this case, you'll need to search for "cmd" in the Windows search bar, right-click on the "Command Prompt" app, and choose "Run as administrator." Then, within the Command Prompt, type "chkdsk X: /f /r /x," replacing "X" with the letter assigned to the damaged partition. Finally, hit the "Enter" key.

4. How to recover data deleted by diskpart clean using cmd?

For this, you need to use the tool Data Recovery Wizard on your computer and follow the steps.