How To Repair A Corrupted Hard Drive And Fix Storage Disk
What is hard disk?
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk, It is an electromechanical data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using one or more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material.
The platters are paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write data to the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially. HDDs are a type of non-volatile storage, retaining stored data even when powered off.
Common Causes of Hard DriveDamage:
When we have a hard drive fail, most of us have the same panicked reaction: how do I fix this? The reality is, hard drive failure isn't easy to repair, and the resulting lost data can be difficult to restore. This is why professional hard drive recovery services exist. While recovering data on your own is feasible in some cases (such as simply recovering deleted files), you often risk doing more harm than good and can ruin your chances of a successful recovery if you don't know what you're doing. There are several reasons why hard drives can fail, each with unique contributing factors. Here are the most common, along with warning signs that could be indicative of impending drive failure.
Physical Damage Water, heat and shock all pose serious threats to internal and external hard drives. Both heat and water can cause significant physical damage to hard drives' electronic parts, which are not built to withstand either element. Hard disks are not shock resistant either, so a jarring drop or other physical impact can damage the drive's mechanical components. Hard disk shock most often results in a head crash, which occurs when the read-write head of the drive touches the magnetic platter, scratching the platter's surface and thus causing sometimes-irreparable data loss.
Warning Signs: Inadequate ventilation can lead to overheating and eventually cause drive damage. Make sure that your computer's fan (usually located on the bottom or rear of the machine) isn't blocked so that it can provide adequate ventilation; your computer should never be too hot to touch. Water and shock damage can be difficult to avoid. It typically happens quickly and without warning. Taking conscientious care of your computer is the best way to combat these risks.
Logical Failure This refers to non-physical failure, or in other words, when damage occurs in a hard drive's file structure or software rather than the actual hardware. Many factors can contribute to logical failure, including malware infections, human error and corrupted files. Sometimes the failure can be extensive enough that the system will not boot up. In most cases of logical failure, a hard drive recovery service can successfully restore data because there is no damage to the drive's hardware.
Warning Signs: Disappearing data, disk errors and a sluggish system are all signs of impending logical hard drive failure. Other symptoms can include computer crashes and the ominous "blue screen of death." When you start to experience these symptoms, the best thing to do is back up your data if you have not done so already. If you cannot access your data, a hard disk recovery service may be able to restore it.
Mechanical Failure While most components of a computer are electrical, the hard disk is one of the few mechanical parts. Thus, it will inevitably fail at some point. This type of failure occurs when the read-write head or other components become faulty as a result of normal wear and tear.
Warning Signs: Strange noises such as grinding, clicking or screeching likely mean that mechanical failure is imminent. Similar to logical hard drive failure, computer crashes and frequent freezing can also be symptoms.
You can avoid most causes of hard disk failure with common sense and a little planning. Furthermore, recognizing the warning signs of impending failure can help minimize the potential for concurrent catastrophic data loss.
Physical Damage Water, heat and shock all pose serious threats to internal and external hard drives. Both heat and water can cause significant physical damage to hard drives' electronic parts, which are not built to withstand either element. Hard disks are not shock resistant either, so a jarring drop or other physical impact can damage the drive's mechanical components. Hard disk shock most often results in a head crash, which occurs when the read-write head of the drive touches the magnetic platter, scratching the platter's surface and thus causing sometimes-irreparable data loss.
Warning Signs: Inadequate ventilation can lead to overheating and eventually cause drive damage. Make sure that your computer's fan (usually located on the bottom or rear of the machine) isn't blocked so that it can provide adequate ventilation; your computer should never be too hot to touch. Water and shock damage can be difficult to avoid. It typically happens quickly and without warning. Taking conscientious care of your computer is the best way to combat these risks.
Logical Failure This refers to non-physical failure, or in other words, when damage occurs in a hard drive's file structure or software rather than the actual hardware. Many factors can contribute to logical failure, including malware infections, human error and corrupted files. Sometimes the failure can be extensive enough that the system will not boot up. In most cases of logical failure, a hard drive recovery service can successfully restore data because there is no damage to the drive's hardware.
Warning Signs: Disappearing data, disk errors and a sluggish system are all signs of impending logical hard drive failure. Other symptoms can include computer crashes and the ominous "blue screen of death." When you start to experience these symptoms, the best thing to do is back up your data if you have not done so already. If you cannot access your data, a hard disk recovery service may be able to restore it.
Mechanical Failure While most components of a computer are electrical, the hard disk is one of the few mechanical parts. Thus, it will inevitably fail at some point. This type of failure occurs when the read-write head or other components become faulty as a result of normal wear and tear.
Warning Signs: Strange noises such as grinding, clicking or screeching likely mean that mechanical failure is imminent. Similar to logical hard drive failure, computer crashes and frequent freezing can also be symptoms.
You can avoid most causes of hard disk failure with common sense and a little planning. Furthermore, recognizing the warning signs of impending failure can help minimize the potential for concurrent catastrophic data loss.
Symptom of Hard Disk Damage
let’s have a quick look at the situations may arise due to hard disk failure and when you should go for a Hard Disk Repair –
1.Disappearing files:
Files can be lost due to mechanical problems with the disk itself, and in some cases, you’ll be able to tell as the disk usually makes some out-of-the-ordinary noises when things are going haywire.
2.Computer freezing:
A computer freezing is a common incident, and it’s almost always solved by a quick reboot. However, if you find that it is getting more and more frequent, your hard drive could soon to die.
3.Corrupted data:
If you’ve downloaded and installed files without a hitch, but suddenly out of nowhere, files have become corrupt, it’s possible that your hard drive is experiencing a gradual failure.
4.Bad sectors:
A sector on a hard drive stores a certain amount of data accessible by the user. There are two types of sectors, a hard and soft sector. In most cases, Windows is able to repair a soft bad sector, as it’s almost always related to a software mishap. Formatting the drive will almost always fix this. But, if it’s a hard bad sector, this indicates physical damage, which can not be repaired. You can manually check for a bad sector by right-clicking the drive in My Computer. Select “Properties” and then navigate to the “Tools” tab. Finally, under “Error Checking” select the “Check” button. Windows will identify any sectors that have gone bad. As mentioned, Windows will try to fix it with a restart and doing some behind-the-scenes magic, but if that does not work, you could be, once again, experiencing gradual failure.
5.Sounds:
If your hard drive is making sounds that you aren’t familiar with, this could also be bad news, particularly if it’s a grinding or screeching noise.
For legacy troubleshooting, please see the “Legacy Troubleshooting” section at the bottom of the article.Typical symptoms associated with hard disk drive failures
The front panel indicator lights are visible, and the display is present on the monitor screen, but there is no disk drive action and no boot-up.
The computer boots up to a system disk in the A drive, but not to the hard drive, indicating that the system files on the hard disk drive (HDD) are missing or have become corrupt.
The computer does not boot up when turned on.
An IBM-compatible 17xx error code is produced on the display.
No motor sounds are produced by the HDD while the computer is running. (In desktop units, the HDD should generally always run when power is applied to the system — however, this does not apply to all desktops or portables when advanced power-saving features are used.)
A HDD Controller Failure message appears, indicating a failure to verify hard disk setup by system configuration file error.
A C: or D: Fixed Disk Drive error message appears, indicating a hard disk CMOS setup failure.
An Invalid Media Type message appears, indicating the controller cannot find a recognizable track/sector pattern on the drive.
A No Boot Record Found, a Nonsystem Disk or Disk Error, or an Invalid System Disk message appears, indicating that the system boot files are not located in the root directory of the drive.
The video display is active, but the HDD’s activity light remains on and no bootup occurs, indicating that the HDD’s CMOS configuration information is incorrect.
An Out of Disk Space message appears, indicating that the amount of space on the disk is insufficient to carry out the desired operation.
A Missing Operating System or a Hard Drive Boot Failure message appears, indicating that the disk’s MBR is missing or has become corrupt.
A Current Drive No Longer Valid message appears, indicating that the HDD’s CMOS configuration information is incorrect or has become corrupt.
HARD DISK REPAIR
If you want to repair your Laptop hard disk or computer hard disk only following this blog will not be enough,It may require in you some knowledge about computer hardware :
HDD Configuration Checks
While booting up the system, observe the BIOS’s HDD type information displayed on the monitor. Note the type of HDD that the BIOS recognizes as being installed in the system. Possible error messages associated with HDD configuration problems include the Drive Mismatch Error message and the Invalid Media Type message.
Basic HDD Checks
The first task is to determine how extensive the HDD problem is. Place a clean boot disk or an emergency start disk in the A drive and try to boot the system. Then execute a DIR command to access the C drive. If the system can see the contents of the drive, the boot files have been lost or corrupted, but the architecture of the disk is intact.
Modify the DIR command with an /AH or /AS switch (that is, DIR C: /AH or DIR C: /AS) to look in the root directory for the system files and the Command™ Brand file. It is common to receive a Disk Boot Failure message onscreen if this type of situation occurs.
CAUTION
It’s okay if you have done it previously but if this is your first time in hard disk repair then these cautions are a must for you :
If you format an existing partition or volume, any data residing in the structure is lost. The Windows XP Professional operating system protects its system files by preventing the system and boot partitions from being formatted.
HDD Hardware Checks
If you cannot access the hard disk drive, and its configuration settings are correct, you must troubleshoot the hardware components associated with the hard disk drive. These components include the drive, its signal cable, and the Hard Disk Controller (HDC) on the system board.
Tips :
Keep one updated antivirus and one updated firewall always running on your system. Attacks can damage disks by overloading.
Too many heavy anti-viruses and firewalls or software that essentially do the same thing, installed on your system, just because they were freely available on some sites, or have been offered to you by your corporation, is not going to find much favor with your hard disk’s health. Two anti-viruses, for an instance, especially heavy ones like Norton, constantly running scans can be torturous on your hard disk’s mechanical parts.
If your hard drive is making sounds that you aren’t familiar with, this could also be bad news, particularly if it’s a grinding or screeching noise.
For legacy troubleshooting, please see the “Legacy Troubleshooting” section at the bottom of the article.Typical symptoms associated with hard disk drive failures
The front panel indicator lights are visible, and the display is present on the monitor screen, but there is no disk drive action and no boot-up.
The computer boots up to a system disk in the A drive, but not to the hard drive, indicating that the system files on the hard disk drive (HDD) are missing or have become corrupt.
The computer does not boot up when turned on.
An IBM-compatible 17xx error code is produced on the display.
No motor sounds are produced by the HDD while the computer is running. (In desktop units, the HDD should generally always run when power is applied to the system — however, this does not apply to all desktops or portables when advanced power-saving features are used.)
A HDD Controller Failure message appears, indicating a failure to verify hard disk setup by system configuration file error.
A C: or D: Fixed Disk Drive error message appears, indicating a hard disk CMOS setup failure.
An Invalid Media Type message appears, indicating the controller cannot find a recognizable track/sector pattern on the drive.
A No Boot Record Found, a Nonsystem Disk or Disk Error, or an Invalid System Disk message appears, indicating that the system boot files are not located in the root directory of the drive.
The video display is active, but the HDD’s activity light remains on and no bootup occurs, indicating that the HDD’s CMOS configuration information is incorrect.
An Out of Disk Space message appears, indicating that the amount of space on the disk is insufficient to carry out the desired operation.
A Missing Operating System or a Hard Drive Boot Failure message appears, indicating that the disk’s MBR is missing or has become corrupt.
A Current Drive No Longer Valid message appears, indicating that the HDD’s CMOS configuration information is incorrect or has become corrupt.
HARD DISK REPAIR
If you want to repair your Laptop hard disk or computer hard disk only following this blog will not be enough,It may require in you some knowledge about computer hardware :
HDD Configuration Checks
While booting up the system, observe the BIOS’s HDD type information displayed on the monitor. Note the type of HDD that the BIOS recognizes as being installed in the system. Possible error messages associated with HDD configuration problems include the Drive Mismatch Error message and the Invalid Media Type message.
Basic HDD Checks
The first task is to determine how extensive the HDD problem is. Place a clean boot disk or an emergency start disk in the A drive and try to boot the system. Then execute a DIR command to access the C drive. If the system can see the contents of the drive, the boot files have been lost or corrupted, but the architecture of the disk is intact.
Modify the DIR command with an /AH or /AS switch (that is, DIR C: /AH or DIR C: /AS) to look in the root directory for the system files and the Command™ Brand file. It is common to receive a Disk Boot Failure message onscreen if this type of situation occurs.
CAUTION
It’s okay if you have done it previously but if this is your first time in hard disk repair then these cautions are a must for you :
If you format an existing partition or volume, any data residing in the structure is lost. The Windows XP Professional operating system protects its system files by preventing the system and boot partitions from being formatted.
HDD Hardware Checks
If you cannot access the hard disk drive, and its configuration settings are correct, you must troubleshoot the hardware components associated with the hard disk drive. These components include the drive, its signal cable, and the Hard Disk Controller (HDC) on the system board.
Tips :
Keep one updated antivirus and one updated firewall always running on your system. Attacks can damage disks by overloading.
Too many heavy anti-viruses and firewalls or software that essentially do the same thing, installed on your system, just because they were freely available on some sites, or have been offered to you by your corporation, is not going to find much favor with your hard disk’s health. Two anti-viruses, for an instance, especially heavy ones like Norton, constantly running scans can be torturous on your hard disk’s mechanical parts.
There are many ways to repair corrupted hard drive using a Windows PC. You can either use inbuilt Windows CMD-based tools to repair the hard disk that ran into problems like it’s done in the case of flash drives. Taking the hard drive fixing work to the next level includes third party data wiping software like DBAN, CCleaner, etc.
When it comes to the word corrupt, it’s mostly associated with pen drives, SD Cards, and some special category of humans. There is another breed of storage devices called hard drive which is more sturdy, and it doesn’t run into problems as often as flash drives. But hard drives don’t last forever, they tend to get corrupted, and we have to find ways to repair corrupted hard drives. Instead of contacting some hard drive recovery service, you can try some workarounds on your own and use this guide.
Now, your HDD might get corrupt in two ways: the problem might occur the software level which can be fixed. But if the hardware is at the fault, you might not be able to get it back to normal and restore corrupted hard drive. The only possible way out of this situation is recovering the data before the hard drive sleeps forever.
How To Repair Corrupted Pen Drive or SD Card In Simple Steps?
How to fix/repair a corrupted hard drive in Windows 10?
If the hard drive you’re trying fix contains your important data, then you should use a data recovery software to extract the photos, music, videos and other files before they’re gone forever. Here are some great data recovery tools you can use.
Now, in order to fix a hard disk drive that’s gone rogue, we should start with the basics because we have to make sure that the hard drive is corrupt or not in the first place.
It might be possible the problem was nothing but a loose screw, and we repaired the whole bicycle. Here are some ways which might help you repair corrupted hard drive.
Check the power supply
If you’re using an external hard drive, then it’s possible that the storage media is taking the power from the USB port itself. Try to unplug the hard drive and connect it again in the process of hard drive fix. You can also try another USB port on your computer, maybe the one you’re using isn’t working properly. Make sure haven’t disabled your USB ports.
Some external hard drive comes with a separate power supply, so, do a check if the same is working properly. Checking the power supply in the case of an internal hard drive might be a little tougher. However, if your PC is detecting the internal drive, there is hardly any chance something is wrong with the power.
Try the hard drive on another PC, if your PC can’t detect it
It might be possible that only your PC can’t read the hard drive and you need to repair hard drive accordingly. Connect the storage media to another PC, maybe you get a sense of relief by seeing it work on another PC.
If it works, then there might be some issue with the device drivers installed on your computer that needs to be fixed. You can reinstall your hard drive’s drivers by visiting This PC (right-click) > Manage > Device Manager. Right-click on the name of your hard drive and click Uninstall. Now, restart the computer and connect the hard drive. The drivers will start installing automatically in most cases.
You can also consider changing the drive letter assigned to the storage media to restore corrupted hard drive. Go to This PC (right-click) > Manage > Disk Management. Right-click your hard drive and click Change Drive Letter and Paths….
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Now, click on the drive letter and click Change. Select the new drive letter and click Ok. It’ll show a warning that other programs might not work, click Yes. Problems will only occur if you change the letter of an internal drive where you have installed apps, mostly the Windows drive.
Check your hard drive for errors
Windows has an inbuilt mechanism for hard disk recovery using which you can check a storage media, internal or external HDD, for errors. In various cases, Windows will automatically ask you for drive scanning when you connect the drive to the machine. If it doesn’t happen, you can visit This PC > Drive (right-click) > Properties > Tools tab. Click Check.
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The hard drive we use on our desktops and laptops have a built-in hardware monitoring technology called S.M.A.R.T. Now, Windows doesn’t have any app to display the data collected by S.M.A.R.T. but you can check the overall status using WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line) in CMD and try your hands on the broken hard disk repair.
>Open CMD in admin mode.
>Type wmic and press enter.
>type diskdrive get status and press Enter.
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tatus of your hard drive as OK, this means everything is fine. But if it’s not Ok then you should worry about your hard drive dying in the coming future. Things get confusing when you have multiple hard drives connected, it doesn’t display the name, so, you will see an ‘Ok’ for each of the hard drives connected.
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Alternatively, you can fetch S.M.A.R.T. details using a utility known as CrystalDiskInfo. It can show you the numbers related to individual hard drive attributes, as well as, it’s overall health, temperature, the number of start counts, total number of active hours, etc.
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Alternatively, you can fetch S.M.A.R.T. details using a utility known as CrystalDiskInfo. It can show you the numbers related to individual hard drive attributes, as well as, it’s overall health, temperature, the number of start counts, total number of active hours, etc.
How to fix a corrupt hard drive using built-in Windows CMD tools and other options?
The Check Disk utility we use for repairing corrupt flash drives and SD card also works for rotating hard drives and SSDs. It can be accessed in the Properties of a connected hard drive. For hard drive recovery, you also use Check Disk or chkdsk using the command line.
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To start the corrupted hard disk repair process, open Command Prompt in Admin mode (Right-click Start button and click Command Prompt (Admin)).
Type the following command to start the error checking and fixing process for your internal or external drive:
>chkdsk C: /F
where C is the drive letter.
You can add more options to the command to make the scan process more rigorous.
>chkdsk C: /F /X /R
where
/X If required, it forces the volume to dismount before the scan.
/R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable data.
Press Enter. Press Y if the system asks you for a restart (in the case of internal drive).
Wait till the Check Disk utility repairs your hard drive for errors.
Chkdsk might not be a fool-proof solution but it works in many cases and might help you repair your external or internal HDD without formatting. If it fails, then you can consider the option of formatting your drive by visiting Windows Explorer.
A quick format would work but if you want you can go for the full format option. Just untick the Quick Format check box. Please note that this will take more time than normal, even hours in case of a hard drive that’s 1TB in size.
Format an external hard drive using CMD
You can access the Diskpart tool using command prompt in Windows to format an external hard drive that’s not working properly. The process to clean a hard drive is similar to how you format flash drives and SD cards.
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Open CMD in Admin Mode.
Type diskpart and press Enter.
Type list disk to display all the storage media connected to your system.
Type select disk X where X is the number of the disk you want to format.
Type clean and press enter to erase all the data on the drive.
Now, you have to create a new partition on the drive. Type the following and press enter:
create partition primary
Now format the newly created partition using the following command:
format fs=ntfs
It’ll take some time for the system to format the partition according to file system specified.
You can also use fat32 in place of ntfs but the latter is recommended for a hard drive repair with larger capacity.
Also, if you want to perform a quick format instead of full format, add quick attribute to the command.
format fs=ntfs quick
You can add a name to the partition bexiy adding the label attribute in the same command:
format fs=ntfs quick label=MyDrive
After the format process completes, assign a letter to the drive:
assign letter=G
Use exit command to quit the diskpart utility and another exit to quit CMD.
Format an internal volume using Disk Management
Now, the corrupt hard drive you’re trying to format is an internal logical volume, then the Diskpart tool can easily help you out. Follow these steps to format an internal drive:
Right-click My Computer/This PC. Click Manage.
Click Disk Management in the left pane.
Now, right-click the local volume you want to erase.
Click Format.
In the window that pops-up, name the disk, select file system (mostly NTFS). Keep the allocation size to default.
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Tick ‘Perform a quick format’ checkbox to make the format process faster. Untick it the volume is having issues.
Click Ok, and it will take a while to format the lock disk on your computer.
Format corrupt internal volume using CMD
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Open elevated Command Prompt (Admin mode) corrupted hard drive repair using CMD.
Type diskpart command and press Enter.
Type list disk and press Enter.
Select the disk where the partition exists i.e. your internal hard drive:
select disk X
where X is the number of the disk.
Display a list of available partitions:
list partition
Select the partition to be formatted:
select partition X
Once the partition is selected, format it:
format
and press Enter
You can also add label for the name and quick attribute to do a quick format.
format quick label=test
The format process takes time depending on whether you’ve chosen the quick or full format and the size of your internal volume or local disk.
Repair corrupted hard drive using disk wipe software
Now, if the inbuilt Windows tools can’t help you then third-party disk wiping tools are your only rescue in the process to fix hard drive. Disk wiping software is designed to rinse your drive to the point that no traces of your data can be found. They work differently than the regular quick format process, according to the standard released by various organizations such as DOD, NIST, etc.
There are various data destruction software you can use to wipe a corrupt hard drive and attempt its fixing. If you can boot into your Windows OS, then a GUI rich disk wiping software would be easier to use.
The popular free PC optimization tool knows as CCleaner has inbuilt disk wipe which can be used to wipe a hard drive completely. When removing data using CCleaner, you can choose any local volume on your computer or any external drive connected to your computer.
Bleachbit is another free and open source disk wiping software that’s available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
You can also use a free drive eraser tool called CBL Data Shredder if you don’t have any problem with making a bootable USB and taking a long road.
One of the famous data wiping software is the open source project called Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN). It comes in the form of an ISO, so, it even works if you can’t access the operating system on your computer.
If the hard drive you’re trying to fix contains your important data, then your should use a data recovery software to extract the data before it gone forever. Here are some great data recovery software you can use in this hard disk repair process.
How to use DBAN to wipe your hard drive?
Please note that you can only use your keyboard to control DBAN and proceed with the disk wiping process.
Download the DBAN ISO using this link (direct download).
Create a bootable USB or DVD using one of these bootable media creators.
Now, restart your machine and boot using the media you’ve created. Different machines have different options to access the boot selection menu. For instance, it’s F9 on HP and F12 on Dell.
In the boot device selection menu, choose the bootable USB drive to start DBAN.
The first screen of DBAN shows all the available options you can perform using this data destruction software.
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I recommend you read all the text carefully as you might end up wiping the other drives connected to the system.
Pressing F2 will show information about DBAN.
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Pressing F2 will show information about DBAN.
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Pressing F3 will explore a list of commands. Each command initiates disk wiping process according to a particular standard.
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Please note, running the command once will destroy data on all the connected drives at once. And you won’t be able to get it back.
So, if you’re trying to wipe the internal drive, make sure you remove any connected storage. In the case of an external drive, don’t use this option as it will destroy data on your internal drive too.
Pressing F4 shows information about using DBAN with RAID disks. Probably, it won’t be of much use to normal users.
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So, if you’re trying to wipe the internal drive, make sure you remove any connected storage. In the case of an external drive, don’t use this option as it will destroy data on your internal drive too.
Pressing F4 shows information about using DBAN with RAID disks. Probably, it won’t be of much use to normal users.
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Also, there is an autonuke option which used DOD standard as default. Type autonuke in the command line on the screen and press Enter. Using this option will start the wiping process of the hard drive without any confirmation.
How to use the Interactive Mode in DBAN in hard drive fixing process?
You can press Enter to start DBAN in interactive mode. This mode allows you to choose the desired disk which is to be wiped, the data destruction standard, etc.
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The bottom of the screen shows the controls you use in the interactive mode. Press P to select the Pseudo Random Number Generator (PRNG) from the available options.
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As the name suggests, PRNG is used to generate a random number sequence which is used while wiping the drive. Use Up and Down arrows to highlight an option and press Space to select.
Press M to choose the wipe for the process.
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It lists the same method as mentioned in the F3 options above. The default DoD Short would work in the most cases. But you choose another one if the former doesn’t work. This also works in the same way, arrows for highlighting and Space for selection.
Pressing V allows you to select when and how many times DBAN should perform the verification. Choosing the Last Pass option would be better as verification after every pass would take more time.
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Press R to select the number of rounds for which the wiping method should run. Normally, a single round would do the job. Type the desired number and press Enter to save and return to the main screen of the interactive mode.
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You can highlight the desired drive using arrows and press Space to select it. Now, press F10 start the disk wipe process.
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Make sure you have selected the correct disk as there is no turning back beyond this point. It might take hours for the process to complete. After that, you can reinstall Windows if it’s an internal hard drive.
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So, that’s was a guide on how to a fix or repair corrupted hard drive. You can use these to revive your external drive or any internal logical volume.
If you found this helpful or you have any suggestions to make, drop your thoughts and feedback.
How to use the Interactive Mode in DBAN in hard drive fixing process?
You can press Enter to start DBAN in interactive mode. This mode allows you to choose the desired disk which is to be wiped, the data destruction standard, etc.
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The bottom of the screen shows the controls you use in the interactive mode. Press P to select the Pseudo Random Number Generator (PRNG) from the available options.
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As the name suggests, PRNG is used to generate a random number sequence which is used while wiping the drive. Use Up and Down arrows to highlight an option and press Space to select.
Press M to choose the wipe for the process.
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It lists the same method as mentioned in the F3 options above. The default DoD Short would work in the most cases. But you choose another one if the former doesn’t work. This also works in the same way, arrows for highlighting and Space for selection.
Pressing V allows you to select when and how many times DBAN should perform the verification. Choosing the Last Pass option would be better as verification after every pass would take more time.
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Press R to select the number of rounds for which the wiping method should run. Normally, a single round would do the job. Type the desired number and press Enter to save and return to the main screen of the interactive mode.
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You can highlight the desired drive using arrows and press Space to select it. Now, press F10 start the disk wipe process.
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Make sure you have selected the correct disk as there is no turning back beyond this point. It might take hours for the process to complete. After that, you can reinstall Windows if it’s an internal hard drive.
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So, that’s was a guide on how to a fix or repair corrupted hard drive. You can use these to revive your external drive or any internal logical volume.
If you found this helpful or you have any suggestions to make, drop your thoughts and feedback.
How To Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive
1. Verify the failure. Make sure your drive is truly broken by checking things that could cause your drive to not be recognized.
If your drive is making a steady, loud clicking noise, stop and skip to part two. Your drive is dead.
place to start, and if found to be the problem, is the fastest, most inexpensive fix you can make!
Make sure power is getting to the computer. If the cat knocked out the plug, or cable is broken, nothing will work.
Open up the computer case. Are the data (IDE or SATA) and power cables firmly in place? Make sure they are seated well,
1. Verify the failure. Make sure your drive is truly broken by checking things that could cause your drive to not be recognized.
If your drive is making a steady, loud clicking noise, stop and skip to part two. Your drive is dead.
place to start, and if found to be the problem, is the fastest, most inexpensive fix you can make!
Make sure power is getting to the computer. If the cat knocked out the plug, or cable is broken, nothing will work.
Open up the computer case. Are the data (IDE or SATA) and power cables firmly in place? Make sure they are seated well,
3. Do a visual check. Sometimes, it's not the drive that's dead, but the PC board that controls its operation (on the underside of the drive). If there's a power surge or a component failure on that board, your drive will stop working, but only because it doesn't know what to do next.
Look for signs of damage—burns or scorch marks. If you see this, you can breathe a little sigh of relief, for it means that is your likely culprit—and often, this is a problem that can be fixed with relative ease.
If you want to replace the PCB, search on Google for replacement parts for your drive's make and model.
When it arrives, remove the old board (there are five tiny screws to remove—don't lose them!)
Slide out the old drive and replace it with the new one. Do not touch the metal leads on the new board—static discharge could blow your new board before it ever has a chance to breathe new life into your drive. You can ground yourself by either wearing an anti-static wrist band or by touching something grounded and metal. The inside of your plugged-in computer will usually work.
Slide in the new board, making sure it's seated firmly into the drive, then re-attach the screws.
Reconnect the drive to the computer, then power back up. If it works, congratulations! It's a good idea to back up your data at this point, but you're ready to go.
If it doesn't work—keep reading.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 4
4. Check to see if the drive is being recognized. If everything is plugged in, and nothing appears to have blown up on the controller PCB, check out Windows Disk Management or BIOS, or Mac OS X Disk Utility to determine if your drive is being recognized at all.
Part 2
Options for Repair
1. it is worth finding a professional hard-drive recovery company and paying what it takes to get your data back. If you attempt anything at all yourself, chances of recovering any data professionally will be nil.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 6
2 A quick search on Google for "hard drive replacement parts" will lead you in a couple of different directions. Replacing parts may work for older hard drives, but usually not for newer ones.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 7
3. Do it yourself. A favorite method of brave souls is the DIY method, promoted by companies that specialize in providing parts for do-It-yourselves. The idea is that if you only replace the burned out controller board, your drive will spring back to life.
Truth is, maybe it will! But there's one big caveat: the chips on the controller are, more and more, calibrated for that particular drive, and there's no guarantee a replacement will work. However, this is by far the least-expensive option.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 8
4. Hire a professional. This is the ONLY option to get your drive back up and running, or at least have the files on the drive recovered (which is really what you want, in the end).
Turnaround times can be quicker than the DIY method, and success is somewhat more assured, but it comes at a cost, which may be worth it if your data is important.
You can expect to pay two or three times more than the original cost of the drive, so you will have to weigh the value of the money against the value of the data on the drive.
Part 3
Do it Yourself
1. Read this first! If your drive made a clicking sound the first time you plugged it in, any time you plug it in again causes loss of data by damaging the magnetic layer on the drive. Do not attempt this self-repair if the data is important to you for work or legal reasons. Some of these techniques are "Hail Mary" attempts that will either work or render your drive truly, finally, really dead. This will totally and finally kill any part of data that is not already damaged.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 10
2. Physically test the drive. Hold the drive in one hand and firmly spin it back and forth, listening for any noises as you do so. This may seem like "not doing anything", but actually if anything is loose, you may cause it to break!!! If you can't hear any noises, a likely cause—especially if you have an older drive, or one which ran very hot to the touch—is a seized head bearing or spindle. The following steps can be considered: If you open up the drive, you are likely to kill whatever was still able to be saved.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 11
3. Warm it up. Pre-heat a domestic oven at its lowest setting for five minutes or so, then turn it off. Place the drive in the oven for 2-5 mins, until it's warmed up. Please note that warming it up -- whether it has already crashed or not -- can and will make it die.
Remove the drive and repeat the first step. If you still can't hear any noises, go on to the next step. However, if there is a difference, reattach the drive to your computer and listen for spin-up of the drive and normal clicking that indicates head activity. If all seems well so far, try to access the drive, and move your data onto a good drive.
If needed, reheat the device and, while holding the drive in one hand, sharply spin and hit the drive on a hard surface. This is drastic of course but may help free the heads from any binding. If anything was still alive on your hard drive, it would now be totally and finally dead.
Repeat the first step. Can you hear head movement now? If yes, re-attach the drive to your computer, and try accessing the drive.
If you can hear a rhythmic "click" in time with the movement, the chances are that the drive heads are free on their mounts and are not jammed. Check that you don't hear any rattling noises when you rotate the drive gently (back and forth) through 90 degrees. This would indicate loose and disconnected components inside the drive and are beyond the scope or intent of this article.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 12
4. Chill it down. Another option—a controversial one—is freezing the drive. This is a last-ditch effort, and you may only get the drive back long enough to copy off important files, but if all else fails, it's worth a try.
Seal the drive in a zip-lock bag, and remove as much air as possible. Pop the drive into the freezer for a few hours.
Plug the drive back into the computer and give it a try. If it doesn't work immediately, power down, remove the drive, then smack it on a hard surface such as a table or floor. Re-attach the drive, and try again. If it works, save your files, then toss the drive. If it doesn't, your drive will now be beyond all methods of professional help!!
Part 4
Professional Repair
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 6
2 A quick search on Google for "hard drive replacement parts" will lead you in a couple of different directions. Replacing parts may work for older hard drives, but usually not for newer ones.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 7
3. Do it yourself. A favorite method of brave souls is the DIY method, promoted by companies that specialize in providing parts for do-It-yourselves. The idea is that if you only replace the burned out controller board, your drive will spring back to life.
Truth is, maybe it will! But there's one big caveat: the chips on the controller are, more and more, calibrated for that particular drive, and there's no guarantee a replacement will work. However, this is by far the least-expensive option.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 8
4. Hire a professional. This is the ONLY option to get your drive back up and running, or at least have the files on the drive recovered (which is really what you want, in the end).
Turnaround times can be quicker than the DIY method, and success is somewhat more assured, but it comes at a cost, which may be worth it if your data is important.
You can expect to pay two or three times more than the original cost of the drive, so you will have to weigh the value of the money against the value of the data on the drive.
Part 3
Do it Yourself
1. Read this first! If your drive made a clicking sound the first time you plugged it in, any time you plug it in again causes loss of data by damaging the magnetic layer on the drive. Do not attempt this self-repair if the data is important to you for work or legal reasons. Some of these techniques are "Hail Mary" attempts that will either work or render your drive truly, finally, really dead. This will totally and finally kill any part of data that is not already damaged.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 10
2. Physically test the drive. Hold the drive in one hand and firmly spin it back and forth, listening for any noises as you do so. This may seem like "not doing anything", but actually if anything is loose, you may cause it to break!!! If you can't hear any noises, a likely cause—especially if you have an older drive, or one which ran very hot to the touch—is a seized head bearing or spindle. The following steps can be considered: If you open up the drive, you are likely to kill whatever was still able to be saved.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 11
3. Warm it up. Pre-heat a domestic oven at its lowest setting for five minutes or so, then turn it off. Place the drive in the oven for 2-5 mins, until it's warmed up. Please note that warming it up -- whether it has already crashed or not -- can and will make it die.
Remove the drive and repeat the first step. If you still can't hear any noises, go on to the next step. However, if there is a difference, reattach the drive to your computer and listen for spin-up of the drive and normal clicking that indicates head activity. If all seems well so far, try to access the drive, and move your data onto a good drive.
If needed, reheat the device and, while holding the drive in one hand, sharply spin and hit the drive on a hard surface. This is drastic of course but may help free the heads from any binding. If anything was still alive on your hard drive, it would now be totally and finally dead.
Repeat the first step. Can you hear head movement now? If yes, re-attach the drive to your computer, and try accessing the drive.
If you can hear a rhythmic "click" in time with the movement, the chances are that the drive heads are free on their mounts and are not jammed. Check that you don't hear any rattling noises when you rotate the drive gently (back and forth) through 90 degrees. This would indicate loose and disconnected components inside the drive and are beyond the scope or intent of this article.
Image titled Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive Step 12
4. Chill it down. Another option—a controversial one—is freezing the drive. This is a last-ditch effort, and you may only get the drive back long enough to copy off important files, but if all else fails, it's worth a try.
Seal the drive in a zip-lock bag, and remove as much air as possible. Pop the drive into the freezer for a few hours.
Plug the drive back into the computer and give it a try. If it doesn't work immediately, power down, remove the drive, then smack it on a hard surface such as a table or floor. Re-attach the drive, and try again. If it works, save your files, then toss the drive. If it doesn't, your drive will now be beyond all methods of professional help!!
Part 4
Professional Repair
Find out a place that they will offer to repair your drive for a (not so small) fee. Before plunking down any cash, check their credentials. Look at online user forums, talk to them, and find out how long they've been in business and what their recovery percentage is.
Check their guarantee, and how much they charge for both success (which you will gladly pay for) or for failure. How much is it worth to you for them to make a failed attempt.
You may not want to pay for a recovery that didn't happen, but if they attempted to repair and if failed, they still spent some amount of time trying, which should be compensated.
You're helping people by reading wikiHow
wikiHow's mission is to help people learn, and we really hope this article helped you. Now you can help others, just by visiting wikiHow.
We've partnered with Blue Heart, an organization that helps grassroots groups tackle education inequality in their communities. They're not just making education more accessible -- they are empowering young people to positively shape their own schools and communities.
An external hard drive is just a regular internal hard drive in an external case. You can open the case and take out the drive, and from here you can connect it to a computer in a number of different ways. Or you can find a replacement case and install the hard drive so you again have a functioning external hard drive.
Check their guarantee, and how much they charge for both success (which you will gladly pay for) or for failure. How much is it worth to you for them to make a failed attempt.
You may not want to pay for a recovery that didn't happen, but if they attempted to repair and if failed, they still spent some amount of time trying, which should be compensated.
You're helping people by reading wikiHow
wikiHow's mission is to help people learn, and we really hope this article helped you. Now you can help others, just by visiting wikiHow.
We've partnered with Blue Heart, an organization that helps grassroots groups tackle education inequality in their communities. They're not just making education more accessible -- they are empowering young people to positively shape their own schools and communities.
An external hard drive is just a regular internal hard drive in an external case. You can open the case and take out the drive, and from here you can connect it to a computer in a number of different ways. Or you can find a replacement case and install the hard drive so you again have a functioning external hard drive.
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