How to Repair a Corrupted Hard Disk Without Formatting It in Windows 10/8/7  

How to Repair a Corrupted Hard Disk Without Formatting It in Windows 10/8/7

Hard drive corruption often occurs due to file system errors, bad sectors, and sudden system crashes. You are going to learn five ways on how to fix a corrupted hard drive without formatting in Windows 10/8/7. If you want to protect your hard drive data, run Deep Data Recovery to recover data and save them to a safe place.

Top 4 Ways to Repair Corrupted Hard Disk (Quick Navigation)

Hard drive corruption is a common issue for Windows 10/8/7 users. Today, we are going to walk you through the solutions on how to fix a corrupted hard drive. Here is the overview of these HDD repair solutions.

Workable Solutions Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Fix 1. Run Antivirus Scan Download and run Norton Power Eraser. If a new version is available, Norton Power Eraser will...Full steps
Fix 2. Repair Hard Drive Using CMD Next to the Windows Start menu, in the "Search Windows" box, type cmd. On the search result...Full steps
Fix 3. Update the Disk Driver Right-click on "This PC"/"My Computer" and choose "Properties". In the taskbar on the left...Full steps
Fix 4. Seek Help from Experts You can ask for help from Qiling's technical support team. They provide 1 on 1 remote assistance service...Full steps

What Causes Hard Drive Corruption

Sometimes, your hard drive or external hard drive can be damaged and become unrecognized or inaccessible in Windows 10/8/7. At the same time, you may receive these error messages like "X:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable"; The hard drive becomes RAW and prompts a "disk needs to be formatted" error. Generally, hard drive corruption is caused by the following things.

First Thing to Do: Recover Data from Corrupted Hard Drive

If you have important data on the corrupted hard drive, you should recover your lost data with professional data recovery software at the very beginning. Deep Data Recovery can access and restore files from the corrupt hard disk and external hard drive quickly to ensure data security. With this top-notch file recovery program, you can:

Qiling Hard Drive Recovery Software

Now, download this trustworthy data recovery software and follow the steps below to recover data from the corrupted hard drive.

Step 1. Select files types to start scanning.

Then launch Deep Data Recovery, you can see all supported files types are listed. As for other unwanted file types, you can uncheck them and click "Next".

Step 2. Select the hard drive partition

From the next window, the Deep Data Recovery shows all the partitions of the internal hard drive and connected hard drives. Choose the hard disk as the location and click the "Scan" button to continue.

Step 3. Select the files you want to recover

Wait until the scanning completes and then select the files you want to recover. Click "Recover" and choose a location on another device to save the photos.

Note: Deep Scan feature is on the result window. If you are not content with the result, click it to scan the hard drive again.

Now that you've got back the crucial data, you can follow the solutions here to fix the damaged hard drive.

How to Repair Corrupted Hard Disk Without Formatting (4 Ways)

Whether it is an internal hard disk or an external hard drive, you can find solutions to repair corrupted hard disk. The most direct way to fix a corrupt hard disk is formatting the HDD, which will cause data loss. In this post, we will explain 4 practical ways to fix corrupted hard drive without formatting.

Solution 1. Check and Repair Disk to Fix Corrupted Hard Drive with Antivirus Software

Viruses and malware can lead to hard drive corruption. Connect the hard drive to a Windows PC and use a reliable antivirus/malware tool to scan the drive or the system. To get rid of this problem, you can turn to Windows Defender or some reputable third-party antivirus software. Here is an example of using Norton to remove a virus.

Step 1. Download and run Norton Power Eraser. If a new version is available, Norton Power Eraser will check and download it.

Step 2. In the "Norton Power Eraser" window, click the "Scan for Risks" icon.

Step 3. Wait patiently during the process.

Step 4. After successfully removing the risk, click "Finish".

Solution 2. How to Repair Corrupted Hard Disk Using CMD

When the hard drive's file system gets corrupt and you can't access the hard disk, you can run a CHKDSK scan to repair the corrupt hard drive without formatting. CHKDSK command prompt checks the file system and file system metadata of a volume for logical and physical errors. If used without parameters, CHKDSK displays only the volume's status and does not fix any errors. If used with the /f, /r, /x, or /b parameters, it fixes errors on the volume.

The "/f" parameter tells CHKDSK to fix any errors it finds. "/r" tells it to locate the bad sectors on the drive and recover readable information. "/x" forces the drive to dismount before the process starts.

Step 1. Next to the Windows Start menu, in the "Search Windows" box, type cmd.

Step 2. On the search result, right-click on the "Command Prompt" and select "Run as administrator".

Step 3. Type the command: chkdsk E: /f /r /x. Here you should replace E with your drive letter.

Solution 3. Update the Disk Driver to Fix Corrupted Hard Drive Without Formatting

If a driver issue causes the hard drive corruption, you need to update the disk driver. There might be some issues with your device driver installed on your PC. Follow the details below:

Step 1. Right-click on "This PC"/"My Computer" and choose "Properties".

Step 2. In the taskbar on the left, click "Device Manager" and expand "Universal Serial Bus controllers". Then you'll see a yellow exclamation mark if your disk driver is out of date.

Step 3. Right-click and choose "Update driver".

Step 4. Choose "Search automatically for updated driver software..."

Solution 4. Seek Help from Professional Data Recovery Services

If the corruption is severe and the above solutions fail to repair the corrupted hard drive, you can ask for help from Qiling's technical support team. They provide 1 on 1 remote assistance service to fix HDD/SSD issues, recover partition, wipe data, etc.

Bonus Tips: How to Prevent Hard Drive Corruption Effectively

Repairing a hard drive is more difficult than taking precautions. You can protect your hard drive from corruption by safely removing external drives before unplugging, or making a backup regularly. To back up files automatically, you can run Qiling back and recovery software. With it, you can protect your hard drive data with a simple click. Download this tool and safeguard your hard drive data.

Step 1: Launch Qiling Backup software and then choose "File backup", "Disk/partition backup" or "System backup" for different backup purpose.

Step 2: Choose the system, disk partition, files or apps that you want to back up. Then select a destination where you want to store the backup file.

Step 3: Click "Proceed" to start the data backup process.

Conclusion (Check Feature List)

Does your hard disk being repaired? If you still cannot figure out the appropriate solutions to fix a corrupted hard drive, see the features of each solution. You can select the right solution to fix your drive according to your own situation.

Comparison Antivirus Scan CMD Command Repair Software Update Disk Driver Turn to Experts
Scenarios Infected by virus File system error Alternative of CHKDSK Drive issue Other reasons
Repair Rate High Medium High Not Sure High
Free or Paid Free Free Free Free Paid
Simple Steps Y Y Y N N

Hard drive corruption is a common issue for lots of users. When your hard drive gets damaged, the data is not lost. Use Deep data recovery software to access and restore data from corrupted hard disk above all. Then, choose the correct method to repair the corrupted hard drive without formatting.

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