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Summary: This article addresses the issue of restoring files from a corrupted or crashed hard drive. The user emphasizes the importance of retrieving vital data without any available backups. It highlights symptoms of a corrupted drive and outlines various causes, including physical damage, age, file system issues, virus attacks, and boot sector corruption. Prevention tips are provided, such as regular backups and system maintenance. The article offers three methods for data recovery: using CHKDSK, conducting a thorough disk check, and repairing the drive through the Control Panel. If these methods fail, a third-party data recovery tool is recommended. The article concludes with a simplified three-step process for using the tool to recover data from a corrupted drive.

“I’ve recently discovered that my hard drive is corrupted, leaving me unable to access my vital data. Retrieving these files is imperative, as they hold significant importance and losing them is not an option. To clarify my situation, I must mention that I don’t have any backups stored. Is it still possible to recover my data? If so, I’m open to exploring both paid and unpaid solutions as long as they yield results. Your assistance in providing the most effective solutions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!”

The hard drives within our systems hold as much significance as the systems themselves. They ensure the proper functioning of our systems by storing crucial information and data. Consequently, when a hard drive becomes corrupted, it can be a nightmarish ordeal to address. As mentioned in the preceding inquiry, the user has valuable data stored and seeks to recover it.

Recovering data from a corrupted hard drive is a challenging and laborious endeavor. However, with a backup of your hard drive readily available, the process becomes significantly simpler. Simply retrieve the backup file and install it correctly on your system to seamlessly restore all your data onto a new, pristine hard drive.

Similar to the aforementioned situation, not everyone is lucky to possess a backup file and retrieve their valuable data. With no alternative available, you can attempt to personally create a backup of the data and recover the files and folders from a corrupted hard drive.

Symptoms of Corrupted Hard Drive:

“The core component of your computer, the hard drive, which stores all the system’s data, has encountered corruption. Whether it’s an internal or external hard drive, it can suffer damage, leading to it becoming unrecognizable or inaccessible on Windows 10, 8, or 7.”

Instant Solution

Try Kernel for Windows Data Recovery software for restoring your crucial data files from corrupted/crashed drives.

Here are some of the common symptoms of the corrupted hard drive
  • Drive reading invalid media type.
  • File system displayed as RAW.
  • Warning given by Windows asking you to format the drive – “disk not formatted. Do you want to format now?”
  • File names appear with weird characters.
  • Message pop-ups such as – “Sector not found.”
  • After plugin of the external drive into PC, it does not read or show up anything saying – “External Hard Drive is not recognized.”
  • The hard drive storage memory is shown as 0 bytes.
  • My Computer shows the drive name, but while opening it says: “You need to format the disk drive before you can use it.”
Main Causes of Hard Drive Corruption:

Understanding the various causes of hard drive corruption is crucial. This knowledge enables you to implement prudent practices and prevent such uncertainties from occurring in the future. Additionally, being aware of these reasons empowers you to choose the most effective solution. Before proceeding, let’s delve into this discussion:

Reason 1: Corruption Due to Physical Damages

This issue typically arises from various factors, including hardware failure due to overheating of the HDD, a crash of the read/write head, poor connectivity in the data line, scratches on the magnetic platter, a short circuit in the control circuit board, or abrupt power outages.

Reason 2: Hard Drive is too Old

Hard disks do have a certain service life. Beyond that, it may face errors and disasters.

Reason 3: Due to Damaged File System

The operating system’s file system is responsible for overseeing and arranging files stored on the storage device. Essentially, it serves as the gateway through which data is retrieved from hard disk partitions. Therefore, if the file system on the internal HDD becomes corrupted, the entire disk becomes unreachable.

Reason 4: Corruption Due to Virus Attack

As a result of a virus attack, the boot files stored in the internal HDD may incur damage or face permanent deletion. This could lead to a boot failure, putting your vital data in significant jeopardy.

Reason 5: Corrupt Boot Sector

In the event of a boot sector damage, initiating your machine could prove challenging, and access to the data on your internal HDD may be lost.

Some Useful Prevention Techniques

We’d like to provide some valuable tips for safeguarding data from potential crashes or corruption of the system’s hard drive.

  1. Take regular backups of the system data
  2. Keep system drivers, software, & installers updated
  3. Check the system hardware and maintain it healthy
  4. Install anti-virus and firewalls on your system
  5. Keep a check on hard drive partition health, file formatting, etc.
  6. Control the fluctuations of power supply to the system
  7. Never perform forced shutdown on the system
METHODS TO RECOVER FILES FROM A CORRUPTED OR CRASHED DRIVE

Attempt the provided techniques to aid in data restoration. Apply these methods in accordance with the specific issues you encounter.

Method 1: Run Scan Disk CHKDSK to Fix Corrupted Hard Drive

Follow the steps mentioned below:

Step 1: Press Windows + X, select Command Prompt (Admin)

Step 2: To check for errors in the corrupted hard drive, type chkdsk and click Enter

Step 3: Suppose the corrupted drive is D, type chkdsk D:/f/r/x to fix the drive errors.

The drive letter is denoted by “D,” “f” instructs chkdsk to rectify errors, “r” identifies and aids in recovering data from bad sectors, while “x” forcefully dismounts the drive prior to initiating the process.

Method 2: Run a thorough Disk Check to Fix Corrupted Hard Disk

You can attempt to identify errors on the designated system drive by conducting a thorough scan. Please review the entire procedure.

Step 1: Open This PC or My Computer or Computer, right click >> Properties.

Step 2: Click Tools >> Error Checking >> Check.

Step 3: Select Scan Drive, restart your PC once the process is completed.

Method 3: Repair Corrupted Hard Drive Using Control Panel

Run a scan on the drives/programs using the following instructions:

Step 1: Press Windows + X and select Control Panel
Step 2: Click System and Security >> Action Center >> Maintenance >> Run Scan.
Step 3: Click Restart.
Just in case, none of the above methods works for you, we suggest you go for a third-party data recovery tool for Windows system.

Automated Windows Recovery Method

Try Kernel Windows Data Recovery software, if everything is in vain. It is an efficient tool that helps to recover data out of the corrupted hard drive.

Follow the 3 Quick Steps and Recover your Data Instantly:

Step 1: Simply select the corrupted drive or external HDD for data recovery.

Step 2: Preview all the recovered data from the selected drive in its original format.

Step 3: Finally, restore the data by mentioning your desired saving location on the system.

Now you have recovered your data. You can use it again smoothly.

Conclusion:

In this blog post, we delved into the topic of hard drive corruption. A user raised a concern about lacking a backup for data restoration. Consequently, we commenced by outlining potential causes of this issue, followed by proactive measures to prevent it. Subsequently, we provided step-by-step guidance on effective manual remedies for individuals encountering a corrupted hard disk. Additionally, we detailed a selection of robust hard drive recovery techniques, complete with comprehensive procedures. Should you find these methods to be intricate, we also introduced a potent software solution for recovering files from corrupted or crashed drives.

Kernel for Windows Data Recovery